Virtua Tennis 2 (PS2)

...just one word to describe Virtua Tennis 2, I'd choose "ADDICTIVE", because that's exactly what VT2 is. It's one of those games you can pick up & play; yet there is also something about the game that keeps the hardcore gamers hooked. Why does this game appeal to such a broad market whilst other games haven't? It's all about the gameplay. I'll get to that and pretty much everything else step by step, starting with:

GRAPHICS: ...
...groundbreaking. All in magnificent 3D, with decent textures on the courts & the players. Tim Henman looks so realistic you'd momentarily forget it was a game and imagine you were watching the tele. Why, in that case, did I only grade the graphics a seven? Well I felt that as good as the graphics are, they aren't awesome. They are good, no doubt. Once you get playing, you barely pay attention to them, but there are a few jagged edges, and for as realistic ... more

If I had to use just one word to describe Virtua Tennis 2, I'd choose "ADDICTIVE", because that's exactly what VT2 is. It's one of those games you can pick up & play; yet there is also something about the game that keeps the hardcore gamers hooked. Why does this game appeal to such a broad market whilst other games haven't? It's all about the gameplay. I'll get to that and pretty much everything else step by step, starting with:

GRAPHICS: 7
Well, I can't fault them, yet they aren't groundbreaking. All in magnificent 3D, with decent textures on the courts & the players. Tim Henman looks so realistic you'd momentarily forget it was a game and imagine you were watching the tele. Why, in that case, did I only grade the graphics a seven? Well I felt that as good as the graphics are, they aren't awesome. They are good, no doubt. Once you get playing, you barely pay attention to them, but there are a few jagged edges, and for as realistic as Henman looks, there are others who simply don't look as outstanding. I have to stress at you though, that there is NOTHING wrong with the graphics, they are exactly what you'd expect from a tennis game, and once you get playing you totally ignore the graphics, and it could very well be an Atari game for all you'd care. I wasn't too keen on the opening screen though when I loaded the game for the first time, it looked far too 1990's Arcade style, and everyone knows what they say about first impressions being the most important. As small and insignificant as such a detail is looking back at it now, when you load the game the first time and see that, it is a little off-putting & cheesy. Thankfully that isn't a trend they uphold throughout the game!

AUDIO: 9
You have all the *thwacks* and the *thwocks* of the racquet hitting the ball at a high speed, you can hear your trainers thudding on the court, and you can hear the umpire shout "OUT" as you hit the ball off the court into the crowd. What more could you want? Oh, you also get the Women grunting as they hit the ball, as they seem to do all the time at Wimbledon. All the sounds you'd expect to hear in a tennis match are here, as well as a few additional sounds during the subgames. The crowd cheer at the right time, the background music isn't annoying or repetitious and it all pieces together nicely. No complaints here. It would have scored a ten if only tennis was a more audio-based sport, but it isn't, so it's good for a tennis game, but don't pickup this title expecting tracks from hit singles, like in Gran Turismo, or catchy tunes like you'll hear in the colourful Parappa the Rapper. Just the essentials in here, and done quite nicely, I do declare.

GAMEPLAY: 11
Sure, technically you CAN'T have a rating of 11 on a 1-10 scale, but this is where the game REALLY excels itself. This is why the game is off the charts, mad fun. Ok, so I gather that by now you realise I like the gameplay (who doesn't?), but what is there to do? Just play tennis? - No!! Not at all!! - If you choose to go into the World Tour mode you must first create a player for you, both male & female, then you start in Week 1, Year 1. Both your characters are at rank 300th in their respective leagues (male & females are in separate leagues, no inter-gender matches), and it is your goal to get them both to #1 in the world. You do this by looking at the calendar and working out which tournaments are taking place when, and if you are eligible to enter (depending on your rank), a victory in the tournament is likely to raise your rank, and you'll also receive a fixed amount of money for each match won. Now, tournaments don't come up every day, they appear rather sparingly, especially at the beginning, when the ones that are on you can't enter due to having such a poor rank. While there are no tournaments to take part in, you should head over to the subgames, where each subgame increases your stats. Every game you take part in moves you a week further into the game, and is likely to remove some stamina from your stamina bar. To refill the bar just go to your home & choose to Rest, though I don't see any significant change between a full stamina bar and an empty one, maybe that's just me though.

