It’s pretty tough to write a review of a tennis game and not compare the title to Virtua Tennis but the two games are actually quite different from each other. The controls in particular are a lot deeper in Top Spin 2 and the risk shots are what sets the series apart. The four face buttons on the Xbox 360 all represent different shots. The A button is a safe shot, which is guaranteed to never go out, the X button is a slice shot which is fast and low. The B button is a top spin shot that is fast and very bouncy and the Y button is reserved for a lob shot which is pretty self explanatory. Those are the basic controls and getting used to these are relatively easy.
As you play your player momentum will build up and if your momentum is high enough then you can execute a risk shot. If you hold down the right shoulder button on the Xbox 360 controller before you try to hit a ball the game will bring up a little power meter. The objective is to stop the meter at the very top. If you stuff the risk shot up then you’ll either hit the ball out or it won’t go over the net but if you’re successful in completing the shot then you’re just about guaranteed a point. Whether you’ll actually end up using these shots though is another thing, because often it is far too risky and the risk shots really do require split second precision.
It may look familiar but it's a little shinier..
The main mode in the game is once again the career mode. Before you do anything in the career mode you will need to create a player. The customization is surprisingly detailed and it’s definitely worth taking the time to customize your player because it’s likely you’ll be staring at him for the next fifteen hours. There are plenty of things to customize in the player customization screen such as age, name, nationality and physical build. After you create a player (which takes a surprising amount of time) you begin your career. You start off as a rank 200 tennis player and the overall objective is to be ranked number one.
Tennis central is where you’ll be handling the development of your career. In each given week there is a training event, as well as a tournament and possibly even a special event. At the very beginning you’ll need to work hard on training because any competitions you enter into are likely to see you get annihilated. Training isn’t free though and you’ll need to pay a fee to attempt each training event. Successfully completing the event will give you two points to increase your character skills by and failing the event will give you a one point increase. The amount of training events on offer really is very impressive and this makes the training a little more exciting. After playing through the career mode in the original Top Spin the last thing I wanted to do was attempt even more training but the range of mini games is very impressive and you’ll be attempting things like knocking over a wall through to hitting a large ball out of the tennis court.
Eventually though the money that you start off with will begin to wane and you will have no choice but to compete in tournaments. The first few tournaments you play in are really amateur events without any vocal umpires which does mean that it literally does feel like you’re working your way up in the tennis ranks. It was very exciting when I actually got to an event that featured an umpire. The career mode itself is extremely lengthy as well, so if you play every match it can take a severely long amount of time to play through. The game actually includes a simulation option as well. Most of the time the simulation option is a little risky but you can simulate entire games, sets, matches or tournaments so you don’t need to take a large risk if you don’t want too. The simulation option is a godsend and something that really makes the tournaments a little faster, it makes it easier if you’re absolutely thrashing your opponent in a match as well.
Aside from the career mode there is also an exhibition mode and a tournament mode. The exhibition mode lets you choose from any of the 24 players (all are real players and include the likes of Lleyton Hewitt and Carlos Moya). The tournament mode lets you construct your own tournaments which let you play against both real and AI controlled players.
Familiar? Yes. Fun? Hell Yes.
There is also a party games option which includes three mini games for if you’re not interested in a serious game of tennis. The first game, time bomb sees you trying to continuously score points to slow down a clock that is counting down. The second mini game splash court paints the court in paint as you score in those sections and the final game wall breaker has you trying to knock down your opponent’s box wall whilst trying to save your own from being knocked down. The mini games are pretty pointless and we never really found ourselves going into the modes to play them that often.
The game also includes an online mode which just isn’t as compelling as it could have been. There is support for up to four players online but the match options are pretty basic and it doesn’t look like a lot of effort was put into the online play. To compete in online ranked matches you’ll also need to use your own career player so you really need to have a good career player or you won’t stand a chance. It is really disappointing that the online play just feels like it has been tacked on.
Game play wise the game really hasn’t evolved that much in the past few years. The AI is surprisingly balanced though which results in a lot of intense matches but it still feels like the same game of tennis that we played three years ago. It’s hard to be too critical of this though because the balance was pretty spot on the first time. The risk shots seem a little easier to pull off, but they really need to be even more easier before they will become a viable option in the middle of an intense rally. The load times are a little disappointing as well though and there is just far too much loading considering you’re only really loading up a tennis court.
This shot's ACE!
Graphically the game looks okay but really isn’t that astounding for a Xbox 360 title. The animation is very impressive and the courts are diverse, but there really isn’t much happening on screen so there is no reason that this game doesn’t look even more impressive. The players all look similar to their real life counterparts but unfortunately not as similar as we’d hoped. The sound is pretty unspectacular as well, but is exactly what you should expect from a tennis game. The menus have music that becomes extremely familiar and in game all the sounds are very authentic, but it’s tennis so we weren’t expecting anything but the bare essentials.
When it comes down to how long the title will last this is going to come down to each individual person. If you play through every single match in the career mode, beat every pro player in the exhibition modes (which you’ll need to do if you want all the achievement points) and then hop online then the game will last and incredibly lengthy amount of time. The career mode in itself is extremely bulky so if you enjoy tennis then there is a lot of content on offer here. Most of the Xbox 360 achievements are earned offline as well, so if you don’t have Xbox Live you’re really not missing out on too many points.
There's an old adage that says "If it isn’t broke then don’t fix it". We can tell PAM took this philosophy to heart whilst developing Top Spin 2 and whilst the overall experience hasn’t really evolved or changed that much, the game play is still extremely addictive and if you’re a fan of tennis games you’re likely to love this game and get a lot of play time out of it. Top Spin 2 isn’t an evolution, but not every sequel needs to be.
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