We would have also preferred a much more extravagant celebration upon winning tournaments, both at the moment the winner is struck (instead of waiting for a cutscene) and in the ceremony itself (a 5-second clip of you holding a trophy). The crowd noise is OK, reacting fairly well to the action most of the time, but the commentary from Pat Cash and John McEnroe is painfully repetitive from the start. While the player faces and animations are often quite good, the surrounding judges, ballboys, and crown are muted at best and statues at worst. Presentation-wise, Grand Slam is terribly inconsistent. ItвЂ™s also played at a high level, which can be jarring if youвЂ™re coming into fresh off of the non-competitive environment of Career mode. ItвЂ™s where the best of Grand Slam shines, from the signature styles (and grunts) of stars like the Williams sisters and Andy Roddick to the brilliance of being inserted into iconic locales at the height of competition. The biggest wild card in the mix is the superb Grand Slam Classics mode, which puts you in the middle of some terrific matches of the past and lets you try to recreate вЂ“ or rewrite вЂ“ history. Clearly people have figured it out (all you have to do is venture online to see how well the experts can crush serves and smashes with seeming ease) but only a dozen hours did we start to really вЂњget it.вЂќ Button controls exist for the traditionalists, but they donвЂ™t feel quite as intuitive as the sticks.

The default settings will let you know how well youвЂ™ve timed your shot, but when it comes to angles youвЂ™re on your own. The basics are straightforward вЂ“ flat, topspin, and slices are all executed with variations of stick flicks вЂ“ but getting strong velocity and direction takes practice.

ItвЂ™s easy to pick up and play but tough to master. Said controls dominate any discussion of Grand Slam, which took a page from Fight Night (literally) and transformed the right stick into your racquet via Total Racquet Control. Whoever has mastered the controls will wind up victorious. At that point, Grand Slam matches become their best. TheyвЂ™re never going to be perfect, and you may always run into someone whose strengths arenвЂ™t a great matchup. Even better, because each player starts off with a fundamental design (baseline player, net specialist, etc.), you canвЂ™t completely maximize each attribute. The benefit of the easy-as-pie first year in Career mode is that you pile up points that can be used to quickly buff up your created characters, who you then take into the online realm Grand Slam has to offer. Even with all the great design decisions вЂ“ a streamlined calendar with clear direction and simple-to-understand goals, for example вЂ“ we couldnвЂ™t come up with a reason to keep slogging away with no real goal in sight. However, thereвЂ™s no magic in battling Roger Federer in a 5-set match in the Wimbledon Quarterfinals when youвЂ™ve already won the tournament twice before. Yes, the difficulty ramps up in later years, and what was once easy becomes challenging.

Grand slam tennis 2 xbox 360 review