Review: Virtua Tennis 2009 [Wii]
RDNx, 28-Jun-09 » 
SEGA have a long history with this tennis game and it shows. Virtua Tennis was first released back in 1999, and evolved through the Sega Dreamcast and PlayStation 2 and now in the latest release, Virtua Tennis 2009 is available on all four current major platforms: PC, Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 and Wii.
We got our hands on the Wii version of this game and took a look at whether this game lives up to the marketing claim of being the “Number One Tennis Game”
The game of tennis is well suited to the Wii and the Wii Remote controller, and many first-time Wii console gamers started their gaming life with the stylised tennis game that ships with the Wii Sports package along with the Wii.
Virtua Tennis 2009 is in another league altogether than the game that is included in Wii Sports and attempts to recreate the full tennis experience.
Virtua Tennis 2009 is one of the first games to support the new Wii MotionPlus add-on for the Wii Remote. In theory this should provide significant improvements in user control, however in our experience adds only a small step forward, and not the large leap in control most Wii players are ultimately looking for. That said, it is definitely a worthwhile addition.
Virtua Tennis 2009 has been released by SEGA to coincide with major northern hemisphere tennis tournaments and includes many of the big name players, although sadly our own Leyton Hewett does not feature, presumably licensing restrictions or his 2009 world ranking was not high enough to warrant inclusion.
The game has three tennis modes, Exhibition, Tournament, and Arcade and a Game mode which consists of a number of tennis-related games included for fun and to help practice various aspects of your game. For example, the ten-pin bowling style game is designed to help you practice your serve.
Exhibition mode is a single match you can either play against the console or real-life players, with the Wii supporting up to four connected controllers, which is convenient, given doubles tennis matches have up to four players.
The Tournament mode provides the ability to play three rounds, with your real life players entered into the tournament draw first, in whatever positions you like and the rest of the draw automatically filled with console-based players.
The Arcade mode supports single player only, and you play up to five matches on the various court surfaces and earn money as you progress.
The World Tour provides the option to build your own world class tennis player over a number of tournaments, and has a Stamina bar which reduces over the time in a single session played and doesn’t let you play for extended periods without taking a break. You can ‘buy” energy drinks once you earn money to increase your stamina, but alas we were rookies on the World stage with no money, and thus had to take a break! This is probably a good idea to make the whole concept realistic, but annoying if you really want to advance quickly.
The game also includes a full training mode, called VT Coach, with former British number one Tim Henman included in the step-by-step guides. We felt the addition of a licensed name didn’t really add a whole heap to the experience at this point unless you are a Tim Henman fan of course.
The networked capability gives you the option of playing with your Wii friends over the network, although unfortunately you cannot play with gamers using other console platforms (e.g. PlayStation 3 or Xbox). It is a sad fact in the highly competitive world of consoles, that the “walled garden” approach, taken by Nintendo, Sony and Microsoft holds back the world of online e-sports in the modern networked community.
Like many games on the Wii, graphics and motion are not in the same class as the PlayStation or Xbox version, but passable. The Wii remote and the interactive nature of the device makes up for shortcomings in these other areas.
Having said that, sometimes, when playing, you’ll swear you made the correct motion with the controller, only to find you’ve lost that critical point, with the consequence that you don’t make the next round of a tournament; At that point we resisted the urge to rage quit the game altogether but just shouted, “You Cannot be Serious”!, adding a element of reality the game designers probably didn’t plan.
One minor frustration, when playing with friends, is that the top left court / player is partially obscured by the score with no apparent way to turn off the display. This provides an additional advantage to the player in the bottom court, along with the fact they are playing the forehand and backhand strokes as they are seen on the screen and not reversed.
However, regardless of which direction you swing the controller, the animated player tends to play the correct backhand or forehand stoke based on their position relative to the ball and doesn’t depend on the stoke you animate with the Wii remote.
There are three levels of AI difficulty within the game, along with various strengths for the star tennis player you choose for the match, e.g. Lindsay Davenport has a big serve. We didn’t sense a great deal of difference between the AI levels, and were generally able to hold our own on the hardest setting despite not having a lot of game time under our belts.
When playing with just the Wii Remote, timing and the intensity of your reactions are the only motions you can control. The AI takes over the player’s movements, and the players move into position for each shot automatically, returning to court-centre after each shot, with you controlling only whether the shot is made in time. An additional level of difficulty and skill required is introduced when playing with the Nunchuck. You then have the added control of player movement and positioning on the court, with the Nunchuck joystick in your left hand and the Wii Remote in your right. Initially we found this a little annoying, as the length of the cord between the Nunchuck and Wii Remote limited movement and the swing of the “racket.” However after a little practice, moving both hands in unison, it became less of a problem. This additional control adds more realism to the game and more challenge to the enjoyment.
Virtua Tennis 2009 shines the most when you are playing against your friends, with multiple controllers connected to the Wii. We had some epic rallies, and some close matches, with sets going to tie-breaks on a number of occasions.
