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With Wimbledon once more on the horizon, unfit people everywhere will soon be riding the accompanying wave of enthusiasm and taking to tennis courts everywhere. This invariably leads to thousands of cases of tennis elbow and sprains of just about every bodily joint. Thanks to Amazing Tennis, designed to be the most realistic tennis game this side of Palm Springs, you can now spare your GP from your whining and play the sport without having to fork out for a Nike T-shirt.

As original a concept as you can have with tennis. Designed to be the most realistic game in its field.

The buttons merely select your shot, the skill comes in using the D-pad to control the direction of the shot.

There are three basic shots, plus a smash which comes into play if the other player lobs the ball while you're on the baseline. Applying the D-pad at the same time as the racket connects lets you hit the ball left, right, short or long, depending on the direction you press.

The angle the ball deflects by depends on when you press and the position you're in. This gives loads of potential shots but demands loads of practice if you're to hit the ball where you want it.

Depending on what type of game you play, there are three different courts from which to choose. These affect the height of the ball's bounce and the speed it leaves the ground at.

Hard Court:
The ball bounces at a normal rate and speed, this is the best court on which to start.

Grass:
On this surface the ball bounces lower and faster. This means you need to get your returns in early. This can be used to your advantage, by playing a base-line game to catch out your unwary foe.

Clay:
While the ball bounces slower, it's also a lot higher. This gives you, and your opponent, much more time to hit the ball, so you can muster up almost any shot you want.

Amazing Tennis is the concept of American programming supremo David Crane. Over the past fifteen (count 'em) years, he's been responsible for such hits as Pitfall, which is an age-old Atari VCS game that sold millions, and the bizarre computerised pet simulation, Little Computer People, where you had to look after one of the aforementioned people by feeding them, and supplying them the odd album. His next game after this is a licence of the Robin.

In my previous sad encounters with this sport, I had the total skill level of a mandrill's butt. Consequently, I faked many injuries to excuse my pathetic inability to get the ball over the net.

This is where a game such as this holds plenty of appeal for me. Firstly, it's very realistic, allowing you to concoct all sorts of devious shots from the basic three. The graphics are another boon, the large characters and smoothly moving court form the core of the game.

My only criticism is that it's a trifle hard serving and returning the ball when you're at the top of the court. Apart from that, this is the best tennis game yet on the Megadrive.

If this game was being reviewed on the Super NES, this comment would read differently - the Super NES has several rather good Tennis sims already - a version of this being one of them.

However, the Megadrive is not similarly blessed. With the likes of the mediocre Grandslam Tennis and the tragic Andre Agassi effort as competition, this game stands out, head and shoulders, as the best Tennis sim yet for the Megadrive, both in terms of gameplay and graphically.

The controls are a little awkward at first and play from the far side of the court takes a bit of getting used to but, as I found with the Super NES version, patience and practice soon reward themselves and, before you know it you'll be serving it up with the best of them.

So, until a better game comes out, one to rank alongside the SNES' mighty Super Tennis, buy this one with all due speed.

Presentation 73%
P. Plenty of options and a wide variety of opponents.
N. It could have done with a training mode to help struggling beginners.

Graphics 65%
P. Large, well-animated sprites and a decent range of courts.
N. It's hard to see what the player at the top end of the court is doing, owing to the perspective.

Sound 78%
P. The familiar sounds of ball against wire, plus accompanying crowd noises are all good but...
N. ...The digitised speech is extremely scratchy.

Playability 87%
P. Once you get the hang of things you can spend ages developing trick shots.
N. It takes time to learn how to time the shots.

Lastability 90%
P. Plenty of taxing opponents and a fun two-player mode.
N. The RPG overtone to the battle scenes isn't as accessible as the usual.

Overall 89%
The best tennis game on the Megadrive. Oozing realism and combining great action with stunning graphics.