Top Spin 2

[robrymond]

For those who enjoyed the original, then you'll definitely enjoy the sequel.

Little has changed, however for beginners the learning curve can be a little steep. Career mode is more comprehensive and somewhat better than in the last game.

Xbox Live play is also improved, no waiting for hours for a match to load, however the opposition is usually pretty good (I've yet to win a match).

Any questions, give us a shout!

[ascender]

How did you get hold of a copy? This was one of my favourite games on the Xbox and I've pre-ordered version 2 although my Game had no idea when it would actually be released.

[robrymond]

It should be out on Friday. 2K sent me the title yesterday to review, hence why I got it early.

Although having a game early means the Live servers are very dead! Those on there whopped my arse though.

If you enjoyed the first though, you'll defaintly enjoy this

[smokedog]

Its getting a bit of a panning on metacritic

http://www.metacritic.com/games/platforms/xbox360/topspin2

[robrymond]

I gave it a 7.2 purely because its not a huge major improvement over the original. Thats not to say it isn't a fun game though.

[dc-arena]

I played the near-final preview a few weeks back and thought it was average. Looking just a bit better than an Xbox game (as in you need HDTV to benefit and it wasn't much better on HD), the loading times were shockingly bad, and it felt a little unresponsive.

The latter sounds like its been fixed but the rest of it seems to be present in the final game from what I have read.

[robrymond]

Loading times on Live are improved. Loading times in career are still pretty bad although I wouldn't say they are terrible.

[ascender]

Hmmm, after doing a bit of searching around, I'm not looking forward to this any more! Might stick with the games I've got instead and save myself the ?50.

[Matt KB]

Noticed any problems with the framerate? I've seen a few reviews mention it's problematic. Also what do you think of the graphics? Some of the likenesses I've seen in screenshots look... odd.

[dc-arena]

Yeah it dropped a various points when I played the preview..

[robrymond]

Noticed any problems with the framerate? I've seen a few reviews mention it's problematic. Also what do you think of the graphics? Some of the likenesses I've seen in screenshots look... odd.

Not a great representation of the characters no. Graphics are just a tad shinier than what we saw on the original game really.

[Shoju]

Does it have exactly the same timing system of the original? Contrary to what some reviews have stated, Top Spin didn't actually use quite the same timing method as Virtua Tennis. While I really liked VT's method I hated Top Spin's. The vollying game which I always like using in any tennis game was poorly implemented as well.

Those 2 things put me right off the 1st game, have they changed in any way in the sequel?

[robrymond]

The controls are fairly similar to the original, except if you press the right trigger you can pull off a risk shot which are pretty hard to do, but effective when they work.

If I recall last time, pressing the right trigger brought up a moving meter, which you'd have to get spot on to hit a hard shot over the net.

[dvdmike]

we got it in today and the courts look great, the players however take a journey to laminated land.
As for play i still maintain that Virtua tennis did it so much better.

[mackemansj1]

Wow its getting panned on metacritc, my fever excitment of my copy coming from gameplay today has now hit a ohh no wtf have i bought. All i wanted was a few tweaks and a gfx overhaul of ts1 wtf have they done to what was a asowme game. I cant get over they didnt included online doubles with friends.