A buddy of mine from work let me borrow me his copy of Virtua tennis World Tour for PSP. I was quite excited; this game has always been pure entertainment. I?m talking about way back in the day, as I often do from time to time, when Virtua Tennis came out for arcades and then Dreamcast. However, this modern PSP version comes with some worthy of mention improvements.

In the main one player mode, which is world tour, you start off creating a male and female character. The game gives enough traits to tinker around with, such as skin colour, hairstyle, weight and height ? to name a few ? so that you should be able to make your character look like you, which is always a nice feature.

Both of your characters start off ranked 300 and the goal is to train and compete in enough tournaments to become the champ, but this doesn?t mean you have to defeat 300 people. In order to enter tournaments, which come in the form of both singles and doubles, you have to wait for a week in which you rank high enough to enter. The game defines a week by one or two training levels, or a tournament. You also have the choice to rest for a week if you?re trying to get to a tourney faster or allow your character to regain stamina.

The training levels are sort of silly but enjoyable for the most part. I particularly enjoyed the levels in which you can serve the ball to knock down seven pins in a kind of bowling set-up and another that pits you against a tennis-ball firing tank.

One thing I can say about this game is that it’s quite the challenge. Even the original wasn?t as hard as this one. I found that the computer A.I. absolutely walloped me the first couple of matches I tried it. This is due largely in part to the fact that returning the ball is no simple task. I mean, sure you can simply tap the button when your character is near the ball but there?s much more to it then that. If anyone?s actually ever played the game in real life what I?m trying to explain here should make sense. Basically, to get a nice return you need to position yourself in front of the ball, hold the return button down and then let go at the right moment after the ball bounces. It?s simple physics: if you hit the ball soon after it bounces you really don?t have time to put any power in the shot and if you hit the ball too late you?re likely to loose control and perhaps knock the ball out.

I suppose this is why I enjoyed this game so much, because in essence, the control style mimics the sport in real life. This doesn?t mean that I have an edge or an advantage because most will surely find that the gameplay is comfortable and simple. And once I started to get the rhythm I started to make slow but definite progress in the one player mode and thus, managed to start moving up in the ranks. I said it before and I?ll say it again: this was no simple task because the computer?s A.I., even on normal and even in the very first levels is a forced to be reckoned with. Although you can make your character stronger and faster with the training levels, the real key to making progress comes through getting the hang of strategically placing serves, capitalizing when stuck in a tight rally and especially mastering the art of volleying.

I tried this game online but surprise, surprise there was nobody there! As I mentioned last week, this has been typical of the online experience with the PSP and I still don?t understand it. I?ve spent some time looking for the answer on forums for nerdiest of nerds and I still don?t understand it. Can it really be possible that no one in North America has gotten into the online aspect for PSP games? Anywho, I hope this gets better once the system picks up, which will likely be after December because the idea of being able to play a human player whenever you like would sure make this game better.

For now, I?ll just have to settle for the good ol? invincible A.I.






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