It's been a while since tennis fans had a true simulation of the sport to sink their racket into on console - arguably the last one was Top Spin 4, way back in 2011. With that in mind Tennis World Tour will be a very welcome addition to the catalogue, especially as it comes from developers who graduated from PAM Development and 2K Czech, the studios behind the Top Spin series. Tennis World Tour is a spiritual successor of sorts to that series - what the devs would have done if it weren't cancelled. It's been a while, though, and there have been changes. Seasoned players will notice, for example, significant changes to how a shot is delivered. The difficulty of a shot's timing has been softened, but there's a greater emphasis on factors such as where the player is when they get to it, the player's natural handedness and how strong their return ought to be. The aim, along with things like motion capture of whole games of tennis rather than isolated movements, is to produce a more rounded game of tennis. This is reflected in the career mode, which is the heart of the game. Most sports sims will take you through full seasons nowadays, but Tennis World Tour goes a step further in having you plan your progress. You'll need to plan which tournaments to skip and which to attend in order to both aid recovery and to prepare properly for the big events. You might, for example, choose to focus on events on different surfaces in order to cater to your player's strengths. With 30 licensed pros to play as (including the likes of Roger Federer, Angelique Kerber and Stan Wawrinka) and 18 types of courts: hard, clay, grass, carpet and even hardwood there are plenty of variables to contend with and doing well will be as much a matter of strategy as fast reflexes, just like the real game!