It's fair to say that there's an abundance of tennis games available for the Game Boy Advance, all offering similar gameplay elements and having almost identical feature sets. But any gamer will attest to the fact that Virtua Tennis has long since been in a league of its own with regard to addictiveness and sheer playability. So it's certainly not a bad thing that the game has now arrived on the GBA, recreating the Dreamcast original to the absolute best of the host machine's abilities.
... more >>

It's fair to say that there's an abundance of tennis games available for the Game Boy Advance, all offering similar gameplay elements and having almost identical feature sets. But any gamer will attest to the fact that Virtua Tennis has long since been in a league of its own with regard to addictiveness and sheer playability. So it's certainly not a bad thing that the game has now arrived on the GBA, recreating the Dreamcast original to the absolute best of the host machine's abilities.

The game follows the easy-to-play, addictive style of its predecessor, with Exhibition, Tournament, and World Circuit Modes, enabling you to perfect your game, enter into world tournaments, or develop and train players. There are a total of 16 players to select from, both male and female, including, as you've probably guessed, the rather talented Williams sisters. As no tennis game would be complete without it, Virtua Tennis provides the full range of available playing surfaces, all featuring their respective attributes, including clay, grass, carpet, asphalt, and concrete.

In true Sega style, the game comes complete with a selection of mini games - some taken from the DC version, others unique to the GBA - to add a bit more fun and replayability to the proceedings. The mini games also prove quite useful, as each one focuses on a different required tactic, thus helping you to master different aspects of your game. At the same time, practising these games helps boost the stats of your chosen character, which in turn assists you in your quest to reach the top.

With multiplayer link-up support for up to four players, it's difficult to find fault with this portable version of Virtua Tennis. All the playability and control of the original is in there, along with its accurately rendered ball physics and fluid gameplay. Being 2D sprite-based it's not exactly brimming with eye candy, and some of the animations can be a little clumsy, but underneath lies a fine recreation of the popular sport and a faithful port of the Naomi classic.
<< less