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There are a few certainties in life - death, taxes, clichéd opening sentences like this, and Virtua Tennis' game design. Honestly, watching Virtua Tennis evolve is like watching grass grow - it's pretty bloody slow, and you can basically shut your eyes and still know where it's headed. That's not to say that the Virtua Tennis games are in any way bad - as far as grass growing, this is pretty good stuff; it's just that with each iteration, it's harder to justify spending more money for what is essentially a very similar experience. There's nothing fundamentally wrong with Virtua Tennis 3, and in fact, the core gameplay is as good as ever, but it just doesn't take the step forward that it could, and probably should. Particularly in its PS3 incarnation, but more on that later.Somewhat critical introduction out of the way, there is a lot to like about this game. SEGA nailed the sense of movement and the ball physics right from the first game in the series, and these elements have continued to improve. Player animations are stunning for the most part, only falling down occasionally by virtue of the fact that they are so good. When you see a player sprinting back down the line in an attempt to reach the ball while he's still facing forward, for instance, it doesn't gel with what you know the player's intent would be - to simply get to the ball. If anything these moments are a compliment - as with any game that emulates real life, the closer you get to reality, the more you'll pick up on minor flaws. By and large Virtua Tennis 3 is a joy to watch, and even after extended play you'll still see the odd animation you haven't come across yet.
Federer shows more emotion after one point in this game than he generally does across an entire tournament.
The animations aren't just eye candy either - the smooth transitions and depth of movement really add to the feel of the gameplay, making every smashed lob, every reflex volley and every ball crashed down the line a satisfying experience. As we've seen in previous games in the series, controls are kept deliberately minimal. You only get top spin, slice and lob buttons to worry about, with the key to the gameplay being positioning. The earlier you set yourself up for a shot, the more power and angle you'll be able to generate. Using the left analogue stick you can angle the ball a little or a lot, drop it short or hit it long, and the more you play, the more deft your touch will become. Cheap tactics won't often work in this game - like a real game of tennis, play revolves around taking control of the point by forcing your opponent out of position then hitting a winner. Even the potentially all-powerful drop-shot takes finesse to execute - no simple button press, the player must get in position early, then hit a slice with the analogue stick pushed away from the net.Of course, a tennis game needs more than just silky smooth animations and compelling gameplay to hold a player's attention over the long term, and that's where the World Tour mode comes in. Here you create a player, pick a home base, then travel the world playing in tournaments to raise your ranking, as well as training at the academy and completing mini-games to raise your stats. In principal it's a great way to structure the career mode, giving the game a somewhat RPG-like appeal. From the globe hub you can change your player's gear (which is mostly cosmetic - although switching racquets can boost stats), you can access your emails to read the latest inane drivel from your coach, and most importantly you can access your calendar, which has all the tournaments for the year and their ranking-based entry requirements laid out week-by-week. The calendar allows you to plan your training and playing schedule, balancing the thirst for tournament wins with the necessity of levelling up.
Tennis and curling, together at last.
From the outset you'll be able to enter into a number of tournaments, where you'll go up against pale imitations of many of the top players from around the world. It's somewhat surreal, for instance, to come across Federer in the semi-final of your very first tournament, while ranked 292 in the world, and win the match without dropping a point. Obviously the higher your stats and ranking, the harder the opposition becomes, but this is just one example of many where SEGA has taken the easy road in Virtua Tennis 3's transition from arcade to console, instead of really trying to flesh the game design out. Throughout the entire World Tour mode, you only ever play against the same 20 players. They get better as you get better, but not only does it make the experience repetitive, it also cheapens their inclusion. Granted, SEGA probably paid a pretty penny (who am I, my grandmother?) to get these players in the game, but if the development team really wanted gamers to stick around for the entire World Tour mode, wouldn't it make sense to have a whole heap of no-name players to play against initially, so that when you eventually can face off against the likes of Hewitt and Federer, you've worked for it, and it becomes a signature confrontation.

