Top Spin

Has the glorious Virtua Tennis finally received a worthy successor on the Xbox?

Virtua Tennis put tennis games on the map. Between the glorious control and the phenomenal four-player doubles, it counts as one of the best multiplayer games ever?whether you?re a sports fan or not. So after the Dreamcast faded into the sunset, there was a yawning chasm waiting to be filled, and Top Spin is the most promising, potential-packed replacement to volunteer for the job. Mostly it succeeds, mixing cool innovations with unfortunate missteps.

40-Love
You can tell that Top Spin was made by a crew that respects Virtua Tennis?s legacy. In that same way, Top Spin?s controls and gameplay respond intuitively and naturally right from the start?the game just feels great to play. Improving on its spiritual predecessor, accidentally charged swings don?t cement you to the court and remove you from the play.
But Top Spin has its own quirks?you have to be too precise about lining up your player with the ball at arm?s length, so you?ll often miss swings you know you should?ve drilled. Spins also don?t have as much effect as they should, and the powered-up shots and serves are more challenging than they should be.

Deuce
Top Spin?s features provide a lot of depth. The headliner is online play supported by Microsoft?s XSN network. Between tackling your own custom leagues and battling for rankings in the official world tournaments, you?ll find plenty of action. The only downer is the lack of four-player online doubles?four players can gather around two Xboxes to play doubles online, but not four Xboxes, which just blows.
The one-player Career mode delivers plenty of offline meat and solid A.I. competition, though its pacing is a bit off as it?s easy to train up your player too quickly. Stars range from Anna Kournikova to Pete Sampras, and the eye-catching visuals are one of the game?s best features, particularly the slick one-player camera. The audio performs fine?what there is of it?but the game feels eerily quiet at times.
Virtua Tennis fanatics will wish Top Spin was a little better than it is. But with no other worthy competitors in sight, it still reigns as the great tennis game of the moment, particularly for multiplayer or online matches.

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