Having played Virtua Tennis 3, 2009 and Top Spin 4, I have to say Virtua Tennis 4 is by far the best of the bunch. The World Tour only needs a slight tweak to make it perfect, maybe the inclusion of a slower build up over 5 years would be better rather than aiming for everything over one tour but...

Super !!

It's the Tetris problem. Occasionally a game maker happens upon a flawless recipe on the first attempt, a kind of perfection that would be compromised if any of the ingredients were added to or taken away from.

With some good gameplay additions and a new twist on the career mode, Virtua Tennis 4 still manages to play a great game of arcade tennis.

Virtua Tennis 4 gives you plenty of options in how you can choose to play. Firstly, there is a handy "Practice" mode that will teach you the fundamentals. In "Exhibition" mode you pick either your user-created character or one of the 18 pros who lent their likenesses to the game, including Federer,...

Virtua Tennis 4 finds itself in the awkward position. It's a long-running series with a fan base that expects a certain style of play. At the same time, there's the pressure associated with motion controls, which have led to a near complete reformat of how sports games are played.

When the main reason I keep coming back is a thirty second mini-game, we have a problem. Really though, the game does the absolute minimum to be considered "good." While it's fun there's nothing that keeps you coming back for more. Shame, really.

Sega's latest Virtua Tennis title boasts the same fun gameplay the franchise has become known for, but spotty motion controls and a lackluster world tour mode seriously hurt its replayability.

When you consider that new football, basketball and even golf video games are released every year, it's easy to forget that it's been a while since we've seen a new tennis game. The somewhat unrepresented sport doesn't get a lot of attention in the U.S.

Let's all just face it: Virtua Tennis is a franchise that is going to exist forever. Its existence will be a constant for some years to come – right up until Sega's unforeseen dying day.