Personal Rating: "Get it whilst on a decent sale"
Traditional Rating: 6/10
Platform: PC
Genre: Sport Simulation

Sega lets you deck it out on the world's tennis court circuit with some of the biggest names in the sport. Starting as a complete newbie it's up to the player to rise the ranks of the top tennis player listings and go for all four big grand-slam wins to become tennis champion of the world.

I was a little disappointed that you could not select any of the world's top tennis players as your character but given the context of the actual game the idea is that you rise the ranks not start immediately at pole position. Virtua Tennis 4 employs a board game style grid complete with dice rolls. Often you will find you don't have a particular roll (or ticket as its referred to in game) so you will miss some of the more interesting squares on the board. Whilst I realize this was trying to add an element of strategy to the game it really doesn't work in a tennis simulator. After I had gone around the board a few times (represented in years) I was honestly fed up with the game mechanics.

I did, however, really enjoy the myriad of mini-games on display that are designed to increase your skill level and incrementing in levels each time you get enough training points, these mini-games get incredibly challenging the higher the level you go.

I didn't find any of the big name stars onboard very challenging with most having a play pattern that is easily recognizable which lead me to eventually winning all four grand-slams repeatedly. The game does have multiplayer but you are forced to work your way through the dreadful Games for Window Live in order to hook up with some other real life players and of the players I did match up with it was very clear some of them were hacking and cheating with their tennis chars zooming around the court like a superhero. I just don't understand this logic - are you really that hopeless a gamer that you need to cheat against other players? Perhaps gaming really is not for you and you should just go and pick apples instead.

Virtua Tennis 4 graphics are not bad but they are not particularly good either and some of the animations are very stiff. The audio is what you would expect from a tennis game with the crowd cheering during all the climaxes. I wouldn't pay full price for this as its certainly not the best tennis simulator to grace the PC. The mini-games are incredibly fun though and should you wish to pick up this title it would be wise to get it on a decent sale.

Graphics are the highlight for this game, although the cutscenes repeat over and over. The World Tour mode is interesting and involves strategic planning but it becomes a bit boring later. Gameplay isn't so good, lacking play variation and skills. At many times the gameplay resumes to positioning at the right place and pressing the button to hit the ball. You can have fun with this game, but not for long. Gamepad is recommended.

Gráficos são o destaque desse jogo, embora as cutscenes se repitam. O modo World Tour é até interessante e envolve alguma estratégia mas depois torna-se meio chato. A jogabilidade não é tão boa pois falta variação nas as jogadas sem muita demonstração de habilidade. Em muitas coisas o jogo se resume quase a apenas se posicionar e apertar o botão na hora certa. Confere diversão mas perde a graça logo. Gamepad recomendado.

ENG: The best and most realistic tennis game on Steam, interesting and effective game in which the gameplay is enough. Character customization, as well as mini-games. Referral!

FIN: Paras ja realistisin tennis peli Steamissa, kiinnostava ja toimiva peli, jossa pelattavaa riittää. Hahmo kustomointi sekä minipelit. Suositteluni!

id recommend this game to people who dont know or care about real tennis. if u like sim-tennis this game is not even close, and in my opinion the worst virtua tennis game mechanics of all time. Play styles in this game are MADDENINGLY RIGID. you pick a play style like strong backhand and yes you do hav a strong backhand, but every other shot is terrible. for example........ try winning using roger federer (serve volley(?)) against anyone (online or offline) on anything other than the easiest difficulties, without coming to the net! impossible.....

career mode is just about as arcade as it gets

people who dont mind all the above reasons i dont like it may like this game but i cant recommend it. grand slam tennis 2 is EASILY the worst tennis game ever ever played and VT4 isnt hugely better. in a nutshell if u dont mind terribly rigid unrealistic tennis games with abominable randomisation in career mode then this game is for you. but tennis simmers keep far far away. SMASH COURT 2, FULL-ACE, TENNIS ELBOW, THE TOP SPIN'S ---- great games even VT 2009 I think had good gameplay but again horrible career mode