This game is hard, very hard! If you are used to playing Virtua Tennis 3 or Top Spin 2 then you will be in for a world of gaming pain in the first few you games play. Any hint of arcade like gameplay that existed in Top Spin 2 has been removed and in comes challenging realism. Before you even begin to play a proper match I would recommend you go into the Top Spin School (basically a tutorial of sorts) to get to grips with the controls and style of gameplay.
After the playing through the challenges/tutorials in the school you will have an idea as to how challenging this game is. It took me a good hour or so to complete all the challenges but unlike me you don't have to do that. If you want, you can learn/get to grips with the controls and go off into a proper match. Obviously you have the standard shots (lob, flat, slice and top spin) but there different variations of each type of shot too. I would explain what they controls are and how they work but I don't think I could ever do it infact I would just end up totally confusing you guys. Like I said the controls are best learned through the in-game tutorials.
The key to the gameplay is timing, a little bit like real tennis. This even applies to serving, there is no power bar/meter so it is all down to judging the flight of the ball and timing the hit of the ball. When I finally started up a proper match I got absolutely battered, big time. I lost several matches in straights sets without even with a game or getting close to winning a game for that matter, I was playing on normal by the way! I would try to do power shots (holding down the shot button rather than just pressing it) and totally miss the ball or if I did make shots they would go out. After a few games though I realised I can't play this like Virtua Tennis or even Top Spin 2, I have to play a little more realistically. I started to play normal shots so the battle for points lasted longer and tried to force a mistake or weak shot out of the AI opponent. This tactic worked much better and allowed me to put in a few power shot here and there which resulted in me winning a few games. You will notice I said games there as I still haven't won an actual match yet, the closest I came was losing 5-3, 5-3! Thing is though, I still had fun and saw it as a challenge rather than "oh I am getting beaten, this game must suck".
As you would expect this has a career mode aswell as online play which is always fun with a tennis game. Haven't given either of these modes a go yet but will do in the next couple of days. Oh and graphically the game looks very very nice, as you would expect from 2K Sports really. The player animations on court are very smooth and realistic, some players animations are spot on. For instance they have the way Andy Roddick takes his serve nailed on to the way he does it for real. Oh and throughout the game the players will sweat, you can see this via the sweat patches on the tops and the beads of sweat on running down their faces. Nice!
Players wise you have a few well know faces such as Federer, Roddick, Blake, Sharapova and Britain's very own Andy Murray! There are also a few legends to such as Becker, Borg and Seles. Federer vs Borg anyone?! 
To sum up Top Spin 3 is a huge step up in terms of realism compared to Top Spin 2, like I said earlier there is no hint of arcade like gameplay at all. If you like your tennis games and you like a challenge, I think there is a lot of fun to be had from this game just don't expect it to come instantly though.
After the playing through the challenges/tutorials in the school you will have an idea as to how challenging this game is. It took me a good hour or so to complete all the challenges but unlike me you don't have to do that. If you want, you can learn/get to grips with the controls and go off into a proper match. Obviously you have the standard shots (lob, flat, slice and top spin) but there different variations of each type of shot too. I would explain what they controls are and how they work but I don't think I could ever do it infact I would just end up totally confusing you guys. Like I said the controls are best learned through the in-game tutorials.
The key to the gameplay is timing, a little bit like real tennis. This even applies to serving, there is no power bar/meter so it is all down to judging the flight of the ball and timing the hit of the ball. When I finally started up a proper match I got absolutely battered, big time. I lost several matches in straights sets without even with a game or getting close to winning a game for that matter, I was playing on normal by the way! I would try to do power shots (holding down the shot button rather than just pressing it) and totally miss the ball or if I did make shots they would go out. After a few games though I realised I can't play this like Virtua Tennis or even Top Spin 2, I have to play a little more realistically. I started to play normal shots so the battle for points lasted longer and tried to force a mistake or weak shot out of the AI opponent. This tactic worked much better and allowed me to put in a few power shot here and there which resulted in me winning a few games. You will notice I said games there as I still haven't won an actual match yet, the closest I came was losing 5-3, 5-3! Thing is though, I still had fun and saw it as a challenge rather than "oh I am getting beaten, this game must suck".
As you would expect this has a career mode aswell as online play which is always fun with a tennis game. Haven't given either of these modes a go yet but will do in the next couple of days. Oh and graphically the game looks very very nice, as you would expect from 2K Sports really. The player animations on court are very smooth and realistic, some players animations are spot on. For instance they have the way Andy Roddick takes his serve nailed on to the way he does it for real. Oh and throughout the game the players will sweat, you can see this via the sweat patches on the tops and the beads of sweat on running down their faces. Nice!
Players wise you have a few well know faces such as Federer, Roddick, Blake, Sharapova and Britain's very own Andy Murray! There are also a few legends to such as Becker, Borg and Seles. Federer vs Borg anyone?! To sum up Top Spin 3 is a huge step up in terms of realism compared to Top Spin 2, like I said earlier there is no hint of arcade like gameplay at all. If you like your tennis games and you like a challenge, I think there is a lot of fun to be had from this game just don't expect it to come instantly though.
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