Smash Court Tennis 3

Smash Court Tennis 3 - (Xbox 360)
Developer: Namco Bandai
Format: Xbox 360
Genre: Tennis

Missing the first serve but nearly delivering an ace

Wimbledon may have been and gone but that doesn't stop Smash Court Tennis 3 from making a bold bid for the home console tennis crown. You'll find no Wi-style motion sensor tricks with this title; SC3 is strictly an Xbox 360 game ported from a PSP title of 2007. Now does that scream hardcore or what? No arm flappery that any post pub drunk could win - just good old fashioned honest to goodness gameplay. Or so we thought.

Atari has taken a decent stab at a tennis game and wrapped it inside a gameplay mechanic that makes serves and volleys almost unbeatable, collision control animation (similar to the recent Don King Boxing) that can really befuddle at the wrong time; and controls that - tennis pun aside, can be hit and miss.

There's 16 top ranked tennis stars to choose from (all the usual suspects), plus over a dozen courts to play in. We can hear the 'yadda yaddas' from here - but what we like about this title, in the face of adversity from the likes of Top Spin 3 and Sega's Virtua Tennis 3, is just the sheer fun it is to play - combined with game modes and character creation that really do go above and beyond.

All facial features, body parts and clothing are there to be tampered with - including accessories such as racquets and trainers, but it's how you use them all that matters. Acquire new skills, allocate experience points, train for important matches, and receive fan mail, all the while on the hunt for the number one spot on the tour. Gameplay modes include Tutorial, Arcade, Pro-Tour, and Exhibition mode where up to four players can go head to head offline - before even reaching the realms of Xbox Live and full online play.