Way back when, Sega released Virtua Tennis for the Dreamcast. The game was very challenging and came highly regarded. Not only was it a good tennis game, it had a very good career mode which even if you were not a huge tennis fan, it was still worth playing.

Yet again another game has been ported to the PSP with excellent results. Virtua Tennis World Tour builds upon the success of the console version of the game in a great easy to pick up and play for a quick game while in the john or on the bus format.

Of course this game is all about tennis. From the options menu, you can choose a ‘quick match’ which picks the players and the location at random. You can also choose a tournament which is similar to the coin-operated Virtua Tennis arcade game. There’s also an exhibition mode where you can choose a singles or doubles match, the venue, the players involved and all the rules (# of games required to win, etc) although no matter what you can only play one set. There’s also the "World Tour" mode which could also be called "career." In World Tour, you create a tennis player and try to work your way up to the #1 ranking in the world.

In order to get that #1 World Tour ranking, you have to practice, practice, practice. Practicing is performed by playing eight different mini games with progressive levels of difficulty. If you’ve played any of the Virtua Tennis games before, you’ll be in very familiar territory. Games such as "destroy the tank with tennis balls" and "avoid the red balls and collect all the flags by walking over them" are a lot more challenging than you think.

During the World Tour mode, in addition to improving your performance you also need to hire a doubles partner…obviously the more money you have, the better the player that you can hire, which in turn earns you more money and a better ranking when you win tournaments.

The money you earn also allows you to purchase better equipment in the store which also helps your game. As you progress through the World Tour, the minigames and your computer opponents get progressively harder and really start to pose a significant challenge. Getting into the top 10 is a significant achievement and it does take some time. Just like in the pros you’ll have to work hard to get there.

There’s also a 'ballgames' mode which are great for when you want to play a very quick game and not get involved with a tournament. There are 4 'ballgames' one of which is a breakout like game where you hit blocks with your tennis ball. All of these ballgames are fun to play, although they can get repetitive over time. Think of them as mini-arcade games.

The multiplayer mode is both fun and disappointing. Sega did not include a wi-fi multiplayer mode so you can’t play over the internet. You can play against other PSP owners, but they have to have a copy of the game to play – no game sharing is available. You can play a quick match, and exhibition match or a tournament with up to four other players. You can’t play minigames…it’s strictly the real tennis or nothing in multiplayer. You can set the number of games to play to win the match – you still can’t choose how many sets to play if you’re a traditionalist. You can play doubles co-op or competitive, which is nice.

The graphics in the game are better than what I would have expected but not perfect. I do feel that this game looks better than the PlayStation 2 version of Top Spin I had just reviewed – details such as ladies pony tails are very well crafted, but facial details aren’t very clear. For me I had a tough time telling between Lindsay Davenport and Maria Sharapova except for the ponytail and clothes.

Other graphics issues include when a ball is called out you hear it but you don’t see a judge move their hand calling it out. Otherwise the graphics are excellent, especially the player animations and it’s very easy to tell what surface you are playing on and you can easily see the movement of the ball on the court. You do see the ball boys pick up the ball when it hits the net.