Customer Reviews

Top Spin

5 star:		(14)
4 star:		(23)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

On the one hand, Top Spin can be a fun and addictive tennis game--easily the best on Xbox and, in most respects, more than a match for the classic tennis game, Virtua Tennis. On the other, Top Spin is weighed down by numerous little points of irritation and frustration. Alone, none of them would make a major difference, but when put together, they really hurt the overall product.

First, the good. Top Spin is easy to pick up--if you've ever played any console tennis game, you can get the basics down in a minute or two; and if you haven't, there's a quick and easy tutorial. The controls work well here, with each button hitting a different kind of shot (normal, slice, top spin, lob), and the triggers allowing for more difficult drop and risky shots. The graphics are great, with gorgeous stadiums and nicely animated players. And the career mode is nice, with a create-a-player feature that lets you design even the particularities of your player's face and body type. As you play in career mode, you can develop an individual set of skills for your player. You might want to serve-and-volley, or stay on the baseline and hit with power. Any type of player is easily created.

But Top Spin has too many problems. The handful of licensed (real life) players are powered-up over and above their stats, so that the difficulty level swings wildly between the made-up players you'll face and the real-life ones. Second, the game abuses the risk shot system--obviously, the game doesn't have the same timing issues as a player, and your AI opponent will frequently kill you with perfect risk shot after risk shot. Perhaps most annoyingly, given that the Xbox has a hard drive, you can't quit playing in the middle of a tournament in career mode and come back later--you have to forfeit. Probably for this reason, in career mode, you win a set at 3 games, not 6. This makes the game even more frustrating, because if you're broken by the AI, you have to immediately break-back or the set may well be over.

All told, I enjoy Top Spin, but only in small doses, and not nearly as much as I might have. It remains the best tennis game on Xbox, but if the obvious points of frustration had been solved during development, it might have simply been the best tennis game.

As a major fan of Sega's Virtua Tennis and Tennis 2K2 on the Dreamcast (the latter also appearing on the PS2 as Sega Sports Tennis), I could not wait to get my hands on Power And Magic Development's newest virtual tennis game, Top Spin Tennis. A relatively unheralded console developer, PAM has done a fantastic job taking Sega's amazing formula and attempting to refine it - in fact there are aspects of Top Spin that are improvements - but despite the online capabilities of Top Spin, the gameplay itself doesn't quite match the fine-tuned perfection of Sega's efforts.

Top Spin was designed from the start to be more of a simulation than the arcade-based Virtua Tennis, and as such has more complex gameplay. Each face button on the Xbox's controller is used for a different kind of shot: A is a "safe" shot, X is a slice, B is an angled top spin shot, and Y is a lob. These shots can also be used to mix up your serves. In addition, each trigger performs a "risk" shot, which can be quite a potent weapon when mastered. The R trigger is used for power smashes, and the L trigger is used for drop shots. As a result, the game doesn't quite have the same instant pick-up-and-play accessibility of Virtua Tennis, but once some time is spent behind the controller, the shots become second nature. Top Spin also features an In The Zone meter, which is basically a power meter meant to simulate adrenaline. Play well, and the meter rises, and once full, risk shots come easier and the player performs at his/her peak. To help with this, you can have your player react in between points, celebrating a great effort or complaining at a missed opportunity.

Top Spin features several modes, including a tutorial, Exhibition for up to four players, and a mode that lets you create a Custom Tournament. Most of your single-player hours will be spent in Career Mode, in which you build your own player using a pretty robust creation system and send him or her out on tour in a quest to become number one in the world. Your player travels from continent to continent, competing in various tournaments, earning sponsorships, and visiting coaches to learn skills. This aspect of Top Spin is closer to an RPG than Virtua Tennis, as you must choose distinct strengths for your character instead of becoming a superhuman performer. It is important in Top Spin to choose skills that will cover up your weaknesses (as you cannot max out all abilities), but it is also possible to become a specialized power baseliner or a quick serve & volleyer. You earn money for match wins, which you can use to purchase more gear and to pay coaches to train you, and victories also assure a rise in rank, but should you lose a match or two, your rank will drop. The Career Mode is a very nice idea, but it doesn't have the imaginative challenges of Virtua Tennis (where you'd serve to knock over bowling pins, etc. etc.) and you can enter any tournament at any time, rather than having to wait a simulated year before retrying. When you add that Top Spin's AI can be easily exploited, the battle to become and stay number one can drag.

Visually, the game is terrific, especially the detail of the courts. Fully polygonal crowds cheer, real-life ads are everywhere in the larger arenas, and cities rise in the background. There are even playground courts ranging from in the middle of the desert to indoor arenas with snow falling outside or joggers out for some morning exercise. Player animation is very well-done, and the licensed players look strikingly lifelike, even down to signature animations (Lleyton Hewitt's serve looks just like it does on TV). However, there are no night courts, the ball boys don't chase the ball, and ambient shadows don't change during play as in Sega's games.

