So far, Sega's Virtua Tennis 3 (Xbox 360, PS3) looks amazing and plays beautifully, a visual tour de force that packs intense volleys and vicious cross-court smashes. It's great, but also arcade-based, so it lacks the depth of actual tennis. Top Spin 3, the latest from 2K Sports, is more for the tennis aficionado, the gamer that knows the sport's intricacies and wants to strategize. Whether it plays better is up for debate.

Top Spin 3 (Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 and Wii) offers a robust tennis package with a more realistic edge. Unlike Sega's game, players get tired, sweating through their clothes (a game with underarm sweat stains -- finally) and grow fatigued as the match wears on, which at times makes them a bit sluggish. In addition, the serve is a powerful weapon, and after getting the hang of the controls, you'll rocket 100 plus mile per hour balls of fury at your unsuspecting opponents. This increases the odds of acing the other player, something that happens mostly by accident (as in, they weren't paying attention) in Virtua Tennis 3.

Furthermore, the game moves at a much slower, more human pace but that doesn't mean matches aren't frantic affairs. We were involved in some wickedly intense volleys that lasted upwards of a minute, doing our best to outsmart the opposition while paying close attention to the type of shots we took, making sure the ball didn't go out. That's another one of Top Spin 3's best features, the ability to put some mustard on the ball depending on how much you tweak the left analog stick. In Virtua Tennis 3, the ball usually stays in play, the rare exception being when you sloppily return a ball your opponents smashed at the net. But with Top Spin 3, you need to pick and choose your returns, as a lapse in judgment could result in a ball sailing past the line.

At the same time, we found Top Spin 3 difficult to play, and not necessarily because of the realism. Yes, there's a learning curve figuring out how to return serves, but at this point, the characters don't move as freely in Virtua Tennis 3. It's difficult to describe, but basically, at times we avoided rushing the net, simply because we knew our player wouldn't be able to quickly jog backwards to hit the ball again. One could argue that's a more lifelike scenario, but this has nothing to do with authenticity. It's all in the controls and how the players move around the court, and we hope 2K Sports does something about it.

One of the best things about playing net is smashing the ball into your opponent's face, something Sega executed perfectly with Virtua Tennis 3. In that game, you can deliver insane smashes that leave your competition looking stupid, real "who's your daddy" stuff. But in Top Spin 3, the net play doesn't seem to be as intense, and the couple of smashes we achieved were slow and less exciting.

That doesn't mean, thankfully, that the game isn't fun to play. On the contrary, we enjoyed our matches, some of which went on for 45 minutes. We also approve of the 2K Sports player list. There's no Pete Sampras, but the company corralled at least 20 famous pros including Maria Sharapova, Roger Federer, James Blake, Andy Roddick, Boris Becker, Rafael Nadal (he's PS3 exclusive) and Monica Seles, each of which looks similar to their real-life counterparts. Then there are the courts, a massive selection of locales and surfaces from around the world, including Great Britain, Australia, the U.S. and Germany, among others. They too, look outstanding, with animated crowds, realistic clouds that move across the sun and plenty of other details. Naturally, the Wii version is the least visually impressive, with blockier looking characters and courts, but it's by no means ugly.

Xbox 360 and PS3 owners will enjoy a robust create-a-player mode that enables them to tweak all sorts of characteristics, including skin tone, height, weight and going as far as to adjust various parts of the face. The game does not, unfortunately, have face-mapping software, so don't expect to snap a picture of your mug and slap it onto a character model.

You'll also enjoy a career mode that lets you play through various tournaments on your way to Grand Slam victories, and a robust online component. 2K Sports plans to host tournaments via Xbox Live and the PlayStation Network, and will reset the world rankings every two weeks, giving you an opportunity to be the number one player in the world.

On the Wii side, you can expect unannounced party games and interesting motion controls, but dissimilar to Nintendo's Wii Tennis. Instead of just using the remote, you'll also play with the nunchuk, maneuvering your character with its analog stick (while pressing buttons to deliver powerful shots) and swinging with the remote. It's a neat setup, but takes getting used to.

Thus far, Top Spin 3 looks like a champion. Now all 2K Sports needs to do is make it play like one. But with a solid foundation and tons of features, it could outdo Virtua Tennis 3, or at least give us an alternative to the manic arcade gameplay. We'll hit the courts and deliver a 115mph review when the game debuts May 19.

Related Links

Top Spin 3 Xbox 360 Game Guide

Top Spin 3 PS3 Game Guide

Top Spin 3 Wii Game Guide