Playing the best player in the world, ostensibly on one leg, is never easy. The worse news was that the prior four games had sapped Tony’s stamina to the point that his ankle was injured going into the finals. The bad news was that the one player remaining was Roger Federer. The first two games were tight, but Tony Montana’s aggressive play had won the day. Controlling Tony, I won my way into the main tournament by beating a pair of fictional players. He had failed to qualify for a tournament in England, so Tony was entered into the Qualifying tournament. Tony had played singles and doubles matches across four continents, built a fan base, and developed into an aggressive net crasher. I was sitting on the floor, having poured four and a half hours into the World Tour career of my Cuban tennis star, Tony Montana. There came a moment in my Virtua Tennis 4 playthrough that made me keenly aware that this was not going to be a simple game to surmise. What a nebulous and ethereal quality to appraise! A scan of the review criteria we here at Diehard GameFAN use reveals that one category describes Virtua Tennis 4‘s greatest attribute: Balance. No, there is a deeper, more difficult to articulate reason that Virtua Tennis 4 is such an entrancing game.
The music, such as it is, has little appeal in its repetition and blandness. Virtua Tennis 4 is not a pretty game by any standard, even the low standards of the Nintendo Wii. Why this sudden obsession with balance? Virtua Tennis 4 forces me to. Thinking back on the truly great games of the ages, the game worth playing several hardware generations after release, is it not balance that makes them worthy of continued affection? Balance can make up for many sins, but a game cannot stand on balance alone. The one significant review criteria I have never seen a game championed for is balance. I have even seen video games sold on the merit of their replayability. I have seen video games sold on the merit of their novel control scheme alone. I have seen video games sold on the merit of their graphics alone.