We can't all be tennis superstars. Not everyone likes breaking a sweat, and being out in the sun all day might result in something horrible like a healthy glow. Throw in the high cost of joining a tennis club and the shoddy state of the concrete court down at your local park and, frankly, you need something else to fulfil your tennis needs.

Thankfully, Namco Bandai has a solution to your racquet sports problem in the form of Smash Court Tennis 3. Virtua Tennis has traditionally dominated ... more >>

We can't all be tennis superstars. Not everyone likes breaking a sweat, and being out in the sun all day might result in something horrible like a healthy glow. Throw in the high cost of joining a tennis club and the shoddy state of the concrete court down at your local park and, frankly, you need something else to fulfil your tennis needs.

Thankfully, Namco Bandai has a solution to your racquet sports problem in the form of Smash Court Tennis 3. Virtua Tennis has traditionally dominated the PSP, but Namco Bandai's set to break Sega's serve.

Smash Court Tennis 3 is a more realistic take on the game. You can try a button-mashing ‘hit and hope’ approach, but don't expect your opponents to fall for it. Nope, you'd better have a strategy in mind if you want to progress through the meat of Smash Court Tennis 3, which is the Pro Tour.

There are a number of pros to play as, including tennis superstars Roger Federer and 2006 French Open champions Rafael Nadal and Justine Henin. There are twice as many customisable elements as in previous instalments of the game, including racquets, sportswear and more.

If you want to take customisation a bit further, you might want to try Exhibition, which not only allows you to choose what stadium you compete in, but also allows you to tinker with the rules. For those players that just can't see tennis as a solitary pursuit, the game has an ad-hoc wireless mode that will play from one copy of the game. And for anyone who really wants to push the boat out, Namco Bandai's thrown in some mini-games, including... a Pac-Man challenge? We kid you not. << less