

While it certainly keeps things interesting, it does little more than add a sense of frustration whenever I couldn't play a tournament or mini-game when I wanted to because the game forced me to move in random intervals on the game board. The World Tour is now a bizarre board game, adding a level of randomness to the career. Virtua Tennis 4 isn't all a rehash, but the new features don't add a lot to the experience. Not that there's a lot that can be improved in a tennis game (it's essentially a glorified Pong), but it's hard to get excited for a game I've played already. It's nearly all the same players, and the mechanics are identical. The meat of the game doesn't feel different than Virtua Tennis 3. Not only because I literally played this before when it was out on PS3, but also because the series hasn't changed much. The biggest problem with Virtua Tennis 4 is that it feels like I've played all this before. Not gonna lie, I yelled obscenities both in anger and joy during the final, most difficult tournament, and that's how a high energy, emotional game like tennis should feel. It's satisfying to hit a smash and watch the other guy dive for it. The opponents feel unique and require different strategies to defeat.

The controls are tight, the animations are good, and the game has a great difficulty progression.
