Virtua Tennis. It’s a double-edged sword with a series so well known and so popular. Imagine you are SEGA for a moment. Do you tell the developer to go in a radical new direction with the intention of creating a fresh new challenging game? Such a bold, risky move could produce something special but could also alienate your loyal fan base (who are probably hoping for a same-but-different experience). Or do you take the approach of hey, we’ve got this arcade tennis thing down pat and it ain’t broke so we’re not fixing it (but just to be on the safe better tweak some stuff, add some stuff and spruce up the visuals).

I envy not SEGA. For the record, they took the latter approach and in many ways that’s just as brave thing to do since a same-but-different experience is tricky enough to pull off.

The career mode, called World Tour, is where you will spend majority of the game. When you start you can choose whether to play either the male or female tour (in the previous game the tours were combined) and then you can have a little fun, albeit limited, designing your own character. Select a spot for your home on the globe and you can dive in.

You have 20 years to reach the number 1 spot from your entry-level 300th position. As you win games your ranking increases and you need to be above a certain ranking in order to qualify for the bigger tournaments. Early matches are fairly easy starting at two games per round but this increases to four in the higher ranked tournaments against tougher opponents. Matches take place all over the globe too offering a good deal of variety from the get-go.

However, before that get-go, er, gets going you have a few in-game weeks to explore the mini games dotted around the globe before entering your first match. The games are designed to level-up your playing stats in four areas; volleying, ground strokes, serve and footwork. Not all of the games are available from the start but it only takes a few matches before the globe is littered with enjoyably quirky action (sometimes verging on bizarre - I’m looking at you crocodiles). A couple of mini-games remain from World Tour, such as Pin Crusher and Bull’s Eye. Pin Crusher is pretty much ten-pin bowling with a service action but it’s had a tiny but effective graphical tweak - the tennis ball enlarges to the size of a bowling ball as it sails over the net from your serve.

Most of the others are variations of older games plus a couple of new ones. In Avalanche you run around the court collecting fruit whilst avoiding giant tennis balls all being tipped from a monster dump truck. It’s vaguely reminiscent of Indiana Jones. In Count Mania you you have to direct your ground strokes to a specific part of the court to hit a sequence of numbers. Feeding Time is just plain wacky. There are fans at the back of the court. Connected to the fans are crocodiles on ropes and they are slowly edging towards big chunks of meat at the net. Protect the meat by spinning the fans with volleys or smashes which recoils the ropes the crocs are attached to. Insane, but fun. The mini games themselves level-up as your stats improve getting very difficult at around levels 4 and 5. They’re also playable as individual games from the main menu.

You can also visit the Tennis Academy where you are challenged to complete a specific task several times within a set time limit, such as hitting drop shots or three volleys in a row. Again, more difficult challenges are added as your ranking and stats increase. As you train and play matches your stamina decreases and you are forced to rest. If you don’t rest, for example if there’s a match you don’t want to miss, you can just take an energy drink but you risk an injury. At some point therefore you must take a week off or go on a three week holiday. Getting an injury doesn’t happen in-game. It’s all handled by email and you miss so many weeks of play. I found this element to be a little bit superfluous. It didn’t add any depth, it was just something you had to remember to do.

The career mode in VT3 is a lot slicker than in World Tour. The money aspect has been ditched and I am in favour of that since it wasn’t something paid much attention to before. You access the tour calendar by pressing the R button and there’s an effective new dimension added in the form of email which you can read by pressing the L button. This allows your coach to contact you with pointers for your game and award occasional prizes for good play. It also gives other players the opportunity to approach you for practice matches (which can be another great way to level-up). You also get emails from STP Administration giving you sports gear as prizes for passing hidden milestones like hitting 50 max serves or becoming the most improved player. Some slightly irritating cut-scenes pop up from time to time where the pros approach you with advice or comments. Sadly they look like very bad puppets and it’s best to avert your eyes.

Elsewhere Tournament, Exhibition and Court Games (where you can play most of the mini-games) provide interesting pick up and play diversions from World Tour. It’s also where you get to check out the new pros that have been added such as Nadal and Hingis.

The game has a much more professional lustre to it. Some annoying glitches (like the unnecessary UMD access which hampered World Tour’s globe screen) have been fixed. It’s visually more coherent and the whole set up feels a lot more mature, something you would expect from a series of this pedigree. Looks-wise it’s still on form. It’s not massively different from the preceding game but it does look leaner and sharper. Which is why I find it odd that some appallingly pixellated background textures are present in the cut-scenes along with some obvious tearing and some inexplicable racket jiggling around.

Thankfully the gameplay hasn’t been changed at all. It’s still as easy as ever to pick up yet despite its simplicity you can achieve a comprehensive array of shots with just three buttons for top spin, slice and lob. Position yourself correctly, press one of the buttons and hold a direction on the thumb stick or D-pad and all manner of shots are possible; drop shots, volleys, smashes, cross courts, lobs, you name it. The quicker you position yourself the harder and more accurate your shot will be. A new feature is the Running Shot. Press the top spin button while running towards the ball and you could hit a potential winner at the expense of losing your footing or ending up out of the court. Different surfaces and opponent styles also affect the gameplay. Clay courts are slower and hard surfaces are faster and bouncier. Some players like the baseline, others serve and volley or mix it up with both styles. All of this enables you to apply a great deal of real tennis strategy and it’s very rewarding when you set up a winning shot, then nail it.

Maturity aside, there are still some quirks. Volleying can be a bit off at times. You’ve just slammed a forehand right to the baseline. The other player reaches it and just about makes a return, falling in the process. You’re right up at the net now and the ball comes straight to you. In a real tennis game you’d expect to plant this volley way out of reach of your opponent, who’s desperately trying to recover. Not so in Virtua Tennis. Instead you invariably get a weak, bouncy volley which gives your opponent ample time to make their way to the ball and pass you. Positioning can also be problematic with your character sometimes lunging and falling for shots that appear to be within reach or hitting a running shot by mistake. And a lob is never a winning shot, unless it’s against you. Your opponent will always return it and it’s just impossible to predict. However, none of these quirks manage to detract from the overall excellent on-court experience.

A quick word about the animation is in order since I think it is much improved. When you set up your character you get to choose various animation styles for forehand, backhand and serves (making and receiving). Movements around the court are also a lot smoother and there is less of the slightly superhuman leaping around. The pro players are also distinguishable by their playing styles and stance - their signature shots are quite recognisable. Which is just as well since many of them are not recognisable at all during the close-ups between points. Poor Miss Sharapova fares worst of all. It’s also a tad let down by a very daft looking dive shot - and when I say dive I mean a floppy sort of ineffectual fall towards the ball. But on the whole it’s impressive.

I must say a quick thank you to the Gaming Gods. My plea for an option to turn off the music has been heard and added to this game. Cheesy rock be gone. Elsewhere the sounds are perfunctory and disappointingly glitchy in places. Imagine my surprise as Roger Federer let out a distinctly girlie grunt over and over during one rally. The umpires sound a lot better than before though.

So, have SEGA improved the series? Well, yes they have. Virtua Tennis is a fantastic game and it’s as rock solid and as playable as it ever was. However, the improvements are small and for gamers familiar with the series the new tweaks will become old very quickly. Get this game if you’re new to the series. If you already have World Tour, think twice before buying.