VIRTUA TENNIS 2

Sega Sports/Hitmaker
1-4 Player
PAL Version

Sega surprised everyone with the arcade release of Virtua Tennis. An incredibly playable, nicely realistic game of tennis, a feat that remained unaccomplished since the SNES days of Super Tennis. While Mario Tennis and Let's Smash both provide some good fantasy style tennis, almost all 'realistic' tennis releases prior to Virtua Tennis were, put simply, pure rubbish. Sega defined the genre, with simple yet effective gameplay combined with superb graphics and slick presentation, adding in some well known players to complete the package. Now, a few years later, Sega release the sequel, and amazing, it makes the original Virtua Tennis look very ordinary.

VT2's improvements over the original are obvious from the first game. The most hyped addition to the game is the inclusion of female tennis players, including the Williams sisters, Jelena Dokic, Monica Seles and Mary Pierce. The female players add a new dimension to the game, as they play a very different brand of tennis to the males, and require different strategies and approaches to earn victory. The male roster has also been updated, gone are several of the originals, but in their place are our boy Pat Rafter, Magnus Norman and a few other lesser known players. While many well known players are missing, the lineup available is still impressive, and while not playing exactly like their real life counterparts, they do have strengths and weaknesses similar to their likeness, for example, the Williams sisters have powerful serves and strokes, while Jelena Dokic moves around the court like lightning, and Kafelnikov has that killer two handed backhand.

Further play reveals the true refinement of this game, however. Movement feels a lot more natural, and less robotic. Strokes are more realistic, and the ball physics are far more accurate, something that is accentuated by the increase in shots available to play. By using either topspin or backspin on the ball, dropshots, deep volleys and more are now possible, adding another dimension to gameplay. While lobbing over your opponents head is still a viable option, it is less effective than in the first game, as shots are less perfect than in the original, volleying a smash will no longer result in a winner, nor will diving attempts at rockets down the line. Serving also gets a shot in the arm, with slicing serves more realistically portrayed, and the ever popular 'wide serve' that curls so much it nearly ends up back on your side of the court, is gone.

The ball physics and realistic movement are what makes this game. Virtua Tennis seems amatuer in comparison to its sequels advanced physics and the game of tennis the original plays seems very shallow in comparison. Sega have thought long and hard about what they could do to improve this game, and while adding a lot of extras to the package, they also completely revamped the game engine itself to bring to us what could be called an entirely new game. You can never go back to the original after playing this game, it just feels so forced and so mechanical, Virtua Tennis 2 is far more natural.

The World Tour mode also gets a makeover, and while the premise is still the same, play mini games and enter tournaments to improve your ranking, an RPG style level building feature is included, where you swap between a male and female character (created using the rather limited creation tools provided), training them over the various mini games to improve their statistics, then entering tournaments to earn prize money and improve your ranking, which in turn allows you entry into the bigger tournaments with better prizes on offer. The stores also make a return, where you can 'buy' new courts, outfits and equipment. While fun for the most part, building up your characters tends to get a little repetitive, as the mini games can become quite difficult, and since the tournaments are based on a calander year, if you fail in one particular tournament, it is one year before you can try again, which equates to around over 40 attempts at the mini games. A 'quick-jump' mode would be appreciated here, as some of the later tournaments may require several attempts before being conquered. The world tour mode is definitely an improvement over the originals, however, and is where the meat of the gameplay lies.

Graphically, this is just Virtua Tennis tweaked slightly, with far better animation and slight improvements in texture quality. The music is far less 'in your face' than before, and you barely notice is while playing. The graphics are top notch, of course, and not much could have been done to make them better. No slowdown is present, which is always a good thing, even in the four player mode, which is one of the finest gaming experiences available. Virtua Tennis was great in multiplayer doubles mode, but VT2 just has so much mor depth. It isn't as 'pick up and play' as the original, but after a few minutes you and three mates will be bashing around with this game like you've been playing tennis all your life. Multiplayer gaming doesn't get much better than this.

There isn't much wrong with this game. Some people may complain about the lack of a 'true' simulation of tennis, with the longest games available being a single set with tie break. This isn't an issue though. Others may question its depth, but the game plays so fluently that you'll be hooked. The AI is well balanced, and is far less 'immortal' than the first game. Occasionally your computer doubles partner will make some stupid moves, but they more than make up for it with some superhuman plays. The only way you could find this game anything less than brilliant, is if you hold some deep, perverse hatred for tennis inside of you. This is gaming at its finest, pure gameplay filtered into a superb package, I honestly cannot see how this game could be improved at all. Of course, many people said the same about the original, so I wait eagerly for Sega's next installment. A classic.

Graphics: 93
+Well animated and amazingly lifelike player models
-Not enough facial expressions
Sound: 86
+Great crowd and court sounds, better music
-No grunts or groans from players
Gameplay: 96
+Great physics, plays a near perfect game of tennis
-Some may find it repetitive
Overall: 93
+An incredible simulation of tennis, excellent design and presentation, great 4 player mode
-World Tour mode could use some slight improvements.