Smash Court Tennis 3 [PSP]

Off the court in the Pro Tour mode you'll be able to check out your schedule and either do several different training events, sign a new sponsorship contract, or enter into one of three types of tournaments (your ranking determines what tournaments are available). The training activities prove themselves to be fairly obsolete in the long run when compared to tournament play. See, you pump up your player's attributes by attaining experience points, which then levels you up after each tournament or training session. It would stand to reason that practicing your ground strokes would enhance your forehand and backhand, but instead the game simply assigns generic experience points for you to hand out however you see fit.

The only problem is that training sessions never earn you as many experience points as winning a tournament, so unless you happen to be too low of a rank to compete in a tournament for that given week, you'll want to spend most of your time working through the bracket of a tourney.

Visually the title is acceptable, but isn't yet on the same playing field as Virtua Tennis as far as tennis on the PSP goes. Players come through very pixelated, with little detail anywhere on the model. The courts and environments don't fair much better, with clay courts that look nothing like the real thing. There's a weird graphical oddity that pops up whenever you serve up an ace, or smash a ball to end a point. During the instant replay of your shot you'll notice that the landing pad for your winner is nothing more than a white, texture-less square.

Aurally the game doesn't deliver the highest of production values. The same techno funk track blares during every replay, and will surely get old during your first match. The sound of striking the ball comes through with a decent level of authenticity, but that isn't exactly difficult to emulate. Aside from some mediocre menu tracks, the sound department is pretty empty.

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