Tennis videogames have been pretty complacent in recent history. The Virtua Tennis and Top Spin series seem to alternate release years, and every once in a while gamers will get a mascot-based variation starring Mario & Friends (or more recently, Sonic & Friends). The point is that neither Virtua Tennis nor Top Spin has been particularly inclined to change up their game in any significant way. It could certainly be argued that they don't really need to: The "hold shot button and get close to the ball" mechanic of both series seems to be quite popular and without any discernible major flaw.
That's apparently not good enough anymore for the Top Spin team. Top Spin 3 requires that you hold down your shot button, get close to the ball, and then release the button to swing. It's a small change on paper, but it'll definitely take some time to adjust to it, and it puts a renewed emphasis on speed, stamina, positioning, and timing. Whether or not this more accurately emulates the feel of real tennis remains to be seen, but at least it's something
OPM: Thousands of Brits will be inspired to pick up a racket this week on the back of Andy Murray’s success at Wimbledon – but in this heat, and given our hand-eye co-co-ordination, we’ll be sticking to the virtual type. Looking to fill your week with some ace-smashing antics? Then join us in revisiting PlayStation’s finest tennis efforts…
Not really, most of those games were available on multiple platforms.
Just so happens that the PS magazine wrote the article so makes sense it would be 'Playstation's greatest games' :)
Gamepyre writes: "When Virtua Tennis 2009 first came out I was very excited about the game; I was so excited that I actually went and got it on release day.
Virtua Tennis 3 has been one of my favorite PSP games, and I could not wait to see what the 2009 Xbox 360 version of the game brought to the table. After playing the game, I was very disappointed in Virtua Tennis 2009; not because it was a bad game per say, but because it wasn't anything new from the previous release."
Another week and another episode of Distributed Failure is here for your listening pleasure. This week's "What They've Been Playing" features discussion on Top Spin 3, Call of Juarez: Bound in Blood, Fight Night Round 4, Battlefield 1943, Final Fantasy IV: The After Years, and much more! They follow that up with some gaming news including the latest update on EGM, the addition of prizes to 1 vs. 100, and the announcement of a new Mechwarrior game.
