Virtua Tennis 09 has already hit the Xbox 360 and PS3 this year to decent review scores from ourselves, so now that the Wii version is here with it’s fancy WiiMotion Plus compatibility does it offer anything different to make it stand apart from the other versions?

 

Rather than explain the game now (we will do that later), I’m sure what you really want to know is how Virtua Tennis 09 plays, especially given it’s support for Wii MotionPlus. First of all lets talk about the controls without the MotionPlus attached, when playing in this way a small blue box will appear on the screen along with a white line, the box is split into two sections which represent each side of the court, therefore the timing of your swing will decide what side of the court you hit the ball to. This does seem a decent way to play and it works quite well, although it can be very awkward to get used to at first, however once you are used to this way of playing it is quite easy.

 

 

So what happens when you plug MotionPlus into your WiiMote? Well the game changes completely and so much for the better. The first thing you will notice is that the blue box disappears, to be replaced by something much more realistic, your movements. Every swing and swipe that you do in your front room is replicated perfectly on screen, which makes this a much more enjoyable way to play tennis, sure there are some annoyances like the way you have to point to your player to say you are ready before every serve and there is also the occasion where the WiiMote won’t read your movements, but in general this is probably the most fun I have had playing tennis outside of the real thing.

 

There are a few options in the way you play too, at first I personally just used the WiiMote and allowed the CPU to control the movements of my player, however later on I attached the WiiMote and controlled the movements myself, which is something I would recommend everyone does once they get the hang of the game.

 

Outside of using WiiMotion Plus it has to be said that the Wii version of Virtua Tennis does have a lot of similarities to the PS3/Xbox 360 version, for one you are still able to play through the World Tour mode which means that this game should feel familiar to anyone who has played any of the games in the Virtua Tennis series before. In World Tour Mode you basically create your own tennis player, train him up though a mixture of training, friendly matches and training games all while entering and winning tournaments to help him climb up the World rankings.

 

While friendly matches explain themselves, the training is a bit more complex. Basically your practice is split into three techniques, Ground Strokes, Footwork & Technique and Serve & Volley and within each of these sections you will find various challenges which help improve your stats in these areas. Once you have completed the challenges which include things like performing cross court shots and drop shots, you will then be able to move on and select a play style. If you tire of training then there are other more fun ways to improve your skills such as by playing the mini games that the Virtua Tennis series is famous for, as you progress through the World Tour mode you will be able to take part in games such as Alien Attack, Court Curling, Pirate Wars and Pin Crusher to name a few, these games are all great fun and each of them will help you to improve your skills in different areas.

 

 

In between training and playing matches the game also gives you the ability to have a rest and go shopping, resting is of course important as it will help your character regain lost stamina and also give him time to spend some of his in game cash at the clothes and sport accessories store. The store has all of the options you would expect it to, therefore if you want to buy your character a new racket or blue trainers, then go knock yourself out. It is also worth mentioning that when you win a tournament, the court pass will be unlocked for that venue and placed in the store, although you still need to buy it.

 

Graphically the game is certainly not anywhere near as polished as the PS3/Xbox 360 versions, however this is to be expected. What is not forgivable however is that sometimes there are problems with the animations, therefore jaggies and the slowing down of the gameplay does tend to ruin the experience on occasion. This is not a major problem though so don’t be too hung up on this.

 

One of my major annoyances with the Wii is online play and how hard it is to connect to others, however there is no such problem here as SEGA have integrated the same Online HQ option that can be found on other versions of the game, therefore you can easily take part in tournaments and ranked matches without too much hassle. Even better is that games seem to be generally lag free, meaning that you can test out your new Wii MotionPlus skills online against the World.

 

Overall, while Virtua Tennis 09 may not look as good as the other versions, the Wii’s magic comes to the rescue once again as the innovative controls here make this version of the game the pick of the bunch. Fantastic and Highly recommended.