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Virtua Tennis 2009Wii MotionPlus PreviewBy Tom 'Tphi' Phillips - 19th May 2009 13:17
 When the Wii was first announced, we all imagined games where your moves were effortlessly understood by the revolutionary white box in front of you, and translated seamlessly into on-screen movements. In reality, we got Wii Sports, where you could play perfectly well sitting on the couch - lazily jerking your wrist about an inch and a half while your player performed the perfect shot. It was accessible. It was fun. But where was the realism we had dreamt of? Fast forward to May 2009, and Nintendo have finally cracked what this games journalist was still dreaming of on that cold December morning in 2006 when he went to go pick up his Wii. Sega's Virtua Tennis 2009, the first in the series for the Wii, has the option to utilise Wii MotionPlus, and boy does it make things different. You aim, your player aims. You lob, your player lobs. You want to go wave your racquet in the umpire's face for calling that double fault? Well, you can't do that, but you get the point. Play it without the add-on afterwards and it feels like you're back in Wii Sports territory, albeit with slightly more control over where you place shots via an on-screen meter.  "Oi, umpire! Double fault? I don't think so!! While MotionPlus is somewhat insistent that you stand and hold the Wii-mote a certain way, complying to this rewards you with probably the most realistic virtual tennis experience to date [although, to be fair, we haven't yet played EA's similarly MotionPlus-enabled Grand Slam Tennis]. Regardless, it really does work. Swinging your arms the correct way for a backhand shot makes for a backhand shot, while the vigour of your hit and the angle also seem to be picked up. Speaking with some of those involved in the development of the title, it was evident that the MotionPlus controls (although optional in the game) were never a "tacked-on" decision. The title was created with MotionPlus in mind, right from the word go, with over a year's development and refining of the new peripheral's capabilities to show for it. The title features a large new career mode, World Tour, with different tournaments and mini-games accessible from a nice looking 3D globe. Various events pop up, and you can zoom around Google Earth-like to select the one you want. Ten mini-games are featured (all of which can be played two-player locally and online) ranging from addictive puzzle game style fare - knocking down Tetris style blocks in a wall - to the absolutely bizarre - feeding zoo animals by hitting the food zoo keepers throw at you to the right animal at the right time. Never before did we realise lions liked pizza. You learn something new every day.  As you improve in the rankings, expect to draw bigger and bigger crowds. The graphics are looking good - especially noticeable when the camera pans out to see the stadium's crowd - fully stocked with actual decent looking 3D spectators. It's also evident in the detail on player's faces, fully customisable if you want to make up your own. Every attribute of a player can be customised to your whims and decorated with over 1500 items of clothing and accessories that eventually become purchasable. Indeed, one tournament in the game is only open to those wearing fancy dress. There are a decent selection of real world stars are available to play as, including pros like Federer, Murray, Nadal, Nalbandian and Sharapova. To keep it fair however, online play will be limited to player's custom characters. Utilising friend codes, players can hook up for online action in regular matches or in mini-games. Also available are real-world tournaments like the Davis Cup for you to take part in. With the MotionPlus working great, the whole package is shaping up to be a notable addition to the vast sports genre library on Wii. It's out June 9th, so keep an eye open for full review, coming soon. Tom Phillips © Copyright by N-Europe Comments
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Virtua Tennis 2009 System: Wii Genre: Sports Developer: SEGA Publisher: SEGA Release Dates:  June 2009 02.06.2009 June 2009 June 2009Memorycard: N/A Multiplayer: 4 Last updated on: May 8th 2009 |
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