

Once you've gotten some practice time in, you can head to the fun time tennis mode in the main menu. Similarly, during the volleying exercise, the idea is to return the ball in a specific area of the court you earn points for each successful volley or serve, and the smaller the target you're aiming for, the more points you'll earn if you are successful. During the serve training, for example, you want to serve the ball so that it lands in specific areas of the court on the other side of the net, indicated by illuminated boxes. And while there isn't much in the way of actual tutorial in terms of control, you do have specific goals to complete in each training situation. You can focus on your serves, shots, volleys, and smashes as long as you like. Training mode lets you spend some time getting to know the game's controls in different situations. Hot Shots Golf features a straightforward set of gameplay options, including training mode, fun time tennis, and Hot Shots challenge mode. When anime meets the country club, you've got a game like Hot Shots Tennis. We recently played the game to get a feel for how it's coming along ahead of its July release, and-no surprises here-it follows the friendly, fast-paced vibe of Hot Shots Golf very closely. But now the Hot Shots series, traditionally known for its golf franchise, is moving to the other side of the country club with Hot Shots Tennis.

When it comes to tennis games, two titles have carried the torch over the past few years: Sega's Virtua Tennis and 2K Sports' Top Spin series.
