SEGA Superstars Tennis

Initially though, it feels as though the big absentee is Virtua Tennis itself. That game's superbly realised tennis rules and controls appear to be simplified too much, resulting in a game of tennis that rarely evolves beyond simple rallies. A Virtua Tennis expert can all but destroy an amateur, just as Roger Federer would dismantle a part-timer, but here there's less of a gap between experience and inexperience. Similarly disappointing is that Superstars mode isn't about character-development in the way that Virtua Tennis was, and the game offers no sort of alternative; mini-games are played and replayed simply to achieve triple-A rankings, rather than to improve your skills in any particular area. As you move through the first few hours of them, it dawns on you that the quality's distinctly mixed, too, with too much collecting and dodging.

But things gradually improve. Better efforts lie hidden in other unlockable game worlds, with Virtua Cop's - sorry, Virtua Squad's - easily the standout, as you play through a mock-up of instantly recognisable docks level from the first game firing tennis serves at pop-up enemies before they can shoot you. Tasks like trick shots (based on snooker's equivalent) in Monkey Ball and the Puyo Puyo blob-smashing are sparks of innovation that eventually ignite prolonged satisfaction. From an initial sense of boredom emerges a desire to keep doing the same things for Achievements, and those AAA rankings you scorned, pausing and restarting repeatedly as you try to complete a series of Jet Set Radio tagging objectives - picking up paint canisters and then volleying a ball into complex designs painted across the opposing baseline to colour them in.

The seemingly inexact tennis mechanics - while blunted versions of Virtua Tennis's - prove sufficient for a solid competitive game when you play against another human, or in a group of four, or when the AI finally wakes up. This takes a while, but Tournament mode - a straightforward Grand Slam series of increasingly difficult matches, with a high score leaderboard at the end - hints at it. Opponents - particularly powerful characters like Dr. Eggman and spinners like MeeMee - force you to the baseline, and need to be thought past rather than lazily dispatched with increasingly acute cross-court power shots. Online, you can take part in ranked and unranked exhibitions and tournament matches, and there's also a TV element for watching other players live or as highlights. There are rarely any line calls to dispute in SEGA Superstars Tennis, the ball never brushes the net on its way over, and the range of shots is narrower than SEGA's fanbase will be used to, but what is on offer ultimately proves satisfying, backed by the sort of fan service that only Sumo does with dignity.