Contest Closed
After last week’s long-awaited release of Sonic 4: Episode 2, SEGA surprised gamers by releasing Virtua Tennis Challenge for iOS and Android this week. Arguably the premiere tennis franchise for consoles, Virtua Tennis Challenge does a great job translating to the small screen, packing tons of content into its first appearance on smartphones.
Translating a tennis game to touch screen is no menial task; the precise nature of the game makes it inherently difficult to create a realistic experience. By keeping the game mechanics fairly simple and offering a number of unique control modes, it gives players some freedom in developing their styles and finding a scheme that works best for them.
The meat of the game’s content comes from the SPT World Tour mode, which spans 18 stadiums, multiple tournaments, and dozens of challenging opponents to conquer on the way to the top of the world rankings.
Players can upgrade their skills and customize their playing strengths, which gives every new run through career mode a unique feel. There’s also exhibition and quick match modes, plus daily challenges for players to conquer as they master the different court styles in Virtua Tennis.
What makes Virtua Tennis so much fun is the accessible, challenging gameplay awaiting in each match. Playing to your strengths fill up a power shot meter, which allows players to take ultra-powerful shots to try and dominate opponents at key points in the match. There’s a bit of a learning curve to the serving system, and it will take a few double faults until one can really get a feel for placing serves accurately.
Visually, Virtua Tennis won’t blow anyone away, but the court designs look nice, and the addition of high-res replays from multiple vantage points provide some cool moments in between plays after big shots. There are moments of occasional lag even on the newest generation of iOS devices, but nothing that the average gamer is going to get frustrated with during a match.
Sports games are still trying to find success in the App Store, and the presence of Virtua Tennis on the platform is a solid sign that big companies are starting to take it more seriously. Either way, it’s a great addition to any sports fan device, a great tennis game that translates well to iOS, with only the smallest of hiccups.
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Contest Closed
I’d love to win this! Classic game!
Collector’s item! Love to try on iPad.
Great game, love it!
Finally a good tennis game on iOS. Big love.
Great sport game!Hope to win!
It’s fun game . I like it.
Looks interesting. the gameplay is superb! Wanna grab it
Tweeted as @springlong on twitter!!! Thank you very much for the giving away!
Best of the pack! This is the prettiest of all sports games.
This is awesome!!!
Sega’s Virtua Tennis Challenge is actually a rather big deal.
Seems to be a pretty great release. the graphics are top notch! Defientily want to play this game.
Love this app.Tweeted as @Alanfromwater
This is an amazing review. Great job guys. Would love the chance to play this game!! I love your website!
@RadiantReviews
Looks really fun! Would love to win because I don’t have many tennis games
Best Tennis on the iPad ever!!!
Definitely going to try this one out
This looks incredible. graphics and its gameplay are awesome.
Looks slick. Everything is super polished and is a ton of fun to play.Looking forward to checking it out.
WHAT a fantastic game. I’m not a big fan of Tennis but this is one slick game. really nice interface. Thanx for hosting this contest!
amazing gameplay! amazing art style! everything looks great! It really is a FANTASTIC game
Tweeted as @boomresist
Hope to win
God I love this game! What a cool game.
Excellent job! SEGA!
This is a must have Hell Yea!!!!
GREAT! Been looking forward to this since i saw the Xbox version. it’s awesome and sega has done what it looks like a good version. Would love to win this!
Awesome! Chiming in to express my amazement and love for this wonderful game.
Hope to win. Thanks.
Count me in! Its the best platformer I’ve ever seen on iOS!!
The best Tennis game! Would be awesome to win such a great app! Thanks for hosting the contest!
This looks truly good. The best tennis on iOS.
I’m impressed by the quality of the graphics.
Yes, I would love to try out Virtua Tennis, been playing this since it was in the arcades in my younger days.
RTed as @bem69
Great game
Brilliant game. The original on the xbox is one of my favourite gaming experiences ever.
this game looks like it will reach new marks. Could be EPIC SUCCESS.
graphics are good.
This looks kinda interesting, but I’d much rather get it for free than pony up $5. So pick me
Wow this is amazing. What a GREAT Tennis. Thanks for the chance.
It is a grade-A game! This is quite possibly the best tennis game on that app store!
Great sport game, hope to win!
Looks fantastic! And the controls are swipes!
Seem to be realistic at all.
Would love to get!!!
Played the Wii version and would love to try it in iOS.