Super Real Tennis Hands-On Impressions

In the world of mobile tennis games, there are highs and lows. Rarely, however, does a company responsible for a low turn around and deliver a high on the very next outing. Super Real Tennis from Sega has the potential to unseat Tennis Addict from the Best Mobile Tennis Game position. And it's much, much better than Virtua Tennis.

Proving that 3D can be done well on mobile, Super Real Tennis plays like a tiny, portable arcade game. Little details will make any game shine, and Super Real has a ton, including convincing ball shadows, chalk splashes, dives, and backpedaling for lobs--all of which make the game seem at least pretty real, if not super real. Two more nice touches: the replay mode, which plays on demand or after a particularly nice rally, and a full-screen mode, which eliminates the battery and network symbols on the game screen.

Of course, gameplay is the most important element, and Super Real shines in that department. At the beginning, serve and volley are simple, with only one button to push and a limited amount of maneuvering to get in position to return. As the matches progress, your opponents make things tougher on you. There's a standard role-playing game element to Super Real, so you can allocate skill points as you progress in the tournament mode.

It's too bad most gamers won't get to see Sega's return to quality tennis games. Super Real is planned for a Q3 launch, preinstalled on the yet-to-be-released Sony Ericsson K700 handset. Hopefully the company will get the encouragement it needs to port it to other, more widely distributed phones.