Top Spin 2

[jcee]

I had some live games on this last night and it works bloody well, after a few matches we'd both got into the 'swing' of things and had some great rallies going. No lag, and best of all...you can play with a Guest on live in doubles matches Another thing i'd like to point out is the great design put into the playground courts: they have their own authentic bgm and goings on around the court; for example the spanish court was set in a bar of sorts with flameco dancers in the background...nice touch

My only gripe is that you can't change your players / court after a live match it only gives you the option of rematch or quit. Framerate is pretty solid too so I can't see where this gripe is eminating from.

oh yeah, forgot to say the game has an rrp of 44.99, a first for a non microsoft published game.

[dvdmike]

oh yeah, forgot to say the game has an rrp of 44.99, a first for a non microsoft published game.

not quite all take 2 games now have an rrp of 44.99

[mr_sockochris]

When the USA are getting it for $40 I find a ?45 price tag a little hard to swallow I heard there is no doubles online unless it's 2 per Xbox. Is this true?

[arcnas]

i dont understand the price difference to be honest, i got my Us copy this morning at ?27, i wouldnt pay ?40 - ?45 for it to be honest, but at the US price i was happy to go for it.

[Jebus]

I'm considerably underwhelmed by this game! Pre-ordered it ages ago...It feels very wooden play wise, the courts look nice I'll admit but I do feel this isn't quite as next-gen-looking as other games like Oblivion, Ghost Recon, Fight Night etc!

It seems very very hard early on and it seems the AI isn't too clever since if you can find a pattern you can literally repeat that system to win until you find an opponent who is light years ahead of you and its pointless even trying. This could be because I'm used to the virtua tennis style of play but this game is neither satisfying nor feels engrossing when you are actually playing...it just feels like you don't have nearly enough control over a shot, despite feeling you've hit it just right for it to scream "out" for the umpteenth time, as I say, despite doing what you did the point before and not being out.

Maybe it's because I felt Oblivion calling me back into it's world but I just found this game completely "meh"...I'm hoping I can get into it, but having played about an hour I'm thinking of trading it in already!

There are some things that seem to be bad though, the menu's and character creation is just ****, I couldn't get my player looking anything like me, the hair styles are rubbish. There appears to be "jaggies" around certain menus and in-game things (like the serve bar) but they may be due to me playing on a CRT (though I must say I've never noticed it in ANY other 360 game) in non-HD. It also appears to be rather dark, and YET AGAIN an example on another 360 game that does not utilise the Hard Drive for loading! All you can do early on is train, 60 second training games that take 15/20 seconds to load, then 15/20 seconds to load back to main menu, only to be told you are going to be shown a new "shot" whereby it loads a further 15/20 seconds only to go back to the same court you were just training on...60 seconds later you are loading back to the menu again.

Some menu's even load! Maybe I'm being over-critical because I was really looking forward to a next-gen Tennis game, but so far I'd take Virtua Tennis or even Mario Tennis over this...unless it improves. The sound even feels unfinished...even missing in places. No umpire voice on the matches unless it only comes in further into your career or bigger matches?

I'll give it some more time when Oblivion lets me go but to be honest I'd say it's a definite rental.

[Diggler]

Dunno how you can say the character creation is ****, dear lord it's pretty spectacular if you ask me. My toon looks worryingly like me.

The game itself is hard to get into at first, but after training, building your character up and getting to grips with the various shots and trick moves it really clicks. It'll take a few hours to reach that sweet spot though.

My advice is master the top spin shot immediately and use that for 90% of your shots. The default swipe is pretty useless in comparison.

[MJR_UK]

i like it. im not saying its perfect but I think the shot timing is spot on. Having rallies is fun and trying to out do your opponent is great.

Not tried the online aspect yet but the bottom line is this game is fun

[Jebus]

Dunno how you can say the character creation is ****, dear lord it's pretty spectacular if you ask me. My toon looks worryingly like me.

The game itself is hard to get into at first, but after training, building your character up and getting to grips with the various shots and trick moves it really clicks. It'll take a few hours to reach that sweet spot though.

My advice is master the top spin shot immediately and use that for 90% of your shots. The default swipe is pretty useless in comparison.

I already use the top spin for 90% of the shots!

I think character creation compared to games like Oblivion/Tiger Woods etc is bad and the loading times for each "item" don't help.

I dislike the shot timing as well, but it may be that I need to get used to it. I don't feel a sports game should take a few hours to get into really...

[GordonJ]

Too (loading) many (loading) loading (loading) screens in career mode

[Jebus]

Too (loading) many (loading) loading (loading) screens in career mode

I know, it's absolutely appalling! As I said, how on earth they didn't think to make the game look for the Hard Drive, and if it's there...USE IT...I really don't know.

Personally I feel the amount of loading destroys career mode early on.

[Shoju]

I dislike the shot timing as well

Exactly my problem with the game. If you have to hold down the button after the ball passes the net, then move the player towards the ball, you don't have the freedom to position yourself around the ball or decide exactly when you hit it cause the computer takes over for those things.

[Jebus]

Exactly my problem with the game. If you have to hold down the button after the ball passes the net, then move the player towards the ball, you don't have the freedom to position yourself around the ball or decide exactly when you hit it cause the computer takes over for those things.

Agreed, sometimes meaning you swing after the ball has sailed passed you, or sometimes you don't swing at all.

Compared to previous-gen version of Virtua Tennis (PSP/PS2 etc) this game could be considered barely playable...That's exaggerated of course, but hopefully people get what I mean.

I might get used to it since this is the first Top Spin game I've played and I was so looking forward to it!

[Dazzyman]

Had a few exhibition matches last night (as Ive heard these are the hardest way to get going as difficulty is world class opponents) and Ive been VERY happily pleased. It plays like Topspin 1, there isnt any problems with animation or controls like places like IGN whittered on about, its smooth and very playable. The only fault I can really see with it so far is the loading between matches (about 25seconds) but ingame there wasnt any I could find, no bad pauses or missed shot hiccups with loading etc.. so some of those reviews seem unfounded. Also cannot understand about the whinging of not being able to change the camera when your at top of screen to be back at bottom, Ive been used to that on other tennis games (and it stops you cheating on 2player games by keeping the easiest view). You can play from behind the shoulder as well and both camera angles are great (which was another reason I didnt buy it as couple of sites said it had bad angle of camera position!).

The animation is lovely as is the control system, it is noway near as easy as some reviews make out, the A safe button does not mean the ball will never go out it just means you have a safer shot (you can hold buttons down to make em more powerfull, use trigger for risk shots which are now very hard to do and also use momentum built up from the crowd as a bar for special shots what you learn as you go along). I was very good at Top Spin 1 and I lost my first game by 3 sets to 0 and only won 3 games in that match. The atmosphere of the game is very well done, crowds will start clapping in unison when your say at deuce and there behind your player.

What I would say is this really, dont be put off like I was with some of the reviews (I actually think Edge might have got this right for once with its 8 out of 10), its very playable, graphics are more than fine and it has a massive single player mode, if you like tennis just buy it you wont be disapointed!

[dcmk]

Anyone think that training is really hard, the serving one's being the biggest bitch IMO

[Jebus]

I found the training very easy but that's probably because I've played so many incarnations of Virtua Tennis and most of the Top Spin 2 one's are just variations on those...