We really wanted to like Virtua Tennis 3. On the surface, the Virtua Tennis 3 demo presents a polished, professional veneer. Dig deeper, however, and something ugly begins to rear its head. Of course, it's possible that we just really suck (or that we've been spoiled by Top Spin). We can accept that. Still, in an hour of play time, we managed to win one (one!) game against the CPU. Not one match mind you, but one game. Put simply, the CPU is pretty ruthless. Combine that with some questionable game mechanics and Virtua Tennis 3 becomes very frustrating very fast.
First of all, we found our character (we tried both Federer and Nadal) dove unnecessarily for several shots. Naturally, the time it takes to get back up after diving can cost you the next shot, or at the very least make for a shoddy return. Also, the shot selection is a little strange. You can choose to hit topspin, slice, or lob, but nothing in between. Unlike Top Spin, you can't simply hit a neutral shot. This is annoying when all you want is to make sure the ball gets over the net and doesn't go out. Also unlike Top Spin, it's sometimes difficult to get in the proper position for your stroke. This often results in the character unnecessarily diving or simply missing the ball altogether. We couldn't figure out how to manage a drop shot either.
Now, the CPU can be infuriating. First of all, the CPU will make shots that you can't (and without diving to get them). It's particularly annoying when a CPU makes nearly the same shot that your character mysteriously whiffed 2 points earlier. Yes, the computer will make shots that you can't and it will return shots that should have been game winners. Even more maddening is a repeated exchange we experienced, in which the computer hit increasingly powerful shots until our return landed out of bounds.
The final game may have more lenient difficulty, but it's definitely a turn off in the demo. Speaking of turn offs, the music in the demo is awful. It's the worst kind of terrible rock music imaginable. Not only that, but it seems like it's permanently stuck on a 30 second loop. Seriously, it's like the Virtua Tennis 3 team asked the Sonic Adventure team if they had any leftover music. If you want to increase you score (and save your brain cells) we suggest you use your own music. Better yet, put your own music on pause so you can enjoy the silence.
Graphically, the game is sharp, but the character models have a creepy mannequin quality to them. They seem stiff and wooden. The brow wiping animations in particular look very strange. The courts look nice, and the game is very colorful, but it's nothing to write home about. Still, for a tennis title, it's more than serviceable.
All in all, we were disappointed with the demo. We'll wait for the retail release (with it's copious training modes and mini-games) before passing judgment though.
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Reader Comments (Page 2 of 2)
3-17-2007 @ 1:35PM
TheGipper said...
Agreed Tennisman. The demo isn't all that difficult, i've lost maybe twice since the first game i played. Yes, were all used to Top Spin, but just figure out where you need to be before you start jamming that A button and you'll be fine. Be closer to the ball, then hit the A. You wont get the power on the shot, but you wont dive, and your shot will be fine.
But seriously, the game is already better withOUT risk shots. Those killed the online games. Yes im sure people will find new cheese in this game as well, but not just because i have played so much i can time how to hit a risk shot all the time. That isn't tennis, nor how tennis should be played. Does anyone else see Federer hitting the ball as hard as he can every point? No, he knows he'd miss. Its stupid, and thank you VT3 for fixing this.
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3-17-2007 @ 1:45PM
KiySeph said...
Holy christmas, the demo is hard as hell. I was going to get this next week (I loved the original one), but now I'm not so sure...
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3-17-2007 @ 4:57PM
Richard Mitchell said...
Wow, this turned into a pretty good discussion. I'm looking forward to renting the retail version.
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3-18-2007 @ 1:11AM
aero said...
I agree with Tennisman and theGripper. Once you figure out how to move your player and hit the ball where you want it, its pretty fun. If your diving for the ball at every shot it means the computer is dictating play. Move the other player around and get out of the habit if going for a winner on every shot like you could with top spin and its risk shot.