So, what subgames are there then? Well there is a large range of subgames, including a favourite of mine... BOWLING! Yes, that's right, you have a set of bowling pins (10 pins) then other side of the net, and you have to knock them down to practice your serve. Also there is a game where there are tanks shooting at you, and you have to hit balls at them to destroy them. That is volley training. For footwork training you have to run around the court dodging a flurry of large basketball sized balls being fired at you, whilst collecting various items. Great fun, great way to build up points, great way to kill time. VERY addictive, trying to better your scores. Also, just when you think you've perfected the task, it'll get harder. Once you've achieved a certain score on that topic (serving, volleying etc), it'll get harder. You'll have to knock down more bowling pins, there will be more tanks to take out and more items to collect on foot. It really is challenging, rewarding and most importantly, FUN.

Multiplayer is something else that this game excels in. Grab a multitap and a few friends because this game really is multiplayer friendly. Some other games have 2 player mode, but were designed primarily to be played 1 player, leaving not much fun in 2 player, this game however is so much fun. Up to four people can play at once (a doubles games has two guys on each team), and it's great fun playing against a friend or two. If you want to play 2 players as allies, and become a doubles team, you can. In the exhibition mode, there is a tournament section that puts you and a friend on one team against other teams controlled by the computer. There are three rounds to this, each one gets increasingly more difficult than the last, and the final game is EXTREMELY difficult, it took me and a friend quite a few attempts to get there, but it's a teamwork game, which is both fun to play, and extremely rewarding when you eventually win. If you don't win first time, there is a continue button, so you don't have to start at the beginning again, which is good.

CREATE A PLAYER: 4
Very poor. You need to create two people when starting World Tour (season mode), this means it is fairly integral that you can make someone you like the looks of. However if VT2 had an Achilles, this would be it. Terrible limitations with the choices of faces and hairstyles. Skin tones and clothes. Though in it's defense, more clothes can be unlocked later. Another negative point is that you cannot edit the appearance of your guy/girl midway through the season mode. You can buy new clothes in the Shop, and as you progress up the ranks you unlock more shops and more items of clothing, racquets and other gear that you'd use, such as wristbands, which is good and an innovative way to use the money you earn, but I was disappointed with this section of the game, as I felt more choice here would have been a great improvement. Go look at Smackdown!'s Create a Wrestler feature, with the ability to morph faces for ultimate freedom, among MANY other things, and it really shows VT2's inferior Create mode. I wanted more from this feature.

MISCELLANEOUS: N/A
Other notable things that didn't really fit in other sections, is the ability during season to sign a contract with a doubles partner. I would have liked to have seen negotiable contracts, as in the game everyone costs the same amount to hire, however the general idea and execution is good, but I still believe more could have been done with this.

Disappointingly some of the big names are missing from this game. No Andre Agassi, no Pete Sampras and no Anna Kournikova. We do however get Tim Henman, Cedric Pioline and Pat Rafter. More characters would have been nice, as there aren't THAT many different faces, but there are plenty to find it enjoyable. I just thought it was worth noting as some people may be put off by the lack of big names.

It is very difficult to hit an Ace in this game also. Maybe it's just me and my inability to serve properly (I beg to differ :P), but I have only managed to pull off two aces. They aren't impossible, but they are a tad more difficult than I imagine they should be. You do get some fine rallies as a result though!

Something that I considered to be a plus was the courts surfaces. They aren't all the same; you have grass courts and various other different surfaces. Some of the courts are short and bouncy, making it easy to overhit the ball and lose points by hitting the ball out of play, while others are longer and less bouncy, less fast paced which gives some great rallying. I personally prefer the grassy courts, as they aren't too fast paced or bouncy, and you can play some good Tennis that could go either way. Very often I have found myself stuck at deuce for several minutes, because the computer is no pushover. There is a large challenge for expert players as well, which is another reason I like this game. I don't get too good for it immediately, as it is constantly pushing me and challenging me, whilst not being horridly frustrating.

OVERALL: 9
It's all about the gameplay, the World Tour mode and the multiplayer. Without these elements, the game is average at best. With them, it is excellent. BUY THIS GAME. I am only a casual tennis fan. I only watch when a major championship is going on, and usually there has to be an English guy in the running as well for me to pay much attention, but this game really took my interest and is now a top game in my collection. I cannot emphasize enough the fun you will have with this game, and how many hours will fly by whilst your doing it. If you have even the slightest interest in Tennis, BUY THIS GAME NOW.

I picked it up from Woolworths, as they had it priced up at £19.99, which was cheap considering the game was only released at the beginning of December. I think the price has gone back up to £29.99 now though. At 20 quid it's a steal, at 30 quid it's a good buy.

I would have given this game 5 stars, but the Create a Player mode dropped it a star, as it's mainly that feature which dropped it to 4 stars. With a better Create a Player, it's an easy 5 star game.

Strongly Recommended.

 

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