TGS 06: Virtua Tennis 3 Hands-On

TOKYO--We missed Martina Hingis during her retirement. We missed that cute little smirk of hers, her huge forehead, and her ability to confound opponents with a mixture of tactical skill and surgerical precision that had her making foes look stupid well before Maria Sharapova and the Williams twins were doing their thing. So one of the pleasant surprises at seeing the playable version of Virtua Tennis 3 (known in Japan as Power Smash 3) for the PlayStation 3, besides seeing a gorgeous-looking game, was seeing Hingis on the roster. Needless to say, we went with Martina and dove right in.

To get it out of the way early: This game looks amazing. Its bright, vibrant color palette is immediately noticeable in everything from the signs in the stadiums to the outfits of the players. The character models are excellent, as well. We enjoyed the little details such as Hingis' swinging ponytail and Lindsey Davenport's lumbering backhand, which looked and felt authentic. The ball boy and the judge watching as the action went back and forth between courts was also a nice touch. In fact, all of the characters in the game were immediately recognizable, including known pros such as James Blake, Rafael Nadal, and the always lovely Maria Sharapova.

The Virtua Tennis series has always struck a nice balance between immediate satisfaction and long-term reward. It's easy to pick up a Virtua Tennis game and immediately understand the controls and how to be successful, and that's no less true in Virtua Tennis 3. The left analog stick is used to move the player around the court, and three of the face buttons on the PS3 dual analog controller--circle, square, and X--dictate the kind of shot you hit.

Beyond its immediate pick-up-and-play nature, where the series has typically excelled is in its steady climb in difficulty as you progress through the game. Eventually, you hit your Virtua Tennis "wall," where it takes a serious reconsideration of your approach to the game to be successful. While we didn't get a chance to hit our personal wall today--we smoked Davenport in straight sets--it's clear that the game's winning formula of responsive controls speaks to greater depth the further you go in the game.

We like what we've seen of Virtua Tennis 3. No, it's not a reinvention of tennis for the next generation of consoles (we're waiting for the Nintendo Wii to do that). Instead, it seems like the game is aiming directly for the fast and fun gameplay that has made the series such a hit over the past few years. We'll be bringing you more on the game in the coming months ahead of its release in 2007 so stay tuned.