Top Spin (X-Box)
Developed by: Power & Magic Development
Published by: Microsoft Games

Tennis is one of those sports that I’ve never really been a big fan of, at least as a spectator, but it is fun to play when you have an equally matched opponent on the other side of the net. While there have been many tennis video games over the years, none of them ever hooked me enough to play more than a few times. The cartoony Mario Tennis series is the only one that stands out in my mind at all, and this leaves me to wonder if there is a big gap in the video game market here or if I just haven’t been looking hard enough. With the arrival of Microsoft’s Top Spin on the X-Box, however, any such gap has now been filled nicely with the first truly solid realistic tennis game I’ve ever played.

Top Spin allows you to choose from 16 playable pro tennis players (both male and female) including Pete Sampras, Michael Chang, and of course the biggest draw of them all… Anna Kournikova. I’m sure there are a lot of big names missing from the list but since I don’t really follow pro tennis I wouldn’t know of any particularly glaring omissions. Where’s Andre Agassi? And John McEnroe? (Okay, yeah, I am a few years behind the times.) Anyways, it doesn’t really matter what pros are missing because the best part of the game is the ability to create your own player. Similar to the most recent Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater titles, Top Spin allows you to customize your in-game persona with the utmost level of detail. From your jaw size to your nose to your eyebrows to your lips, it can all be tweaked as you see fit. Then there’s the fun of dressing up your athlete in hip outfits as well. There aren’t as many silly clothing items as they have in Tony Hawk, but you can still give your character some amusing accessories such as a big ass skull earring.

The graphics and sound in Top Spin are top notch. The intricate sounds of the ball echoing in the stadium, the grunting of the players, the judges (speaking in different languages depending on where you’re playing), and the eruption of applause after a good rally sound about as authentic as possible. If you look away from the TV for a moment you can truly imagine that you’re hearing the audio from a live tennis game in progress. The fluid animations and the facial expressions of the characters are some of the best I’ve seen in a sports game.

Now, on to the most important element of a sports game: the controls. This is really where Top Spin sets itself apart. The basic controls can be picked up fairly quickly, and after that it is a more gradual process of mastering the advanced moves. Your arsenal generally consists of flat shots, lob shots, or shots with spin on them. There are “safe” shots and serves that are basically guaranteed to be in bounds, and then there are “risk” shots where you are more likely to hit the line or the net (but if you don’t your opponent is going to have a hell of a time returning it). As a match goes on and you win a series of points, there is a gauge in the corner of the screen that indicates to what extent your player is “In The Zone”. The higher your ITZ level, the easier it is to hit these risk shots. When attempting a risk shot your player may also pull off some cool acrobatic moves like a behind the back shot, and as impressive as it looks you’ll be surprised at how easy these are to accomplish.

The other fun, although essentially useless, feature of the game is the ability to show off attitude during a match. In between points you can press a button to show excitement or frustration through a random animated cutscene. It’s always good for a laugh to trash talk your opponent in this manner (even if you’re playing against the computer), and somehow satisfying to kick the crap out of your racket when you blow a shot.

The single player Career Mode allows you to work your way through the pro circuit playing in various tournaments. There are tons of real-life venues and surfaces to choose from. They also seem to have drawn from the Mario Tennis series a little bit as there’s more to the Career than just playing match after match. You can visit different coaches to practice various skills and also compete in special challenges set by potential sponsors.

The multiplayer, on the other hand, is a blast especially if you play doubles with 3 friends. Top Spin has a game mode that allows you to set up a custom tournament among friends, and of course like any of Microsoft’s XSN games there is also the ability to play online with X-Box Live.

The only real problem with this game I’ve found is one that is somewhat inherent to tennis itself — the games can turn into literal marathons and they get to be very long and gruelling. It would have been nice to have the ability to save in the middle of a match, but I guess hardcore tennis fans would say I’m just a wuss. Also, why can’t males play against females? I mean, at least in exhibition mode you should be allowed to do this just to screw around, even if you can’t do it in official tournament play.

Although Microsoft haven’t had a ton of success with their XSN series of sports games (particularly because of the dominance of companies like EA in most sports), Top Spin is a notable exception. Lucky for Microsoft, tennis was the one sport where the competition wasn’t quite so intense, and Power and Magic Development took the opportunity and ran with it. I’m willing to bet it made EA and Sega stop and take notice because this is arguably the best tennis game ever made. — Sean