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As it stands, the World Tour mode can be likened to a gigantic treadmill (see, it is like an RPG!), with the player running and running on the same spot, gradually increasing their stats and rising through the rankings, but with little palpable reward. With a series of opponents whose stats are fixed, matches would mean more, and progression could be more objectively measured.Mind you, there is progression in the sense that it's noticeable as your player's abilities improve, but it's a rather long road pockmarked with many a mini-game. In fact, the amount of enjoyment you get out the World Tour mode will likely be in direct proportion to how much you like the mini-games.Other than practice matches against professional players (which pop up on the calendar quite regularly once your ranking hits 200 or higher), training at the tennis academy and mini-games are the tools with which you increase your stats. Unlike Top Spin 2, no experience is gained from playing actual tournament matches. Instead, you'll need to set aside a lot of time to train. The tennis academy is an important inclusion, grounding your training in real-world challenges such as hitting running shots, max power serves, service return winners and winning a point within four shots of the serve. It's a welcome respite from the mini-games, although we must admit that these serve their purpose well. There are ten new challenges complemented by two 'old favourites', each of which focuses on gaining exp for certain aspects of your game - ground strokes, serving, volleying and footwork. The mini-games range from relatively ordinary (knocking down pins with your serve, volleying at bulls eyes) through to the bizarre (fending off alligators on chains as they try and get to big hunks of meat). Oh, and combining tennis with curling? Genius. I don't know where SEGA gets its ideas from. Those zany cats.
Comedy gold = novelty oversize ANYTHING.
The mini-games are certainly fun for the most part, but you will have to play through them a painful number of times to keep up with your opponents' skills as you enter higher ranked tournaments. It's a bit of a long slog, but the better your abilities, the more the game feels like real tennis. When you start out, a number of fundamental tactics are essentially off-limits. Moving to the net is an exercise in frustration, with your player failing to hit the ball with any decisiveness, instead lolly-popping it back to your opponent over and over. Similarly, rallies really need to be dominated from the baseline, because even when your opponent is being run all over the court, stepping forward to put away one of his soft returns by taking the ball early almost inevitably results in a weak shot, swaying the balance of the rally away from you. Thankfully, you can start to be more decisive at the net and take the initiative more as your player improves, and you'll need to - the higher level tournaments are far more challenging. That said, the core gameplay swings and misses in a couple of crucial areas. The amount of diving around after balls can be frustrating, either artificially prolonging rallies or putting your player on the back foot after he opts for a wildly inappropriate dive instead of simply hitting the damn thing. Tracking back for lobs is also really hit and miss, giving opponents a powerful tool to use against you, while your lobbing efforts are far less effective.The experience is wrapped in a somewhat soulless shell as well, with a level of personality on display that makes a lump of plasticine look positively evocative. Pro players will often stop by to lay a comment on you that practically has its own anti-personality gravitational pull, let alone demonstrating a working command of the English language. These bizarre fish-eyed automatons will come up to you at random intervals during the World Tour and flap their soundless lips at you, with the subtitles conveying their oh-so-weighty topical comments. I'll never forget the memorable conversation I had with Dent before starting a tournament, where he told me "I hope the tennis is good". Me too. Or Federer's rousing endorsement of my character as a double's partner "Great to partner you!" Why even bother having these random encounters if they're going to be so bland? Virtua Tennis 3 really fails to connect with the player, and again, betrays its arcade origins with such surface level design elements.
Me fail English? That's unpossible!
There's one particular component missing, however, that really hurts Virtua Tennis 3 on PS3. Online play. Considering the game is due on 360 in a week, with online support, this is a huge omission, and really reduces the game's long term appeal. Yes, you can still get together with friends to play, but we'd have loved to be able to compete in online tournaments, check out leader boards and perhaps even watch videos of the best players in the world competing. Oh well.Owners of 1080p displays will at least be in for a treat - the game runs natively in that resolution, with nary a hitch. The visuals are undeniably pretty for the most part, but there are certainly several areas in need of improvement. While the courts are nicely varied with plenty of courtside detail, the playing surface is a hideously blurry texture up close, as are the spectators. In fact, the crowd is a little like the sun - it's fine to sneak a glance from the corner of your eye, but you should never look directly at them or you'll be assaulted by a morass of chunky pixels that will burn your retinas to their core. The player models are also a bit of a mixed bag - they look a lot like the real players and their clothes animate well, but then, they also look like they're moulded from plasticine. Thankfully none of the visual stumbles really take anything away from the gameplay.

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