| | Insider:Xbox Live
By Jim W. Getty
It was a long wait. Just like you, I thought I’d never play a quality tennis game on my Xbox. I resigned myself to smacking a beat-up yellow ball against my garage while I waited for the day that some publisher would come to my rescue. That day finally came when Top Spin™hit the shelves. I call it, “magic in a box,” though Gamespot praised it as “the most well-rounded, feature-rich game of tennis to be found anywhere, on any system.” Now every armchair Sampras can play with up to four friends at home and stomp international butt through the wonders of broadband Internet and Xbox Live. Truly, Top Spin is a turning point of epic proportions.
I had my first experience with Top Spin online when I invited a good buddy over to play. Following our usual routine, we loaded up on snacks and drinks and plopped our behinds down in front of the big screen. Within minutes, we were hosting a match. Our first intended victims were a couple of young kids from overseas. Sporting thick accents and healthy laughs, they seemed like easy pickings, so we started our match with the Australian harbor as the backdrop. My friend and I were like a well-oiled machine; we volleyed every shot with calculated precision, and our powerful ground strokes blazed across the scenic court as boat horns droned in the background. But it wasn’t enough. Alas, my partner and I were skilled, but not as skilled as those polite kids from nine hours ahead. They were gracious winners and didn’t gloat; instead, they asked for my Gamertag and sent me an invite to join them for another game! We lost the match, but gained a pair of friends. Not a bad deal.
The player creator lets you customize your tennis pro.
Before I could reply to their invite, another gentleman popped into the game lobby. Without any introductions he demanded to know my rank.
“My rank?” I asked.
“Yes. What is your rank?” he replied.
“Um … I dunno. I don’t have a rank. I just started playing today! Wanna start a game?”
“I am number five. You are not good enough for me. Sorry!” My friend and I could only laugh. How rude! To some players, their online rank is an obsession. Our arrogant young friend couldn’t improve his rank by beating up on newbies like us, so he wasn’t interested. “Well, have fun dork!” I muttered at him as he left.
Moments later, another pair of challengers showed up. We quickly started the match before any of this “ranking” nonsense came up. I also turned off my headset. “Let them wonder!” I thought to myself. “They’ll never know what hit them!” 
The Harbour Bridge Tennis Club court is one of the many scenic venues.
We were greeted on the sunny tropical courts by two of the ugliest creatures I have ever laid eyes on. We were playing against a monkey and a frog. Apparently, some people relish the Top Spin character creator—maybe a bit too much. I can only hope that they didn’t model their online look after what they see in the mirror every morning!
But the time for pity was over; the match was about to get started. My partner and I were looking to this match to redeem ourselves. Right from the start, we were getting our butts whooped. To add insult to injury, not only did our opponents look like Zoo Tycoon escapees, but they also jumped around like a bunch of kangaroos every time they scored a point. They waved their arms in the air as if their hair was on fire. Too bad we weren’t playingHalo®, I thought; in that game a blazing hairdo is easily arranged.
After losing a series of points on some completely embarrassing shots, my friend and I were really starting to feel the heat. It was now or never. We screamed like a pair of banshees and slapped hands, vowing to win. “You are going down!” I yelled, forgetting that my headset was still off. Oh well, it made me feel better.
We scored a point.
“Yeah!” I screamed. “In your face, froggy!” I hit the “jerk” button on the controller to give those clowns a taste of their own medicine. Our onscreen counterparts, the cookie-cutter Sampras twins, strutted around the court like a pair of peacocks. “Take that, pork chop face!”
It was fun while it lasted, but our trash-talk was squashed in the quickest and most effective way. Our opponents got back to the business, and moments later, our brief comeback was laid to final rest.
“Well, that wasn’t much fun,” I said to my buddy.
“Yeah, those dudes need to be locked back up in their cage.”
“Did you see some of those shots? How the hell did they do that?”
We groaned and moaned for a few minutes about the game, had a few laughs, and then came to the only possible conclusion: Time to work on our game a bit—and then we go back online! |
