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ATEI Show 2007 - Part 8 - Virtua Tennis 3

by Graham on February 18th, 2007

 

Quite easily the Virtua Tennis franchise has made a big impact in the gaming world, since it’s release in the Arcade and then (more importantly) on the Dreamcast.  Before Virtua Tennis, tennis games seemed a tad lackluster but somehow Sega managed to turn the videogame tennis around.  Now the market seems to be flooded with Tennis titles, yet the Virtua Tennis series are still held with the highest regard.Virtua Tennis 3, in particular, has been causing a stir of late what with the impending Xbox 360, PS3 and PSP release.  Also with the small contest between Sega and EA, where Virtua Tennis 3 was set to be the Xbox 360s first native 1080p title, but in swoops EA to ruin the day and lay claim to that accolade, with another crappy basketball game.  So now Virtua Tennis 3 is set to be the 360s first 1080p title- running at 60fps.

Hopefully by now you should all know what the Virtua Tennis series are all about?  Well Tennis, yes.  But they are also about being very simple, fast and fun.  They are made all the more fun, by the way of the various mini games and challenges on offer.

Well at ATEI I managed to get my hands on the arcade version of this highly anticipated game….

As with AfterBurner Climax, Sega were keen to try and show off this title, by housing more cabinets than other games.  Yet unlike AfterBurner, this game was stuck amongst most of the other games on display- whereas AfterBurner had a nice floor space to itself.  Because of this the impression of the display was less than what you might expect.

Still the Virtua Tennis cabinets were constantly busy, and I was actually quite lucky to get a go when I did, but by using the simple method of loitering around the station for a long time, until someone gave up, I ensured my turn.

For anyone who has played a Virtua Tennis before, I can’t really give you much new information about the game.  The franchise has stayed pretty consistent throughout, with very few changes, expect maybe the lineup of tennis stars and mini-games. The gameplay seems to be pretty much identical to that of the other titles, although I am not so used to the arcade controls- the arcade stick is not as accurate as that of my beloved Dreamcast analogue stick.  So it’s hard for me to say whether any movement difficulties are down to poor programming or my inability to use the stick.  Having said that though, I only had a small amount of control difficulty, missing a few shots because I didn’t move the stick hard or fast enough.

Unfortunately this was the only decent picture I managed to get of the game- and even this isn’t very clear.  All other screens are from websites.

However with all the press for the upcoming console versions of the game I can tell you there are a few differences between this and console versions of the game.  Now either Sega had a ’stripped down’ title on show or a number of players were missing from the game.  I many of the screenshots and videos you will see female players and mixed matches, but when it came to the player selection screen, they only had the 12 male players available.  Something my (female) companion was eager to point out.  Also, as you might expect for the arcade version, they had the mini-games missing.  Or at least in the brief play session I had, I could not see these options.

One new feature to the series I played on though was a sort of training option.  You are given a few challenges to fulfill.  Unlike the fun mini-games where you hit balloons or knock down boxes, this is a more serious affair.  For example one was that you had to serve 3 ‘Power Serves’ in a row- a Power Smash is where you manage to hit the ball as you serve, when your power meter is full.  This is actually quite tricky, and it seems to be harder in VT3 than the other games.  In Virtua Tennis 1+2 I could quite happily pull off the ocassional smash, but for the life of me I couldn’t get a single one when I played at ATEI.  This, for me made these training games very boring and frustrating.  I tried out 3 or 4 of them and only accomplished one of them.  But then again, I was more eager to play the actual game.

     

Like I said before, the gameplay hasn’t really changed much from the original titles.  And they still seem to have the same modes of play.   The one big difference are the graphics.  At first you look at the game and think “Hmm, they aren’t so great” In fact I couldn’t really such much difference from this and Virtua Tennis 2, it looked better, but only slightly.  It’s only when the camera zooms in for an action replay or a close up of your character’s victory/ losing poses, that you can really see how detailed the graphics are.

Being British I had to play as Tim Henman (it’s the law over here) and seeing a close up of his face was amazing.  You can actually see the freckles on his face.  In the original games the players looked great and almost ‘lifelike’ as some reviewers put it.  B ut really they weren’t, they had the same features and shape faces as their real life counterparts, but you could tell they were obviously in a computer game.  In Virtua Tennis 3, the players have an insane level of detail on their skin, no longer having the bland, flat, lifeless colour in their face, but all the detail and skin pigments of the real stars.  Of course no doubt by the time ‘Virtua Tennis 8′ comes out on the ‘Xbox 1080′ and ‘PS6′, you will find me saying pretty much the same thing, but right now I can say that the characters, up close, look very lifelike. 

     

Another piece of fine detail is the clothing.  The original Virtua Tennis games had the standard tight fitting clothing with little to no movement and not much detail involved.  Virtua Tennis 3 has some great detail, you can see the clothes move and also the creases.  Granted the movement of the clothes is still limited, as no doubt it is hard to program free flowing material, but it’s there.  Also the courts appear to have had a fresh paint of coat, in fact it’s pretty much safe to say that literally everything in the game has had the work over.

The only downfall with the game (graphics wise) is that the camera is fixed at such a distance that you can’t really appreciate the high level of detail on the characters and court, it’s more of a treat for when you have a close up.

One thing the console games were able to bring, was the ability to create your own character and use that same character to build up skills and advance in the world ranking.  This is a feature no longer just for the home.  With the use of an IC Smart Card you can save your player data, game records, world rankings and number of medals and then load them and continue playing next time you return to the arcades.  It’s not a totally new feature to arcade gaming, but ts certainly new to the Virtua Tennis series.

This is the deluxe cabinet. Not on display at ATEI.

Overall this arcade title disappointed a little.  The graphics and play are all there, but what really makes the Virtua Tennis games great are the fun side features, like the mini-games and also the 4 player mode.  These ‘features’ are not found in the arcade version, the reason is obvious though- as the mini-games wouldn’t exactly work too well, they are designed for quick play fun, and when you are spending money each time you play, you don’t want to be playing crappy side quests, you want to play the full game.  But still when the console verion versions finally hit the stores, I think less people will be interested in playing the arcade game, as there is nothing there that can grab your attention.  It’s not like Sega Rally or House of the Dead, even though the console versions had more extras, the aracdes had the advantage of sitting in a race car seat, or holding a shotgun in front of a large screen, Virtua Tennis you are standing and using a stiff arcade stick and hard buttons- definitely not as much fun as being at home.

Display Impression: 6.  Game Originality: 6.  Graphics: 9.  Sounds: 8.  Playability: 9.   Funfactor: 8.  Overall Experience: 8.

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