In single-player, VT3 has tons of variety, with 20 male and female tennis pros (but no Andy Murray), singles and doubles games, tournaments and World Tour. Like PES, Sega's sports game just feels right - you get real satisfaction when you hit a perfect return from a serve, or smash a crucial backhand into the corner to win a point, and the improved animation adds to the fluidity of the action. Virtua Tennis 3 gives you three types of shot - slice, top spin and lob - although the timing and the ability to 'charge up' shots allows you to pull off a huge array of different ones, which is where the skill of a master player is revealed. Virtua Tennis is the Pro Evolution Soccer of the sport, providing the instant accessibility of an arcade game, with the hidden depths and secrets of a hardcore title - the classic 'easy to learn, difficult to master1 aesthetic that marks out true classics. With The Kind of euphoria that's screeched by numerous middle-aged ladies from Henman Hill during Wimbledon fortnight we welcome back the third iteration to PC after Virtua Tennis 2 failed to show.
