Do we have any Gundam fans in the audience? If you’re familiar with the original Gundam continuity (Mobile Suit Gundam, Gundam 0080, Gundam 0083, Zeta Gundam, Double Zeta Gundam, etc.) then you’ll know that, in addition to new mobile suits, they like to throw in some ridiculously upgraded renditions of nearly antiquated mobile suits as well.
Today’s game is a ridiculous upgraded rendition of a nearly antiquated game but, like those mobile suits, manages to be worth putting into the field.
First, let’s call a spade a spade. “A Game of Tennis” is Pong. *But*, it’s Pong with system link, global leaderboards, AI opponents, multiple difficulty levels, Xbox Live online multiplayer, and more new things that take Pong to heights never dreamed of by Nolan Bushnell when he created it in the ’70s. New modes of play have been crafted to support some of the features, such as a mode where you play against the AI to support the leaderboards (how many points can you score against the CPU, before the CPU scores against you a given number of times, for example).
“A Game of Tennis” came out in early 2009, so more than four years ago, and I’ve ignored it all this time presuming it was a clone. I was wrong. The author really thought it all out, and I can’t imagine much that could be added to the Pong formula that this game doesn’t cover. If you’re jonesing for some Pong nostalgia, there’s enough added here that it may actually get you to pay 80 Microsoft Points to keep you playing past the 8 minute trial.
Here’s what the developer (UberGeekGames) has to say about the game:
“Classic tennis, updated with modern features! Single player, Local & Online Multiplayer modes, plus online Scoreboards (for Gold Members) bring this favorite into the 21st century!”
Writings of Mass Deduction 