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This is a bit of a poorly timed release - Zeppelin have missed the tennis season with staggering precision! Not that this should worry Commodore chums - all we need to know is how close it comes to capturing the feel of one of the country's favourite Summer pastimes.

On loading, you're greeted with a friendly and attractive options screen and a jaunty little tune playing away to itself. Most of the options you'd expect are included. You can play friendly matches, enter a tournament, choose how many sets per match (one, three or five), you can even choose different playing surfaces on which to compete, all with their own unique characteristics. It's best to start with the hard court as the ball bounces higher, giving you more time to play your shot. This is easily done, with fire to swing the racquet back and joystick directions determining roughly where the ball goes (or not in my case). 'Back' is a drop shot, 'forward' for top-spin and 'left' or 'right' for slices. It takes a couple of games to get the hang of it, but you'll soon be playing your friends off the court (Chris is still sobbing in the corner after our last game, poor, deluded little fellow) - although a rave on your own, the game's at its best in two player mode.

Obviously a game like this won't keep you glued to your screen for hours on end, but for the paltry price tag it's certainly value for money!

The graphics are a little on the blocky side, but are nicely animated and move round the court at an agreeable rate, though in-game sound FX are sparse. Look out for some excellent touches, e.g. at the end of a match the loser hurls his racquet to the ground in disgust.

To be honest it's hard to bodge a tennis game [I didn't know you were a programmer, Miles - Ed]. As long as the collision detection's okay (the computer's fairly generous in this respect, no annoying pixel-perfect timing in order to make a shot), all the programmer has to worry about is the flight dynamics of the ball [Is that all? - Ed].

The word "tennis" conjures up images of strawberries 'n cream, short skirts and John McEnroe's entire vocabulary. These additions don't appear in Zeppelin's International Tennis, but it has all the ingredients of a fine ball-and-racquet sim.

The visuals are great, each man zipping around court trying to make the winning shot. The singles competition's tough to the last syllable and the computer opponent rarely slips up, thrashing you in the first few sets. But persevere and the playability soon shines through - a drop-shot here and a backhand there and it's just a matter of time before the computer gets its come-uppance. A worthy purchase.

Presentation 56%
Polished otions and plenty of them.

Graphics 75%
Well animated sprites, convincing ball movement.

Sound 63%
Toe-tapping toon ahoy and in-game squelches

Hookability 79%
It's a good laugh for two players.

Lastability 78%
If you want a cheap tennis sim, look no further.

Overall 79%