Wimbledon 2009

Though he was undoubtedly the player of his generation and almost entirely dominant, I was never a big fan of the Sampras era down at SW20. He always seemed to be fighting himself more than his opponent, sweating profusely while lugging himself around the Wimbledon courts.

Tennis seemed to visibly slow down when Sampras was about, in stark contrast to the kind of speedy play the likes of Nadal and Djokovic have made their signatures of late.

Gameloft's second Wimbledon tie-in has something of the Sampras about it. The game offers up a classy control system that remains ahead of the pack, but it also suffers from a slightly sludgy nature, the engine almost crawling to a standstill at points.

In broad terms, Wimbledon 2009 is much the same as its predecessor, with everything from the modes on offer to play itself remaining largely identical.

As you might expect, this is a tennis sim that goes far beyond the once-a-year tournament in South-West London, incorporating a Career mode (where training modules and junior championships shape you into a player fit to take part in grand slams), as well as a standard three-set Wimbledon championship and one-off exhibition matches.

The controls are competent, Gameloft yet again employing a keypad system that directly relates to placement of the ball. As the shot comes in, rather than simply using the D-pad to determine your return, you hold down the key that corresponds to the direction in which you wish to thwack the ball, double tapping to slice or using the '0' key to lob.

It's an intuitive system that Gameloft is right to carry on exploiting, though in other areas some semblance of progression would have been wise. On the whole, 2009's Wimbledon is identical to 2008's, and with no official players on court (the game instead,employing some suggestive names and nationalities to capture the spirit of the pro tour), there's not even the old excuse of an updated or extended player roster to fall back on.

One other returning feature that Wimbledon 2009 could well do without is a lack of speed. As encountered with last year's edition, the game seems to stutter on some N-series phones, the N95 we tested it on being one.

Though not a game wrecker as such, the slow nature of play leads to a disjointed contest where balls can easily fly past your ears simply because you've misjudged the amount of time you've got to make up the ground.

The make-up of the menus, too, could do with a bit of a spruce. If you fail at one of the training modules in Career mode, for instance, there's no way of resetting and having another pop straight away, the game instead sending you back to the main map, with all the loading time that entails.

It all leaves Wimbledon 2009 as a slightly shaky success, the lack of progress and running issues largely offset by an excellent control system and consummate Career mode.

There's an argument to suggest revisiting last year's effort would do the trick for anyone looking to engage in some Wimbledon wonderment, but Wimbledon 2009's decision to stick by the same formula means it's a solid contender - stutters and all - for this year's top tennis crown.