Top Spin's sound package isn't quite as remarkable. Matches can get very quiet with no music or crowd noise - only the grunts of the players and the smack of the rackets. It's supposed to simulate real matches, but the option to include music would have been welcome. In addition, crowd noise will suddenly appear as a roar out of nowhere, which can be jarring.

The gameplay itself is good, but doesn't quite measure up to Virtua Tennis or Tennis 2K2. New players will have trouble making risk shots, and as a result, points can be unnaturally long, especially in doubles. Sega's games did a great job allowing many types of shots with just the control stick and a single button, but it's not so easy to pull off a drop shot in Top Spin. Players will often lunge when you don't want them to, and then won't lunge when you DO want them to. Top Spin also is a lot more sensitive when it comes to player position in relation to the ball - in order to hit with power, you've got to be in exactly the right position, even after being fully trained. You'd think that a pro player could adjust, but Top Spin is a little too precise. Also, once players get the timing of the risk shots down, matches end up going far too quickly and lose a lot of the sim nature.

Still, even with these slight problems, Top Spin is quite an achievement. It looks great, plays well online or off, and has a deep Career Mode. With a couple of changes, Power And Magic could very well upset Sega's Tennis 2K2 as king of the virtual court.

I have never played tennis before. On the video game or real life. But, I must say I wish I had. I never imagined that I would have so much fun playing tennis. My boyfriend is a fan of tennis and video games. He purchased Top Spin and I couldn't get him from in front of the television. He played for hours hollering and yelling at the game. I wondered what was the big deal. Then I played. I was in for a surprise. I instantly became addicted. At first it took me sometime to get use to the control buttons and understanding the whole game of tennis (My boyfriend acts like my coach when I play.) Top Spin has an awesome gameplay. There are different modes to play. The graphics are good. You can build your player, purchase cloths and tennis equipment. In the career mode, you can become sponsored by Reebok, Yonex, Addidas etc... The sound of the game gives you a feeling that you are at a tennis match. Eventhough this game is very fun, it is also very challenging. As you rank higher and enter different tournaments you play harder and more experienced players. All I have to say is go out and get the game. You will hours of fun. i guarantee you will be holloring and yelling at the television like me.

THIS GAME IS MORE FOR THE CASUAL TENNIS FAN THATS WHY YOU HAVE SO MANY REVIEWS OF PEOPLE SAYING I DONT PLAY OR WATCH TENNIS BUT I LIKE TOPSPIN.SMASHCOURT TENNIS 2 IS MORE FOR THE TENNIS HARDCORE ELITE.TOPSPIN IS TOO EASY FOR HARDCORE TENNIS FANS AS MYSELF.I CAN BEAT CHANG ON HARD LEVEL 6-0,6-0,6-0 IN FACT I CAN BEAT ANY PLAYER ON HARD LEVEL WITHOUT LOSING A SINGLE POINT.TOPSPIN DOESNT REQUIRE YOU TO BE RIGHT IN POSITION TO HIT A BALL OR VOLLEY LIKE SMASHCOURT TENNIS 2 DOES.ALSO TOPSPIN PLAYERS TELL YOU WHERE THEY ARE GOING TO SERVE BY WHERE THEY ARE STANDING ON THE SERVICE LINE.IF THEY ARE STANDING OUT WIDE THEY ARE GOING TO SERVE OUT WIDE,IF THEY ARE STANDING IN THE MIDDLE THEY ARE GOING TO SERVE DOWN THE LINE.SO THIS MAKES THE GAME TOO EASY.THE GRAPHICS ARE GREAT SO IS THE GAME PLAY BUT ITS MORE ARCADE LIKE THAN REALISTIC TENNIS.IF YOU ARE A HARDCORE TENNIS FAN GET SMASHCOURT TENNIS 2 IF YOU ARE A CASUAL TENNIS FAN THEN GET THIS.ALSO SUPER NINTENDO HAS A GREAT TENNIS GAME CALLED SUPER TENNIS.IT MAY NOT BE UP THERE WITH GRAPHICS LIKE TOPSPIN BUT THE GAMEPLAY IS GREAT AND NEVER GETS TIRING.SMASHCOURT TENNIS 2 IS MORE OF A CHALLENGE FOR TENNIS FANS.

Im going to try to be as clear as I can, while being completely unproffesional about it; Don't listen to the whiny haters. Those who claim the system is "frustrating, annoying, difficult" and such simply don't know how to play the game or are defficient at games in general. This game IS better than Virtual Tennis. It's more addictive, more fun, fuller, deeper richer, AND with a carreer and online mode that is plain awsome.

