What is GamerDad?
Games are fun and excellent bonding tools. At GamerDad, we believe in Gaming with Children.
Note: GamerDad is intended for Parents.
Email Us, Visit our FAQ, learn About Us, Bookmark us now and join our message board. We update daily!
|
Buy something from Amazon using this link, and GamerDad gets a percentage!
|
|
Home >
Review Archive >
Video Games
> Results: Virtua Tennis: World Tour
|
by Michael Anderson
May 17, 2006
A simple, fun budget priced tennis simulator that understands pick-up-and-play gaming.
Reviewed for PSP.
|
Format For Printing | Tell A Friend | Digg | Slashdot | del.icio.us
| Buy This Game
Scroll down for our Kid Factor.
Virtua Tennis: World Tour is a fun and deceptively simple tennis game ﾖ you move with the analog stick or arrow keys and choose your shot with the buttons. You place the shot by the position and approach of your player. That's it ﾖ oh, and practice, practice, practice! Getting used to the controls can be frustrating, but the rewards of succeeding in a match make up for the repeated ﾑFailed' messages in practice areas while mastering a skill. There are a load of game modes ﾖ jump right into the action in practice rounds or tournaments, spend some time trying to conquer that wide array of mini-games, or start new male and female characters and enter ﾑWorld Tour' mode. The challenges are occasionally uneven ﾖ you will occasionally struggle through the first round of a tournament and then easily win every game through the finals without losing a point. Portable gaming is all about ﾑpick up and play' ﾖ short busts of fun action. Virtua Tennis: World Tour captures that spirit with style ﾖ games last a few minutes, and practice sessions are under a minute, yet it never feels lacking or rushed. With a nice visual style, decent ambient sound and a recently lowered budget price, this is a nice game to own for the PSP to grab for some solid tennis action when you have a few minutes.
Tennis is one of the most fundamental video games ﾖ it all goes back to Pong, after all. And this game is a true all-ages blast just like most sports games. It is all about doing your best, learning from your mistakes and using teamwork at times. This is the type of game that kids will enjoy that is also a nice lesson ﾖ you are rewarded very well for taking your ﾑout of the spotlight' practice seriously.
World Tour is the meat of the game ﾖ you start at the bottom of the rankings and proceed around the world with scheduled events, but before you can get to play tournaments you need to ﾑlevel up' your skills so you can compete. You will go through skill games for serving, strokes and volley, getting experience for participating and even more experience for beating the level. The tournament schedule advances by week, but participating in any event wears down your stamina, making you less effective in every way. To be ready for tournaments you need to plan your time so you can ﾑrest up' before the big event, but at the same time you want to get in as much practice as possible so you are prepared for the challenges.
There is no ﾑright way' to play Virtua Tennis: World Tour ﾖ perhaps all you want to do is play mini-games, or practice tournaments. Maybe you will never make your own character ﾖ the game doesn't penalize you for any approach you take to playing. Whenever you succeed you get credit that can be spent upgrading your equipment, and greater success means a better reward. The game sends the uniformly positive message that practice matters and that the rewards of hard work are greater success at whatever you choose.
Comments? Chat about it in our forums!
Format For Printing | Tell A Friend | Digg | Slashdot | del.icio.us
| Buy This Game
Home >
Review Archive >
Video Games
> Results: Virtua Tennis: World Tour
|
Best Games of 2006!
Read the GamerDad 2007 Holiday Guide!
Visit the GamerDad Store and Buy Stuff!
Advertisement
|
|
