The PSP version of Virtua Tennis 3 doesn't differ much from the PlayStation 3 edition. When you first load the game, you'll see some familiar options: World Tour, Tournament, Exhibition and Court Games. In the Tournament mode, you can play through four Grand Slam tournaments to try and place first. The Exhibition option lets you play one game in either singles or doubles with up to four players. The Court Games option features seven mini-games. These include Pin Crusher, Tricky Pin Crusher, Avalanche, Panic Balloon, Court Curling, Alien Attack and Super Bingo. While all of these modes are appreciated, they're merely a distraction, as the World Tour mode is where the heart of the game lies.
Looks like the player is left-handed, like me.
Anyone who has played any previous Virtua Tennis titles knows what to expect from the World Tour mode in Virtua Tennis 3. When you first begin, you'll need to customise your character by choosing their name, gender, playing style, body and more. The customisation is surprisingly deep, and it's well worth taking your time customising your player, as you'll be looking at him for the next twenty or so hours at least.
After you've customised your player you select a home base and you're ready to delve into the career mode. In the World Tour mode you'll start off as a rank 300 player and the goal is to work your way up to rank number one. Initially, your player will be weak, slow and a poor server, but by playing the mini-games and fulfilling the challenges at the tennis academy, your stats will increase. The World Tour mode presents you with a calander and you'll need to juggle training with playing matches to increase your rank to become a better player.
A new addition to the World Tour mode in Virtua Tennis 3 is the chance that your player will become injured. A new stamina bar in the top right-hand corner of the screen keeps you updated on your player's status, and if you run out of stamina you could become injured and miss weeks at a time. Overall though, the career mode is still strikingly similar to the one found in World Tour, only with a few more minigames, and the fact that your player can become injured. They're minor differences.
Does it look familiar?
Throughout your quest to get to number one you'll play against a large variety of real life tennis players including Amelie Mauresmo, Maria Sharapova, Venus Williams, Martina Hingis, Nicole Vaidisova, Lindsay Davenport, Daniela Hantuchova, Roger Federer, Andy Roddick, Lleyton Hewitt, Tim Henman, James Blake, Mario Ancic, Gael Monfils, Taylor Dent, David Nalbandian, Sebastien Grosjean, Juan Carlos Ferrero, Tommy Haas and Rafael Nadal. Sega has done a great job in getting these players to look like their real-life counterparts and for the most part they play like them too.
Gameplay-wise, Sega hasn't really improved how Virtua Tennis 3 plays, but it still provides an incredible game of tennis. The lack of innovation is our main complaint with Virtua Tennis 3; Sega really has just tweaked the gameplay, so the gameplay differences between Virtua Tennis 3 and World Tour are minimal.
The game also includes multiplayer support so you can play against a friend of yours. Unfortunately though, the multiplayer ends up feeling tacked on, as there's no Gameshare feature, and the PSP version only includes support for ad-hoc multiplayer, not infrastructure play. Many PSP games are now playable online, and it's very disappointing that Virtua Tennis 3 isn't one of those games.
One of the new mini-games.
Graphically the game looks good, the players animate well, the courts are detailed. and there is no frame rate issues either. The World Tour mode is something that will last you a long amount of time, as getting to the number one spot is no walk in the park, and you'll need to train and keep winning to become numero uno. The game does begin easily, but gets rather more difficult after the first year. The multiplayer could be appealing to those who have friends with copies of Virtua Tennis 3, but the lack of online multiplayer is a disappointment.
Overall, Virtua Tennis 3 on the PSP is a great sports game. If you're looking for the ultimate portable tennis game, then you need not go any further than Virtua Tennis 3. However, Sega has been a little lazy bringing the game over to the PSP, and with only minor additions there's very little to distinguish Virtua Tennis 3 from the eighteen month-old Virtua Tennis: World Tour. If you didn't pick up World Tour, or just want the latest players and a more detailed World Tour mode, then you can't go wrong with this.
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