We get a larger selection of real players than ever before, with new faces like Fernando Gonzalez and Caroline Wozniaki joining the established stars: Nadal, Federer, Murray, Sharapova and the rest. If Sega hasn’t messed with the foundations, however, then it has produced the best-looking and most feature-packed version of Virtua Tennis yet, though with some idiosyncrasies that might not appeal to the masses. These don’t pop up so often, and the effect is so cool that when they do, it puts a little cherry on the icing of the game. VT4 is a bit more realistic when it comes to last-minute dashes and players than hurling themselves around the court than the sometimes ludicrously acrobatic VT3, but the only real addition to the basic gameplay is a new mechanic, where you fill up a gauge and - at some slightly unpredictable point - a shot will become a “Super Shot”, viewed close-up in slow-motion, that’s impossible to return. Few sports games have this much “just one more go” factor. The AI in single-player mode is smart without being unbeatable, and it’s easy to pick up but very, very difficult to put down. The controls are simple and responsive, and the emphasis is more on anticipating where serves and shots will land and timing your return than on match strategy or complex power moves. Virtua Tennis 4 isn’t the most in-depth simulation of the sport - see Top Spin 4 if you want to go there - but it is the most enjoyable. Whether you’re an old-hand or a newcomer, this is actually good news. Muscle memory takes over, and the game plays with the same fluid grace it’s had since the beginning.
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While the graphics change and game modes come and go, Sega hasn’t really meddled much over the series four iterations (six if you include the Virtua Tennis 2009 entry and Virtua Tennis: World Tour on the PSP), to the extent that those of us who started playing Virtua Tennis on the Dreamcast can pick up Virtua Tennis 4 and find that it’s pretty much like getting back on an old bike. (Pocket-lint) - “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” seems to be the guiding design principal for Sega’s classic Tennis series.