romasuave's Full Review: Top Spin for PlayStation 2
If you ever had the opportunity to play Virtua Tennis from Sega Sports and enjoyed the experience, you will likely enjoy this game as well, a fine mixture of graphics, controls and diversity as you climb up the ranks of the tennis elite.
There are several game modes for you to choose as well as the difficulty, normal is acceptable as a game mode as hard gets too difficult for the common gamer. You can choose 1 on 1 mode against some of the top male or female players in the world, or as a double match. The career mode lets you evolve as a player and take the same route the pros took to get to the top of their ranks. To become a top player you must hone and craft your tennis skills which includes training sessions for serves, volleys and ground strokes, albeit they are generic challenges, most involve hitting targets after a machine serves you a ball, but nonetheless is gives you practice for types of shots as well as selection of power vs. angled shots.
With every successful practice challenge completion you are given a star for the type of shot (serve, stroke, volley, etc.) and it improves you as a player. With the serve challenge you need to hit 1 of 3 sized targets to earn point, the smaller the target the more point you earn for that serve, a timed challenge to earn a certain number of points. As the challenges progress you learn the different types of serve you can hit, power, topspin or slice, depending on the situation. A serve meter indicate the power on each serve so timing is key to up the power. As you get better there is also a “mega-speed” serve with harder timing to master until the later practice sessions, this is helpful to get your opponent of balance and usually get an open court to hit a winning shot. The ground strokes use the same philosophy as the serve with the same 3 shots, as well as a timed “risk-shot” which I could never master. The volley repeats the pattern of the other 2 types of shots.
As you move up the ranks you get to select tournaments for each skill level, staring with the bronze level relatively easy games with slower opponents hitting weak shots. As you move up you get major city tournaments and finally the 4 grand slam events against the best in the world. You learn to choose the type of shots you would take based on your position and your opponents position on the court, I would usually hit a slower slice shots when my opponent has me on the run because I have more time to run back to a position where I am set for the next shot, the standard show (the X button) is good for almost all your shots and will get you winners if you learn to have your opponent off balance, the topspin shot is good when your opponent is at the net and you can hit a screamer past him. For any situation there is always the best shot which you will master on your own.
Part of the career mode is the sponsors who can give you gear and reputation, I never got too heavily involved in that aspect of the career mode because I felt it was redundant to my player development, I much rather focus on my training and actual game skills.
There is a lack of peripheral equipment in the game, unlike virtua tennis where you have a choice of nearly a dozen rackets and shoes and gear, here there is but 2 or 3 of each, disappointing and not understandable to this gamer.
The graphics in this game are pretty good, good character design and very similar likeness to the real pros, including type of game they possess and the motion of their shots, especially the serve. The courts are rendered beautifully based on their type, the background crowd did seem a bit generic and not detailed at all. One nifty feature is the 2 camera modes, far and near, it’s nice to alternate at times to see which is more convenient for you, the near angle has your back to the screen at all times so you’re always in the near court, the far angle alternates.
The sounds in the game are your typical tennis sounds, the umpire calling the point, the crowd cheering, the ball hitting the strings and of course, the grunting! No real opinion on the quality of the sound, it didn’t really sway me one way or another.
I found the loading times to be a major negative in the gaming experience, it would sometimes take nearly a minute to load a match screen after you select your options, not only that, there is a load delay on almost every screen you choose so you spend a good 25% of your selection process waiting for the game to load, a big disappointment.Another negative is the generic training, in Virtua Tennis you had fun challenges such as serving onto a turnstile bearing various prizes or practicing your footwork while stepping over tennis balls, in Top Spin it is all the same, hitting targets on the ground of your opponents court, quite lame. The gameplay is mostly smooth but there are instances of jittery movement and slowdown while playing, a testament to the slow loading aspect of the software title. My last gripe is the sometimes impossible shots the computer player would hit, when you think you have the shot won there is a surprise in store for you, sometimes the opponent manages to hit one back, so always be on the lookout.
A few pointers that helped me:
1. Try and perfect the risk serve and angles of shots, if you angle wide there is a good chance you will have an open court for your return shot, and use a standard 2nd serve if you miss the first, there is no point in double faulting when a standard shot almost never goes out.
2. When returning a serve, if your opponent is standing toward the edge of the court he will most likely serve wide, try hitting a slice shot to the opposite side to keep him off balance.
3. Don’t try too many topspin shots unless you think your can hit one past an opponent who’s close to the net, those shots tend to sail wide sometimes when you try to hit winners.
4. When you see the risk meter before your opponent hits his shot it will likely be a drop shot close to the net, prepare by running toward the net and always hit is near-court to have a chance at a winner, not cross-court where your opponent will have an open court for a winner.
5. Practice running towards the net and prep for a lob shot by your opponent by running slightly back, if you’re at the net you will never get back quick enough to hit the ball back, but if you’re not too close to the net you can volley and if necessary hit a smash off of an opponent’s lob shot.
6. Always hit slice shots when your opponent has you running all over the place, it will give you a better chance to reach a seemingly foregone shot with enough slow pace on the slice to get back in position, use your more powerful shots when your feet are set and you have plenty of time to hit the ball.
7. For more power, hit the selective shot button not when the ball is near you but when it floats over the net, the more prep time you have the better power and angle you will get.
8. Have a fun playing experience, you will enjoy it.
Grading:
Gameplay: 4.2 of 5
Graphics: 4.3 of 5
Sound: 3.5 of 5
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