Much has been written about the perceived lack of hardware sales-driving “killer” launch games for the PlayStation 3, with the honourable exceptions of MotorStorm and Resistance: Fall of Man. Both of which, of course, are Sony-published titles. Such reports have been rather skewed by the fact that precious few PS3 games published by third parties have made their way to the UK. But, we’re proud (and somewhat relieved) to report, the first killer PS3 launch title (in Europe, at least) has surfaced: Virtua Tennis 3, published by Sega.

When it comes to tennis games, Virtua Tennis is the daddy, thanks particularly to its ability to allow even the most cack-handed, sports-averse types to play stunningly elegant digital tennis. Virtua Tennis 3 for the PS3 continues this tradition, but adds loads more. It’s the first tennis game to offer a truly compelling, well structured single-player game experience. And it is recognisably next-gen. Sit around playing it, and anyone going past will feel compelled to ask you: “What the hell is that?”

In recent years, football games have tried to make their virtual players recognisable – with often hilarious results – but in Virtua Tennis 3, there’s no mistaking your opponents which, in itself, is a first for the games industry. And you get to see plenty of the world’s top players. But the first thing to do in Career mode is to create yourself, to which end there is a typical create-a-player program. Which, to be honest, I found a bit disappointing. But that really is the game’s only sub-standard aspect.

Once you’ve created yourself, you’re taken to your home base, which sits in the country of your choosing on a representation of the globe. Dotted around the globe you will find various training exercises you can access, a Tennis Academy (for more focused training exercises) and, occasionally, tournaments you can enter. The game ticks forward week by week, and the tennis competitions equate to real ones, on all the different tennis tours, that take place around the world. Some you can enter, but others are restricted to those with a certain world ranking and higher. You start off at a world ranking of 300.

Your first resort should be the training exercises which, one suspects, are much more fun than those practised by real tennis players. They are somewhat reminiscent of the mini-games in Super Monkey Ball and include knocking down sets of skittles with accurate serves, avoiding giant balls and picking up fruit to improve your footwork, hitting numbers which move across the court above the net in order to get a bingo-style house and knocking down piles of oil drums. As you work your way through these, your various attributes (footwork, serve, ground strokes and volleying) improve, and you’re on your way to becoming a tennis machine.

As you enter and win tournaments (generally, you start at the quarter-final stage), your ranking improves. And it doesn’t matter at first whether or not your character has the best attributes, as the AI is very gentle, so you’d have to be pretty unco-ordinated not, say, to thrash Roger Federer. And as the guy you’re playing actually looks like Federer, there are some pretty satisfying experiences to be had.

As you progress (and the practice exercises generate higher levels of difficulty), you are occasionally visited by your fellow pros, offering encouragement or practice matches, which also improve your attributes. Sometimes, you’re entered into the mixed doubles in tournaments. I’ve been tending to play with Maria Sharapova as my partner, which is the sort of fantasy that games are all about. Particularly when I’ve won tournaments with her and she has showered me with praise….

The control system is exemplary – when playing ground shots, it’s all about getting into position early and storing up power by holding the button down (there are two for top-spin, one for slice and one for lobs), in conjunction with moving the left joystick to direct your shot; when at the net, timing is paramount, and the earlier you position yourself and hit the ball, the harder you will hit it. The serve system, when you press a button to toss the ball and press it again to determine power, moving the left joystick to set serve direction, is exemplary, and means serving is a real advantage.

Whether you like tennis or not, Virtua Tennis 3 is an absolute must-buy on the PS3, simple as that. Naturally, it also has tournament and multiplay modes, but we’ve become so hooked on the single-player game that we haven’t tried them yet. But see if you can get yourself a Virtua Tennis 3 demo, and you will see what we mean.

By Steve Boxer