Virtua Tennis 4: how to take the tennis out of tennis

I bought Virtua Tennis 4 (PC) dirt cheap from Greenmangaming.com  earlier. I got quite addicted to it actually, playing it 7 hours in the last 24 hours (yes, I know, I have no life). However, the more I played it, the more problems popped up. In short, it's not a good tennis game.

(the gameplay modes)

Let's start discussing the world tour first. Unlike in other games, the world tour is limited to 4 seasons, and the goal isn't to reach number 1 but to collect stars by doing various activities, like winning matches of course, but also meeting the fans, doing charity stuff, etc. The world tour is basically a big board game, with your player as the pawn, and you move on the board using cards. There are cards that can move the player up to four places but also special cards you can buy from shops, such as a recovery card (for when your stamina is low) or an agent card that gets you more stars per event. The squares (well, circles) you land on can be minigames, fan events, special training matches and of course tournaments, but also negative events (you can "lose your wallet" for instance, or get a minor injury). For every movement card you use, another one gets added, so you never run out of cards. There are branching paths, but there is also a time limit to reach the end of the season. You are forced to play the final tournament, but if you're too late you lose stars.

(the world tour main screen)

Now, the annoying thing about this system is that it makes the world tour very random. I wanted my created player (David Goffin!) to have strong groundstrokes. Unfortunately, I never could direct my player to the minigames  needed to build on that, so in the end he was basically a defensive player. It's a really strange decision by AM3 to build the world tour like this; it takes away a great deal of control from the player, and quite frankly, it doesn't make much sense. Surely, when trying to build your dream player, you should be allowed to shape his path the way you want it to be, and specialise him/her in the playstyle you want? It's an extremely questionable decision. The board game like play does make it less predictable (and okay, somewhat addicting), but far less involving than the world tours in other tennis games.

As for how my play went: I reached the finals of every slam, won one, but still got a "you didn't do very well" message at the end. I was forced to play the qualifiers for most slams, which meant in the final I had a minor injury, usually my "ankle playing up" - which meant my player moved at a snails pace at random times. Good fun, I can tell you. Then in the last season, I didn't reach the US Open in time (can't figure out why - wasn't I supposed to play the sattelite tournaments to increase rank so I shouldn't have to play the qualies?), which ended with me being penalised 19 points. I reached the final again and got 22 points in total, which means this ended with +3 stars for me. Hmm.

(yes, my Goffin doesn't look at all like the real one, but at least he's blonde)

So much for the world tour, now some more about the general on-court gameplay. Well, maybe I'm (very!) spoilt by the Top Spin games, but there are a lot of things wrong with the Virtua Tennis gameplay. I know it's supposed to be an arcade game and not a sim, but surely they could have improved the now 14 year old gameplay just a bit.
As with the previous games, it's almost impossible to hit a ball out, which means that against a reasonable opponent (be it human or AI) you are basically stuck doing endless baseline rallies until one player screws up (Caroline Wozniacki would love this game, right tennis fans?). The "hold down button to return" also shows its limitations. Doing a shot on the run is basically impossible because of it, and when you're not on the baseline it's quite possible your guy/gal won't hit back even when you're holding the button. It also gives a problem with movement and footwork: holding down the button automatically moves you closer to the ball, the game basically chooses the "ideal" position for you. Again, something that takes away control from you. In Top Spin 4 I can run around balls to hit them with my forehand, here the game decides whether I play a forehand or backhand. The safest thing you can do is position yourself in the middle of the baseline, and hold down a button. You'll hit everything back except balls with a sharp left or right angle. Frankly, this is not how I want to play virtual tennis. I keep saying this as a joke, but there's truth to it: Top Spin is a tennis simulator, Virtua Tennis is Pong 3D.

(the roster - one or two unexpected names)

Those are the main gameplay problems, but that's not all!! Animations are pretty bad, and most players animate exactly the same (in Top Spin 4, the famous guys all had unique animations). The players still slide over the court at times. The funniest animation is when my player wins the last point of the match at the net; he has a walking forward animation, but since he can't run into the net, he just slides sur place. Things like this makes the game look horribly amateurish, especially compared to... well I already mentioned that game enough times in this entry.
One new feature that isn't completely horrible is the power shot: you basically build up a meter by doing...something (it depends on your character's speciality), when it's full you unleash a powerful shot. Which...is barely more powerful than a charged-up shot, and is definitely not a guaranteed clear winner. It does look great, but ultimately there's not much point to it - other than the fact that it looks great.

(the players still look like zombies)

I don't think it's a horrible game, but the mechanics are so outdated; AM3 really should've put more effort into this as it really feels like a lazy entry in the series, and probably should've taken a look at the competition. The Top Spin series probably only sold a fraction of what the Virtua Tennis games did, but Top Spin 4 is, by far, the best tennis game out there, and they could have taken a few hints from it. The Virtua Tennis series really needs an overhaul, the last two entries weren't very good, and with the Top Spin franchise being dead, I hope there will be at least one good tennis videogame in the future.