Summer is finally here and with it comes another season of tennis, as the pros take to the courts to amaze and delight us. It’s also the perfect time for game companies to release their take on the sport, for those of us who enjoy playing tennis with a controller instead of a racket.

Top Spin 3, from publisher 2K Sports and developer Pam Development, is the third game in the Top Spin series and the only tennis game scheduled for this summer. Unlike other games from other publishers before it, Top Spin 3 is not an arcade-based tennis game, thus making it a bit challenging for casual players. Luckily, there’s a Top Spin School where you’ll learn all of the moves and tricks to help you get accustomed to the controls, and when you do, they feel very sharp and accurate. The controls are quite basic in nature. The face buttons perform flat, top spin, slice and lob/drop shots while the triggers give that extra ‘oomph’ of power to them. The shoulder buttons make your player sprint across the court. Although learning how your player hits and moves isn’t overly complicated, the timing of your button presses can be a bit tricky. You’ll need to press and hold down a face button to power up your swing, move the left analog stick to position it, and then release the button to hit the ball. Believe me, this takes some getting used to and a lot of practice, but when you get the hang of it, you’ll soon understand why there’s no better tennis game out there that imitates the real-life sport as well as Top Spin 3 does.

Aside from the tutorial game mode featured in the Top Spin School, you’ll have four other modes to choose from. There’s Exhibition, as well as online and offline multiplayer, which are pretty self-explanatory. Just know that the online multiplayer is lag-free, that it’s easy to get into a match and that it can be played in singles or doubles competition. But the biggest draw of the game by far is the Career mode, where you’ll take your player through five stages including amateur, challenger, junior, pro and legend. The game has a pretty hefty player creator mode, with tons of customizable options to choose from. Playing as yourself in a tournament where you kick Roger Federer’s ass is surprisingly gratifying.

As you play through your career and win matches, you’ll unlock experience points, which can be used to upgrade your player’s abilities, which range from your forehand and backhand shots, as well as your service, stamina and power, amongst others. You’ll also unlock other points which will allow you to buy clothes, shoes or rackets from the stores at the mall. All of the well-known brand names are there, including Nike and Adidas. Although the clothes look damn nice (for the most part), they do not influence your abilities or how the game is played, which is kind of a bummer, but I’m guessing that a company like Yonex didn’t want to see their sneakers be out-performed by Nike sneakers, for example.

While you claw your way up to the top of the tennis food chain, you’ll come across most of the well-known players of today, including Federer, Maria Sharapova, Andy Roddick and Amelie Moresmo, amongst others, as well as stars from yesteryear such as Monica Seles and Bjorn Borg. If you expect to go one on one with this year’s Wimbledon winner, Rafael Nadal, you’ll be disappointed to learn that he only appears on the PlayStation 3 version of the game due to contractual constraints. Most of the popular tournaments are featured in the game, including the US Open and the French Open but sadly, Wimbledon is not present.

One thing’s for certain, this is by far the best looking tennis game on the market. The players are amazingly lifelike and their animations are fluid. The locales where the tournaments take place are varied and unique, from beach clubs to indoor gymnasiums, and everywhere in between. I also noticed that the crowds look and react like real crowds do, which is very rare for a sports game. Usually, you’ll see the same looped animation over and over again while you’re playing a match, which can get pretty annoying at times, so kudos to 2K for creating the best AI crowd in the business. Top Spin 3 also sounds great. You’ll know when you’re hitting a powerful shot or a weak one from the sound the ball makes when you smack it with your racket. The ambiance is also very noticeable, as you’ll barely hear a clap or a yell when you’re playing in lower-level tournaments, compared to the roar of the crowd when you hit the big time. There is a very limited soundtrack in the game, but it’s nothing to write home about, especially since the same 2-3 songs seem to loop ad nauseam. There’s just so much Jamiroquai a man can take before cringing, you know?

If you have the patience to tough it out, Top Spin 3 is a very solid game of tennis which takes itself very seriously. It offers a realistic, no-holds-barred take on the sport which will have fans craving for more. This game offers so much tennis, with solid career and online modes to boot, that you’ll be playing it for a very long time to come. Bottom line, if you love tennis, you’ll love Top Spin 3.