If you like a challenge, like pretty visuals, and just enjoy sport games in general, you'll appreatiate all the aspects of this game. With deccent practice one can perform all the super tacticle moves such as the risk shots as smoothly as the A.I in the game, and even if perhaps the difficulty is unstable, it really won't matter once you commit just a few hours into learning the stradegies of the game, and tennis in general.

This is easily one of the best sports game for Xbox. It''s really easy to pick-up and play yet takes some time to master. There are no difficulty settings, just that the AI improves somewhat for some opponents if you are winning. Meaning, the AI might take more risks than normal. Yes there are some real-life tennis stars in the game, Sampras, Hewitt, M Chang, Kournikova, etc. You can play as them in exhibition mode. In Career mode, you create your own player. Though IMO, there's some slight similarity with all created and AI players. You'll see what I mean when you get this game. My only really major gripe is the save method. The game does this automatically yet you can not save in the middle of a tournament if you need to bolt out of the house because you have to go to work. Bummer. The other save gripe is, the game does not save the music volume that you set. It's always at the default max level. Just a minor complaint. I recommend this game whole heartedly for all types: single player, co-op players, and online players. It's very fun and addictive.

Top Spin is simply a gem. Its more than a tennis game. Its an example of a game so polished in it's gameplay and feel that it transcends its position as a "tennis" game.

First of all, the gameplay is amazing. To a new player, or even one that isn't familiar with playing videogames at all, Top Spin is simple and easy to become comfortable with. You can simply keep smashing the "A" button to serve, return, and volley while using the control stick to move and aim your shots. As you gain experiance, you can master the use of the other 3 face buttons and their use in making different kinds of shots for different purposes, and everything is exactly like real tennis. For example, if you opponent is right up on the net, then a well-placed lob (Y-button) will at least make them fall back. Topspin shots (B-button) bounce fast and high, perfect for catching opponents on the base line off guard. The final face button, "X", is for slices, the defensive alternative for lobs. Just like in real tennis, slices bounce low, meaning that your opponent's return will be less powerful and angled. "Risk shots", activated by the shoulder buttons, offer you the opportunity to make either an extremely powerful shot or a really delicate shot forcing your opponent to dash for the net, but are much harder to pull off because if you don't time and aim them correctly, they will hit the net or fly out of bounds. Generally, you get the extremely satisfying feeling that everything behaves the way that it should in real tennis. Strategy from tennis also pertains. For example, much of the game is spent hitting cross court and finding angles, and knowing how/when do make certain actions such as playing defensively and moveing up to the net are critical to becoming good.

The single player "career mode" is good as a game by itself, but mostly serves as the platform in which you can create powerful custom players that you can use to play online (on XBOX Live). Right at the beginning you customize everything about the player, inluding looks (every imaginable aspect), height, weight, muscle, and clothes. Early parts of your career serve as a very effective tutorial. You progress, and the ultimate goal is getting your character to have comparable efficacy (given in terms of "stars" and "skills") to the pro players but with your own choice of specialties. Then you can take your character and play with him in exhibition matches (against computer or friends) and on Xbox Live.

Multiplayer support on a single xbox is great. You can choose to play exhibition games of singles or doubles, meaning that 2, 3, or 4 people can play at the same time (with 3 people, there would have to be one AI). There is also a custom tournament mode, allowing you to make a tournament for up to 4 rounds and 16 people on a single xbox.

Xbox Live support is seamless and awseome. Everyone has their own tricked-out character that they created, including their look, their clothes, and most importantly, their attributes. You can play with a pre-made character (including 16 top-name real world pros) but whats the fun in that?

My favorite "gimmick" is that they did different voices for every stadium. So, for example, the stadiums in Monaco and France annouce the scores in French. Soi not only does each stadium have it's own unique (and usually gorgeous) look, but they each have unique sounds and voicing.

Basically, if you have even the most small interest in anything about tennis, I would highly recommend this game. Without a doubt its the best one ever made, and its gameplay is a perfect example of "a minute to learn, a lifetime to master", and is similar to the real way that you would expect tennis to be played.