In summary, Virtua Tennis 2009 has a lot going for it, and if you are looking for a decent tennis game to add to your Wii sports collection, this title is one of best around.
netGameRadio Rating: 4/5
SEGA have a long history with this tennis game and it shows. Virtua Tennis was first released back in 1999, and evolved through the Sega Dreamcast and PlayStation 2 and now in the latest release, Virtua Tennis 2009 is available on all four current major platforms: PC, Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 and Wii.
We got our hands on the Wii version of this game and took a look at whether this game lives up to the marketing claim of being the “Number One Tennis Game”
The game of tennis is well suited to the Wii and the Wii Remote controller, and many first-time Wii console gamers started their gaming life with the stylised tennis game that ships with the Wii Sports package along with the Wii.
Virtua Tennis 2009 is in another league altogether than the game that is included in Wii Sports and attempts to recreate the full tennis experience.
Virtua Tennis 2009 is one of the first games to support the new Wii MotionPlus add-on for the Wii Remote. In theory this should provide significant improvements in user control, however in our experience adds only a small step forward, and not the large leap in control most Wii players are ultimately looking for. That said, it is definitely a worthwhile addition.
Virtua Tennis 2009 has been released by SEGA to coincide with major northern hemisphere tennis tournaments and includes many of the big name players, although sadly our own Leyton Hewett does not feature, presumably licensing restrictions or his 2009 world ranking was not high enough to warrant inclusion.
The game has three tennis modes, Exhibition, Tournament, and Arcade and a Game mode which consists of a number of tennis-related games included for fun and to help practice various aspects of your game. For example, the ten-pin bowling style game is designed to help you practice your serve.
Exhibition mode is a single match you can either play against the console or real-life players, with the Wii supporting up to four connected controllers, which is convenient, given doubles tennis matches have up to four players.
The Tournament mode provides the ability to play three rounds, with your real life players entered into the tournament draw first, in whatever positions you like and the rest of the draw automatically filled with console-based players.
The Arcade mode supports single player only, and you play up to five matches on the various court surfaces and earn money as you progress.
The World Tour provides the option to build your own world class tennis player over a number of tournaments, and has a Stamina bar which reduces over the time in a single session played and doesn’t let you play for extended periods without taking a break. You can ‘buy” energy drinks once you earn money to increase your stamina, but alas we were rookies on the World stage with no money, and thus had to take a break! This is probably a good idea to make the whole concept realistic, but annoying if you really want to advance quickly.
The game also includes a full training mode, called VT Coach, with former British number one Tim Henman included in the step-by-step guides. We felt the addition of a licensed name didn’t really add a whole heap to the experience at this point unless you are a Tim Henman fan of course.
The networked capability gives you the option of playing with your Wii friends over the network, although unfortunately you cannot play with gamers using other console platforms (e.g. PlayStation 3 or Xbox). It is a sad fact in the highly competitive world of consoles, that the “walled garden” approach, taken by Nintendo, Sony and Microsoft holds back the world of online e-sports in the modern networked community.
Like many games on the Wii, graphics and motion are not in the same class as the PlayStation or Xbox version, but passable. The Wii remote and the interactive nature of the device makes up for shortcomings in these other areas.
Having said that, sometimes, when playing, you’ll swear you made the correct motion with the controller, only to find you’ve lost that critical point, with the consequence that you don’t make the next round of a tournament; At that point we resisted the urge to rage quit the game altogether but just shouted, “You Cannot be Serious”!, adding a element of reality the game designers probably didn’t plan.
One minor frustration, when playing with friends, is that the top left court / player is partially obscured by the score with no apparent way to turn off the display. This provides an additional advantage to the player in the bottom court, along with the fact they are playing the forehand and backhand strokes as they are seen on the screen and not reversed.
However, regardless of which direction you swing the controller, the animated player tends to play the correct backhand or forehand stoke based on their position relative to the ball and doesn’t depend on the stoke you animate with the Wii remote.
There are three levels of AI difficulty within the game, along with various strengths for the star tennis player you choose for the match, e.g. Lindsay Davenport has a big serve. We didn’t sense a great deal of difference between the AI levels, and were generally able to hold our own on the hardest setting despite not having a lot of game time under our belts.
When playing with just the Wii Remote, timing and the intensity of your reactions are the only motions you can control. The AI takes over the player’s movements, and the players move into position for each shot automatically, returning to court-centre after each shot, with you controlling only whether the shot is made in time. An additional level of difficulty and skill required is introduced when playing with the Nunchuck. You then have the added control of player movement and positioning on the court, with the Nunchuck joystick in your left hand and the Wii Remote in your right. Initially we found this a little annoying, as the length of the cord between the Nunchuck and Wii Remote limited movement and the swing of the “racket.” However after a little practice, moving both hands in unison, it became less of a problem. This additional control adds more realism to the game and more challenge to the enjoyment.
Virtua Tennis 2009 shines the most when you are playing against your friends, with multiple controllers connected to the Wii. We had some epic rallies, and some close matches, with sets going to tie-breaks on a number of occasions.
In summary, Virtua Tennis 2009 has a lot going for it, and if you are looking for a decent tennis game to add to your Wii sports collection, this title is one of best around.
netGameRadio Rating: 4/5
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Article Stats
| Category: | Game Reviews |
| Posted: | 28-Jun-09 7:53:04 pm |
| Author: | RDNx |