Does this make Mario the Andy Murray of the gaming world?

Back-handed compliment ... Mario Tennis Open is good, but not great.

Mario Tennis Open (3DS, £29.99) 

There’s a fairly sound theory that you can drop Mario and his gang into most any genre of game and he’ll elevate it to semi-greatness.

That’s largely true and almost the case with Mario’s first tennis outing on the 3DS.

All the components are here, arcing shots, fireball effects, incredible smashes, brilliant characters and even smacking your opponents with the ball so they go reeling backwards.

It’s tennis on Mario steroids. It looks lovely and plays a nice wee game with tight controls that rely on a little bit of touchscreen shenanigans but not too much.

The problem Mario Tennis runs into is the unlockable and challenge curve. The first few tournaments are ridiculously easy. That may be great for young kids, but the game expects you to go through the entire structure with all eight characters and after you’ve slogged away through eight tournaments with a couple you won’t be bothered doing it with anyone else.

There is a small incentive, and it’s very small. Every time you win a match with a different character you win a new piece of outfit for your Mii, whether it’s wristbands, trainers or a top.

But there’s little difference between them and it soon becomes a bit ‘who cares’. The balancing-act games have to reward you enough to keep plugging away is an exact science. Games like Call Of Duty and Everybody’s Golf on the Vita do it brilliantly, Mario tennis doesn’t.

On top of that there are a couple of annoying inclusions. You can’t pause mid-rally, so if your train pulls in then you’re just going to have to concede the point. Also, if you switch the annoying gyro settings off mid-game, then you have to redo it every game. Small things but they add up.

It’s a shame, because with a properly challenging structure and slightly more varied tournaments and competitions this could have been a great game, with hours of replayability.

As such it’s slightly above average. Capable of going to a final but not going all the way...in other words, Andy Murray.