They say that imitation is the sincerest form of flattery. Imitation is also the laziest form of making a bundle of cash. Some imitations, admittedly, are really good. Counterfeit Louis Vuitton handbags that you pick up down the market may look the part but it could disintegrate within a month, but then again, grab a great-looking fake TAG watch on your next holiday to Turkey and you'll not only fool everyone, but it might last as long as the real thing, too. Moral of the story? If you're going to fake it, fake it well.

This, however, is not what happened with Fila World Tennis Tour. Trying to copy a great game is one thing; managing to ignore all the lessons along the way, just like with Gravity Games, is quite another. This is a take of Virtua Tennis without the simple but deep gameplay, without the responsiveness, without the panache.

The list of stuff that's wrong with it goes pretty much like this: animations stifle your player, it's hard to direct shots, the CPU-controlled players are super-human and both graphics and sound are sub-par.

When you go to hit a shot, the CPU for some reason decides whether or not to take a swing - not you. If you move your character before the ball makes it over to your side, you're most likely to be mid-animation which, nine times out of ten, will mean you can't swing your racket when you need to, just as in Pro Tennis WTA Tour.

Then there's the quirk of your player, at seemingly random times, suddenly executing a dive and rolling to leap out of the way of a ball hit straight to his feet.

Also, just like Pro WTA and Slam Tennis, placing shots is difficult, mainly because when you begin a game, your generic character is, frankly, crap. There's training, but it costs money. You start a new championship with some cash, but soon find out that it's not enough to train to a reasonable standard. So, given the near-infallible CPU-controlled players (in 20 games, they didn't serve a single double fault or put one shot out of bounds), you'll find yourself losing very frequently and haemorrhaging cash.

The crowd is of the cardboard-cutout variety, its stock reactions having little to do with the on-court action, the umpires don't even speak with the right accents and the ball is often lost against the garishly coloured courts.

Also, most replays, stupidly, only show what happens after the point is won. You can, however, buy lots of Fila kit to dress your players up in. Like a Barbie doll.

1. Lots of purty clothing
2. Thirty-two stadia

1. Difficult to place shots
2. CPU decides when you hit the ball
3. Crap animation

Power
Basic graphics and sound that will drive you spare. Would be more at home on PSone.

Style
The only style in the game comes from the Fila licence. Otherwise, devoid of panache.

Immersion
The difficulty curve ejects you from the court before you're even properly started.

Lifespan
As is often the case with tennis games, more fun in multiplayer than single. But not by much.

Summary
More WTA than Slam, Fila World Tour Tennis is a 'me-too' tennis game with more faults than the San Gorgonio Pass.