Also take out its a watered down demo. The Retail version will allow you to do different things with your serve as far as(i just keep hitting in the same place over and over) and spins. There will also be a face button devoted to flat shots instead of 2 for slice shots.
The computer is pretty cheap in when it uses drop shots though. And Federer is still pretty tough.
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3-18-2007 @ 2:24PM
JagerQ said...
Seriously, the demo is hard, but I like it a lot more than the Top Spin demos.
But yeah, this isn't Wii Tennis. Move first, hit later. This isn't Top Spin; don't worry about your crazy ass power shots. Get in position, time your swing, and whack the heck out of it.
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3-18-2007 @ 5:29PM
Dillan said...
I've played demos for both top spin2 and virtua tennis3 and for me vt3 is better. The AI is a lot more clever. When I hit the shot the opponent doesn't just hit straight back. It mixes it up. But in top spin2 when i hit the ball to the opponent when i was straight across from him he kept on hitting the ball straight back instead of hitting it diagonally which would have one the point. I will admit the the shot selection in top spin is much better thanks to having a seperate shot for each button but overall vt3 is better and it's been so good that I want to buy it.
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3-18-2007 @ 9:48PM
Pete said...
I mean, it's no mario tennis.
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3-19-2007 @ 2:40PM
JagerQ said...
Seriously, the demo is hard, but I like it a lot more than the Top Spin demos.
But yeah, this isn't Wii Tennis. Move first, hit later. This isn't Top Spin; don't worry about your crazy ass power shots. Get in position, time your swing, and whack the heck out of it.
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3-20-2007 @ 11:16AM
h4wks said...
Thought it was a pretty decent demo, hard though I must agree. I found that if you try holding down A,B,X,Y and effectively initiating your backswing when you are not in range of the ball then you will dive. If you get your player in position to make the shot before holding down the button and starting your backswing then you'll be fine. Pretty realistic representation of the game, no? You need to be set and in a good position to execute a precise or powerful shot, and this represents that.
Milkybar Kid out.
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3-20-2007 @ 12:43PM
Roy Warner said...
As a real tennis player, I'll tell you that this game is way closer to real Tennis than Top Spin.
First of all: The AI is actually somewhat challenging, still too easy, but still challenging.
The point of Tennis isn't to hit great shots constantly, it's all about positional advantage, and to tire your opponent out. If you have any sense of Tennis strategy, this game becomes almost as unenjoyable as Top Spin due to how easy it is. But the points are actually intense, and I don't know about you guys, but when I dove for a shot, I was able to get up and get back into it very easily. You guys are so used to Top Spin 2 that you think this is hard?
No, it's not hard.
It's Tennis.
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3-20-2007 @ 7:20PM
Roy Warner said...
As a real tennis player, I'll tell you that this game is way closer to real Tennis than Top Spin.
First of all: The AI is actually somewhat challenging, still too easy, but still challenging.
The point of Tennis isn't to hit great shots constantly, it's all about positional advantage, and to tire your opponent out. If you have any sense of Tennis strategy, this game becomes almost as unenjoyable as Top Spin due to how easy it is. But the points are actually intense, and I don't know about you guys, but when I dove for a shot, I was able to get up and get back into it very easily. You guys are so used to Top Spin 2 that you think this is hard?
No, it's not hard.
It's Tennis.
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3-30-2007 @ 5:51PM
anony said...
This is clearly a case of someone not playing the game properly and then complaining that the game wasn't doing things right. Get in position before swinging, and you will not dive. Get in position earlier and hold the button down longer and you will hit as hard as the computer does. Get in position even earlier and hold down + slice and you will do a drop shot. The mechanics of getting to position early to pull off better shots comes directly from how you play tennis in real life. Yes, you can continuously dive to get to far balls, but that's a necessary evil since the game would be no fun if points were as short as they are in real life. And even if someone does dive to get the ball, the point is pretty much won at that point since you can start wailing on the ball side to side so no harm done except that you play a few more balls which is more fun than a point ending abruptly.
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