Smash Court Tennis 3

Tennis doesn’t simply stop for a year after Wimbledon, you know – there’s a loyal fanbase out there always hungry for more. Ben Parfitt’s skirt flaps in the wind…

Considering the thousands of sports played around the world, it’s surprising to think that only a select few ever make the successful transition to  games. Mind you, there are loads out there still begging for their first console outing. EA’s Kabaddi 2010 would be the best game ever, challenged only by 2K Sports’ Boule Street. And maybe Midways’ Blitz Netball.

There are a number of  popular sports that have struggled to make the transition from real to digital. Rugby, for instance, has never been a huge hit. However, there are a core of sports that form the backbone of an armchair fan’s game collection – football (and the American version of it), racing, golf, boxing, basketball and tennis. And all of those extreme sports too.

But of course tennis is really the one that got the ball rolling, with the arrival of the world’s first (or second, arguably) ever video game, Pong. Pong still claims a warm place in many gamers’ hearts – tragically, such is the age of this author that he remembers playing it. And whilst Ralph Baer’s magnus opus would struggle to sell on XBLA or PSN nowadays, the seeds it sowed paved the way for today’s highly enjoyable tennis outings.

Whilst Sega’s Virtua Tennis can lay claim to the arcade end of the genre, and PAM’s Top Spin 3 the more serious side of the sport, Namco’s third outing in its Smash Court series delicately treads the fine line between the two.

First off, from a realism perspective all the big names from the tennis world are present and accounted for – including the likes of Swiss champ Roger Federer, Spanish clay specialist Rafael Nadal, Belgium’s Justine Henin and Russian beauty Maria Sharapova. All are animated according to their real-life appearance, and boast play-styles mirroring their real-life counterparts.

Five game modes are featured in the title – the usual Exhibition, Arcade and Tutorial modes are all present and correct, and there’s also a range of mini-games and a Pro Tour mode, where players can guide their character to the top of the world rankings.

Namco and Atari are also making a lot of noise about all the character customisation options on offer –  with twice as many items as its PS2 predecessor.

Whilst Wimbledon may be a distant memory, tennis will be one of the featured sports at this year’s Olympics, and the success of a sports game is not always dependent on  a real-world competition.

Smash Court Tennis has a strong following thanks to its success on previous consoles, and Atari will be hoping the current sports fever will ensure this game scores a retal ace when it’s released later this month.