Review - Virtua Tennis 4: World Tour Edition

The video game industry is a funny one isn’t it? Just last week we were talking about how underused tennis tends to be as the focus of sports games, and two are released within a week of each other. Rather than complaining of course, we’re only too happy to take all we can get. If you read our Grand Slam Tennis 2 review, you’ll have noticed that we mentioned how the game expertly straddled the boundaries of both arcade and simulation style tennis to serve up one of the most well rounded virtual representations of the game we have experienced to date. Well this time it’s Virtua Tennis 4: World Tour Edition’s turn to show how it can make use of the power on offer from the PlayStation Vita.

First things first, this is an arcade game. There’s no ifs, ands or buts about it – Virtua Tennis 4: World Tour Edition is a game that is intended to be picked up and played with immediate accessibility, and given the fact that it’s a portable title, it’s all the better for it. While the likes of Grand Slam Tennis 2 offer a little more depth in terms of character development, as well as difficulty (particularly on the higher settings), portable consoles tend to excel themselves best when left to cover the other side of the game.

Visually, VT4: WTE is a stunner. Despite the fact that it’s running on a handheld system, it looks absolutely gorgeous from start to finish. The character models are flawlessly rendered, and player animations are up there with anything we’ve ever seen on a home console. Colours are bright and vibrant, making excellent use of the Vita’s OLED screen and, perhaps most importantly of all, the game runs without dropping so much as a frame during play.



In terms of what’s offered from the game’s play modes, there’s certainly enough here to keep players of all interest levels happy. If you’re planning on really getting stuck in, then the World Tour mode is the one for you. Here you’ll be able to create your own player based on a pre-existing character model, with the option of taking a photograph of yourself and placing it onto your character, creating the novel experience of genuinely being part of the game.

The character editing options are quite comprehensive, allowing you to tailor your character to whatever style and appearance you have in mind. The process is quick and easy, with minimal delays for loading between the different editing options – something that we couldn’t say about GST2, unfortunately.

Once your character is created, it’s time to jump into the action. Being an arcade game, and one that is very much tailored to the portable experience, things might seem a little bit strange when it comes to navigating your way through events at first. Rather than simply going from match to match, as is the case with the other major franchises, you’ll instead need to utilise one of your continually replenished travel tickets each day to move a certain amount of steps. It sounds a little clunky, but it works for a number of reasons.



The first is that it calls on you to employ a certain level of micromanagement of your resources. At first, it’s easy just to skip ahead based on whatever ticket is first on the list, but you’ll quickly realise that that’s no way to best use your character. Instead, you should be planning two or even three moves ahead at any given time, to ensure that you land on a rest market when you need to take a break, a training market when it’s time to bump up your attributes and a match or tournament market when you feel ready to take on an opponent.

Later on in the World Tour, you’ll encounter more and more icons, each offering new training, interactions or even bad news events. If you continue to train or play despite your fitness level being down, you will run the risk of picking up an injury, which can put your character out of action for a few days. Such a delay could ultimately mean you end up missing one of the big tournaments, and your chance to speed through the in game ranking system.

As you play and train you’ll collect stars. The more stars you have the better your reputation, and the higher the chance of you not needing to qualify for tournaments. Not only do qualifiers take up additional time, but they also mean that your player will tire out faster when he reaches the later stages of the tournament – certainly not desirable if you intend on emerging victorious.



Over the Tour’s five seasons (four regular seasons and one break season where you’ll have the chance to take part in a future stars tournament), you’ll need to perform as best you can if you’re going to end up as highly respected as the big name players like Roger Federer, Raphael Nadal and Novak Djokovic, to it’s worth paying attention to your every move.

The overall tone of the game is certainly light-hearted, with optional fancy dress matches cropping up every so often, for example, which encourage you to get a little bit crazy with your outfit. It’s touches like that which really make the game stand out on its own, away from the other offerings in the genre, and it’s one of the reasons we love it so much.

The main reason we love it, however, is the fact that it plays like an absolute dream. With relatively straightforward controls meaning that you’re left to worry about your on the court performance rather than contorting your fingers, it really is a joy to play. No matter what play mode you opt for, there’s always something new to see or do, and lessons to be learned.



Aside from the World Tour mode, you can also take on a series of different single player modes, such as the obligatory Arcade Mode, as well as all the usual online modes (which play perfectly over WiFi), and the impressive new Vita exclusive play modes. While we’ll be the first to admit that these modes are more gimmicky than anything else, there’s a lot of fun to be had with them – if only for their innovative use of the Vita’s technology. For example, you can play a match in first person perspective, where moving the Vita around will let you look around your in-game surroundings. It’s a really novel experience and, somewhat surprisingly, it’s one that works really well when it comes to actually playing, even if you will spend most of your time moving the Vita around in your hands.

Another innovative game mode is the two player tabletop tennis offering, where you and a friend can take each other on using a single Vita. The court is viewed from a top down perspective, and you control your player’s movements by dragging your finger around the court. You hit the ball by flicking in the direction you want to hit it in a timely manner. It’s simple and it works. Arguably it’s the most enjoyable feature to use in order to show your Vita off to jealous friends!

Ultimately, if Virtua Tennis 4: World Tour Edition was a PS3 or Xbox 360 game, it would probably feel a little hackneyed due to its somewhat dated control scheme and it's arcade persuasions, but the fact is that it lends itself superbly to the portable nature of the Vita. It’s made for being picked up and played in short bursts with friends or alone, and that’s really what handheld games are all about. If you want something with a more serious tone, or that has more depth and difficulty, then we definitely recommend Grand Slam Tennis 2, but when it comes to Vita launch titles, this is right up there with the very best.