Permission to start the review off with the traditional frustration about the quality of tennis games? Splendid. Apart from Sega's Virtua Tennis series and, if you were in a welcoming mood, Top Spin on the Xbox, you're looking back to 1982's Spectrum game Match Point to find a suitably good ball-whacker.

But there's also Namco's Smash Court franchise, of which this is the latest entry. The games so far have, fortunately, fallen on the side of really rather good, although never quite banging home enough points to make them instant recommendations. Smash Court Tennis Pro Tournament 2 is no exception, and should help to take your mind off Tim Henman's recent Wimbledon efforts.

First, let's talk about what it does well. The game features numerous officially-licensed players, a healthy selection of game modes that should entertain both a single player and a larger crowd, and it's quite easy to get to grips with. Also, it has a strong, single-player Pro Tour option, which basically sees you build your career up from scratch.

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It does this not just by making you play tennis matches, but by intervening at 'turning points' in the game. So you might join the game 15-40 down and be challenged to rescue your serve. That completed, the match swiftly continues until you reach the next turning point. Bottom line? Mess up the turning points and you lose the game. Harsh, yet undeniably fair.

You also build up your skills and develop through a series of mini-games, which will be eerily familiar to anyone who has picked up one of Sega's tennis games in the last five years.

The control system takes a little getting used to, and you'll find less assistance than usual in getting your serves right, for instance. Mastering the analogue control is vital to getting points scored, although you do get a little more flexibility in the placing of your shots than the game's competitors seem to offer.

On the downside, what you don't get is quite the same level of fluidity. Smash Court Tennis Pro Tournament 2, even when it hits top form, just doesn't seem to flow in the same effortless way that Virtua Tennis 2 manages. That's not saying there's no momentum to the gameplay, just that in this one important area it's out-served.

This perhaps has the biggest impact in multi-player mode: while having four players going at once is undeniably a hoot, again there's a better option out there.

However, let's not get this out of proportion. The gameplay in Smash Court Tennis Pro Tournament 2 is good, and that single-player mode is both long-lasting and challenging. Depite the occasional complaint here and there, this is undeniably high quality entertainment when it hits its stride.

A long-lasting and quite strong tennis game, albeit hampered by the strength of its main competitors. For sheer outright fun, go for Virtua Tennis 2, but for a longer lasting, arguably more involving challenge, this is the one to plump for.