Top Spin 4 Reviews

Top Spin 4

When I joined TA I vowed to write a review of the game I hit 25K GS with.
I’m very happy this game being Top Spin 4, tennis games are the basics of all video games imo, don’t think there’s ever been a console made without a tennis game. In one form or another, table tennis, air hockey, top spin, virtua, smash court, you name it, they all relate to the ’Tennis for two’ game on the oscilloscope, the root of all video games.

So, when I purchased Top Spin 4 I wanted it to crown all the previous titles, given all the possibilities the new gen consoles give.
Has Top Spin 4 been able to fulfil my, and I’m sure other gamers expectations? Let’s see.

Graphics:

I think it’s safe to say that most of the games that had hit the shelves in the last couple of years are spectacular in terms of graphics. This one is no exception. The details of the cheering crowd are breath taking, 2K really did make the effort to place the gamer right in the middle of the Arthur Ashe stadium. The umpire, the ball boys, the crowd and the players are well worked out. Graphics are simply stunning. As stunning as a tennis game can be. In my humble opinion, a tennis game will not be in the HOF based on graphics. Graphics of this game deliver.
9/10

Audio:

Menu music seems to always be Chemical Brothers. I like CB, do you? Does it matter at all?

Now, in game audio is a different story. As I said, crowd delivers. Longer rallies, big saves etc will be greatly appreciated by the crowd, even during rallies. Top notch. Players, different type of hits, footwork, occasional moaning, all brilliant.
Umpire – doesn’t just become boring after a few games, it also is annoying as hell. Umpires sound like they have an iPod up there with them, and after every point *play* thirty.mp3 - *play* fifteen.mp3 - *play* playerone.mp3.
Annoying. I want something like the real thing. Thirty-luv on the US Open doesn’t sound the same as thirty-luv in Wimbledon. I want to hear those differencies and not the same damn umpire every time. May seem like a less important part of the game, believe me, 15 hours into the game, it IS a major issue. (for me anyways)
8/10

Gameplay

One word. WOW.
If you’ve played Top Spin 3 you know, it wasn’t rare that we found ourselves controlling some sort of a clumsy robot.
Top Spin 4 is nothing like that. It’s the most flawless sport game I ever played. It just feels good. It has a rhythm takes no time to get used to, and prolly a lifetime to master. If you like and understand tennis you will figure it out after a few tries that the game is going to be rewarding. You will expand your own limits, especially if you’ll play online. Constantly trying to hit stronger and faster, trying to hit the line, surprise your opponent. It’s super fun. Also kind of easy. 4 buttons are the 4 shot types (slice, flat, topspin, lob). Yet, there is always place for improvement. And this what I like about the game’s gameplay. There is always place for improvement and you can indeed improve with pretty much every shot if you get the feel of the game’s rhythm.

The career has some surprisingly good elements to make the grind less painful. Dream matches with vintage players, or attending on events in the hope of more fans in your fanclub, and sparring trainings to earn xps so you can raise your players attributes.
I like how the game is orientating you to create a certain type of players when you spend your xps. Baseline defending player (Nadal), Baseline attacking player (Federer), Serve and volley ( Roddick) instead of letting you assign xp to just 1 certain attribute, you develop an either attacking or defending player, and not one with maxed out backhand and 0 stamina. Makes the online field equal.

Gameplay is outstanding.

10/10

Achievements

Single player achievements are relatively easy, as you progress through your career you will unlock them eventually.
Online achievements, in most games online achievements are just a grind, play 150 death matches and whatnot. 7 achievements out of 40 are online, You might get them with grinding.

Though…

good luck with that…

And there are those true grinding achivements. Win 2K points, etc. Takes time but easy.

9/10

Conclusion

If you like tennis the game is worth every penny. If you only want to play this game for achievements, you prolly should only rent it or wait til the price drops because the online cheevos are VERY challenging and at the moment I don’t see myself being able to 100% it and I don’t suck at it.
Please note that this review is completely spoiler free. However, it couldn’t be full of spoilers even if I wanted to, it’s a tennis game. There isn’t a lot more to it. You win, you advance, you improve, you unlock, until the game becomes a grind. But hey, that’s tennis in real life too.

I for one love this game and I’m sure true tennis fans like I am will love it too.
A+ 2K, well done.

Top Spin 4 - 8,0

Veredict:
Top Spin 4 is the ultimate tennis game. It offers realistic gameplay mixed with simplier controls and menus, a good host of playable characters, a deeper and fun career mode, a very nice online tour, and many other things already present in previous iterations of the Top Spin franchise.

I say the game is the ultimate tennis game, but don't expect a jaw-breaking experience. The genre is still miles always from FIFA, Madden, and other popular sports. The player host is good when compared to previous tennis games, but is still extremely small, with only 25 playable characters, which is nothing against the hundreds of players present in the FIFA, for example.

Career mode is still superficial. Casual players may not see much of an issue here, but anyone who watches tennis knows how deep and complex a career is. Top Spin 4 offers an imaginative points system, has only a few tournaments, is divided by months instead of weeks, and lacks many elements the real tennis has to offer. It's hard to see why the official points system from ATP isn't implemented and why it's very different to what we see during the ATP Tour. Regardless of the improvements it can still make, the career mode is fun and rewarding, at least until you max out your player's level. That's when career becomes bland. You gain experience points whenever you play, but after reaching the maximum level, these points simply go to waste. It would not be a problem if it didn't took only 2 or 3 seasons to reach top level. When you start playing big tournaments you will probably be at max level already, and the rewarding for winning major tournaments is reduced drastically.

The game mechanics are superb. You can learn how to play well really fast because controls are simple and intuitive, but at the same time it offers all the tactical play of previous entries of Top Spin. The only issue with the gameplay mechanic occurs when you reach high levels and performing certain amazing shots becomes far to easy, making the realistic feel of the game fade a bit.

Online play is very well done. It's tour mode is divided in seasons which change each week of real life. You can play tournaments and win points to escalate to the top rank or simply play to train your skills against real opponents. During multiplayer matches the game mechanics proves to be very robust and rarely allows tactical exploits very common to tennis games.

Pros:
- Superb gameplay
- Easy, intuitive control scheme
- Nice online mode
- Fun career mode

Cons:
- Lack of references to real life tennis tour
- Limited host of players
- Player gets to max level too fast, make later rewards feel bland