How's that for timing. I just posted this in my WM+ reviews thread. It doesn't mention online, but it reveals some other problems of quite some concern:
Okay, I'm sick of waiting for the professional reviewers to get around to reviewing Virtua Tennis. Here's a great user review I found on Amazon. Short version: It's a bit of a toss-up which is the better game, but Grand Slam takes the cake for having a difficulty curve which isn't insane.
http://www.amazon.com/Virtua-Tennis-2009-Nintendo-Wii/product-reviews/B001SET1KW/ref=cm_cr_pr_hist_4?ie=UTF8&showViewpoints=0&filterBy=addFourStar
A comparison to Grand Slam Tennis. Motion Plus. Actual tennis player., June 11, 2009
By James G. Henderson "jimghenderson" (IA United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)
Fun:4.0 out of 5 stars
I've had Grand Slam Tennis and Virtua Tennis for one day and played them about 3 hours each. I've played tennis for years. I'm using Motion Plus.
Here's a comparison.
Tournament mode: Grand Slam wins by a kilometer --- In Grand Slam Tennis you play the Grand Slam tour and do some exhibitions. No stupid "shopping races" like in Virtua Tennis. This part of Virtua Tennis is highly annoying. I don't want to run around a court on a shopping spree and jump through arbitrary hoops in order to play in a tournament. This part of Virtua was so annoying it took Virtua from 5 stars to 4 stars for me. Grand Slam exhibitions / mini games are fun while Virtua is annoying. On the other hand, you can just press "play" and choose tournament in Virtua but the experience is not as full as Grand Slam.
Graphics: Virtua Tennis wins by a meter. The crowd is better and players movement's are much more realistic to the player's style. Grand Slam's graphics are more cartoonish but with the announcers and the angles and replays it is more like participating in a match while you watch it on television... the presentation is better but does not make up for the better Virtua movement and detail.
Speed of play: Virtua Tennis by a kilometer. Your character moves at a more realistic pace and the match is just a more entertaining, fast action pace.
Controls: Grand Slam by a centimeter: Grand Slam's controls are easier to master. Virtua's controls have less tolerance for error. You MUST complete the training coach with Virtua to master any advanced shots, even then the drop shot leaves me wanting to smash the controller! Grand Slam's topspin, backspin, and fade are more true to real tennis, while Virtua's serve, lob, and dropshot are much more true. Grand Slam allows you to "cheat" somewhat by using the nunchuck to help with your crosscourt winner, while Virtua requires you to nail it perfectly. While I appreciate Virtua's effort, sometimes my intentions do not translate, but I suppose that's true in real tennis too.
Overall experience: A tie. Really. I appreciate Virtua's pace and effort at control realism, but Grand Slam gets the top spin and back spin nearly perfect... and that's a huge part of a real tennis player's game. Grand slam lets you cheat using the A button for a lob and B for a drop shot, and the nunchuck for crosscourt slams. Virtua has great realistic smash and lob controls, but the drop shot is just too hard and overambitious. The tennis stars in Virtua are more current and broader. Grand Slam gives you classic stars and current stars. Virtua's graphics are killer but the career mode is like throwing Jar Jar Binks into Star Wars... annoying and distracting. I want to play tennis, not the Sims! They both have room for improvement, but for a quality virtual tennis experience both beat the "plug and play" Wii Sports. Both require a bit of patience to learn. I'll come back to both for different reasons. 4/5 for Grand Slam. Note: I originally gave Virtua 4/5 stars. After playing it more see my warning below! And I now have to say if you are just going to by one, buy Grand Slam.
Edit: I played this game (Virtua Tennis) 5 hours today, on "Easy". (I use the nunchuck to control my player... I refuse to just use the remote and let the AI control my movements like Wii Sports does because it takes away 75% of the strategy!) I did not win one game on tournament mode, so I turned it to "very easy" for 3 hours, and played over 50 separate games in tournament mode... and did not win one game. I may have gotten 10 points total. I can beat Lindsey Davenport on exhibition mode on "very easy" about 1/2 the time. The AI is too much for any person to handle. It is simply impossible to win any tournament games. I have the shots down... in tournament mode your opponent ALWAYS lobs the ball when you charge the net. (And you can't tell it's a lob until it sails over your head!) No matter how hard I hit it or how fully I extend the motion plus, they NEVER miss any shots in anything except "very easy" where they miss about 1% of the time. Guys at Sega: You just can't do this. You can't sick a game on people where it is impossible to advance even slightly. The career mode is equally impossible. In the "shopping spree" I've tried to compete the first challenge about 30 times and it is impossible. In Grand Slam I can work my way up to "hard" mode and win about 50% of the games. I'm a gamer and have played well over 1000 hours of actual tennis in my life. I'm average at tennis and an above average gamer. The game play is fun but making it impossible to even challenge the AI was a big mistake and is going to kill your sales. This has a lot going for it game play wise but you have to slow the AI down. Even the real top tennis stars cannot get to EVERY shot hit to them and cannot anticipate where every shot is going the millisecond it leaves your racket. I could score more points on them in a real life match! If I could rate this after seeing how I'll never nor will any gamer but an super-human android every win a match in tournament mode I would give it a 3 star max because no matter how true to life the controls are, not having a chance at all at ever winning a tournament match is not right. I would guess if I disconnected the nunchuck and let the AI anticipate and position me I would do better, but I want to play Tennis, not a glorified version of Wii Sports.