Ever since I first played and fell in love with Tennis for the original NES, I've been waiting for the perfect tennis game. For over a decade I bought newer gaming systems solely to find an improvement on the original Tennis, and was repeatedly frustrated as the games actually got worse. With Top Spin, we're getting closer, but there is still one major problem, which happens to be what plagues all sports games - the lack of control, the arbitraryness. Yes, you have different buttons for top spin, slice, flat, lob, drop shot, and that's all good, but the fact that your shots almost never hit the net or sail wide or long is my main frustration. Either you're overpowered or you're not. The only shot that hits the net is when you put too little on the drop shot. Otherwise every groundy is perfectly arced three to six feet over the net, all slices are lasers an inch over the net, etc. A netcord here and there would seriously spruce up gameplay. Basically, in video game tennis you are never off. You can win handily or lose handily, but you'll look good playing either way.
Also, you can press and hold any button before your opponent has even hit the ball and you don't even have to really move your guy and he'll hit the ball perfectly-therefore you don't really need good timing to execute these shots. Which as a result lowers the satisfaction when you make a nice shot, since every shot is a nice shot.
I understand that there probably isn't a solution to this. The only feasible way I can think of making this possible is increasing the sensitivity of each button tenfold...basically this is like those keyboards for infants-no matter how soft or hard you hit the keys it comes out the same tone/pitch/volume.
As for the AI of your computer opponents, ultimately you just have to power it past them. It would be nice if they hit off the frame once in a while or hit wide or long. That 99% of the points end with either you or your opponent hitting an outright winner is ultimately my biggest frustration with this game.
This is minor but the taunting/complimenting buttons are pointless once you do them a few times. Kinda like with Double Dribble ten years ago-once you see the slo mo black n white dunks a few times it's almost annoying to have to see it again. Perhaps this could be improved by making it more integral to gameplay-affecting the ITZ meter, or maybe if you bean the opponent in the head at net he yells at you...
With that said, I give this game 4 stars because the graphics are amazing, and despite its flaws it's still so much fun to play. I have to say it's a rush to be able to play as Sampras and you really feel like you have that lumbering motion of his and his strokes and serve are authentic, especially his forehand. This is a major plus. How much fun it would be to play Becker's serve, or hit Sabatini's backhand, etc...note: Kuerten has a unique backhand in real-life and his seemingly flailing motion is NOT mimicked well in this game, compared to the Sampras movement.
Very minor wish: I'd like to be able to spin the racquet, I know that's trivial but as a player since juniors I always spin waiting for serves, etc. and it'd be a nice touch in this game.
Final suggestion: It would be nice to have a wider range of racquets, including wooden. TopSpin 2 would be my favorite if you gave Roddick or Rusedski or any of the big servers wooden racquets and see how one dimensional their games are without power. My other minor wish is that players get injured-tendonitis, strained calf, anything. To be able to play as Sampras and puke all over the court and still win would be quite a thrill...
PS. I almost forgot, there's one more minor flaw with this game but I highly recommend this nonetheless (I advice anyone to buy this game): It's frustrating that you're on a leash waiting for serve-I'd like to be able to have more range on positioning as I wait for serve, or even be able to walk out of the box and get penalized by the ref or something. Actually this isn't that big a deal, it was just fun in TENNIS for the NES to move my player up to the net and get beaned in the head by a serve now and then or see how many laps around the court I could run while my doubles partner awaited serve...so really this is a stupid complaint.
Anyhow, this is a beautifully rendered, very playable and addicting game and I highly recommend it to anyone...the only reason I don't give it 5 stars is because I'm reserving that for the day someone makes the perfect game. This is as close as anyone's come so far...

Top Spin is the only tennis game I have played for Xbox, but it is certainly one of the best. I'll break down the goods and the bads for you:
GOOD
The graphics are THE BEST I have ever seen.
The sound effects are perfect . . . you can here the players groaning and the crowd cheering.
The game contains most of the world's elite tennis players but NO ANDRE AGASSI.
You can play in either smaller tournaments or Grand Slams all across the Globe.
The different types of courts: clay, grass, composite. You can feel the differences in the playing surfaces like you couldn't believe.
You can choose from any type of sponser you want, who will give you free gear the better you get.
You get to train what parts of your game that you feel need improvement.
The controls are easy to learn and easy to use.
You can choose what type of swing you want to put on the ball(lob, slice, normal, top spin, risk shot, or drop shot)
Long career mode in which you create your own player

BAD
You cannot save the game in the middle of tournaments, which means you either have to play all the way through or for-feit.
There is not that much of a difference between the #2 player in the world and the #22 player in the world difficulty wise. They should have made the higher ranked players harder to beat.
Xbox Live was Big Disappointment.

With the goods easily outranking the bads, I strongly suggest you buy this game. Its fun to play and provides great entertainment.

I am a huge virtua tennis fan and was really excited to get Topspin. Much of what has been said i agree with. The biggest problem is with the career mode like mentioned earlier it comes to an end. You get to #1 quickly and then win all the tournaments. If you continue in that career you can play the tournaments again but they don't go into your trophy case and don't show up as a headline. This can be fixed by following a calendar. Make it realistic. Every month there are tournaments and you can decide to compete if you qualify.

The other problem is with the AI and the drop shots. You can't slug it out from the baseline with any of the pros for two long without them hitting a drop shot which is easy to read. Serves are also way too easy. Also Pete Sampras never serves less than 100mph let alone 69?!