Virtua Tennis 3 [X360]

You have two options for console tennis. Three, if you count Mario Tennis, which isn't tennis so much as one of Nintendo's bright and colorful party games with a thin sports pretense. Other than that, you can choose Top Spin (now with the number 2 after its name) or Virtua Tennis (now with the number 3 after its name). For fast-paced, easy-to-play, super-smooth, and sometimes slightly glib tennis, Virtua Tennis 3 is the game to play.

In a way, they're apples and oranges. Top Spin is more of a tennis sim, with demanding skill-based interface gimmicks for fancy shots. But Virtua Tennis is far more generous and forgiving, often over-the-top, but always slick and exciting. Would you be surprised to hear that it's basically a port of a fancy Japanese arcade machine? Because it is.

Virtua Tennis 3 doesn't add much substance to the established formula, which goes back to its debut on the Dreamcast. You're pretty much playing a gussied up version of Pong. You move your player into position, and hold down the swing button to return the ball. Fancy animation takes over from there to make you feel like you're making a tennis pro do his or her thing. There are a few nuances you'll eventually learn, including slices, lobs, and aiming. And if you get the timing wrong, you'll send your player diving wildly for the ball (the players in Virtua Tennis spend an inordinate amount of time sprawled out on the courts). But Virtua Tennis is a game anyone can enjoy and quickly play well.

You can jump into games using a roster of contemporary celebrities like Federer, Roddick, Sharpova, and Venus Williams (Serena is AWOL). For a longer-term investment, you can play a campaign mode, starting with a custom-made unskilled noob and working his or her stats and seeding up to superstar status. It's much easier to get started with a new player here than it was in Virtua Tennis 2 (which was released as Tennis 2k2 in North America). You'll play training minigames and compete in tournaments, unlocking mostly cosmetic gear along the way, but building your skills as you go. In an odd new twist, you'll occasionally have speechless chats with tennis celebrities who invite you to practice with them. You show up and play a game before a full house of spectators and judges. Quite an elaborate practice.

The next-gen tech is suitably impressive, with even more animation (See the onlookers lean to the side to avoid incoming balls!), more detailed courts (See the scuff on the clay in Paris!), fancy new fabric tricks (See Federer's shirt ripple and Williams' skirt flap!), and even more contextual crowd sounds (Hear the multitudes gasp and cheer!). But mostly this is the same superlative animation and sound. It's as gratifying as ever to see such fluid, responsive, and graceful animation in a game that's so easy to play. The grunts and thwacks are diverse, varied, and evocative. And although the characters still have that weird lifeless stare during their close-ups, they're slightly less eerie this time around.