Top Spin 2 for
the PC has created a title to fill a small niche of tennis fans that were
hoping to find a game that would satisfy their craving for a tennis title. In
my opinion this should have been left for the consoles because the PC
experience is just not satisfying – at least the way it is set up.
Innovative
gameplay lets you adapt your on-court playing style with slices, drops,
topspins, lobs and drives. Play as, or against, 24 top pros, including Roger Federer, Maria Sharapova, Andy Roddick, Venus Williams and more. You can
choose your Pro and start playing immediately or create a player. Your created
player can be customized to the n’th degree. You can toggle just about
everything from skin and hair color, hair style, body build, voice, and
nationality. In short, the possibilities are seemingly endless and you could
literally spend hours just creating characters. This is one of the better
points of the game.
After your
player is created you start off with about 200k in cash to spend on some
coaching. This will help you get a bit more in tuned with how the game is
played. Over the span of multiple sessions, coach your player through training
camps, junior championships, sponsored tournaments and all four Grand Slam
events. The more training you participate in, the more stars you receive to
add to your abilities. Your cash can run out quick so you need to win a few
events to build up sponsorships and prize purse to really turn your rookie
into a pro.
As you
progress you will get emails within the game that can be played as an audio
message so you do not have to read them. I like the concept because I have
always been a fan of less reading and more listening. The voice-overs made a
decent attempt of providing foreign accents and excitement to the language,
but they still sounded a bit rough around the edges. At least they gave it an
effort. This has always been a challenge in most games.
Once you have
gotten some basics down you can climb your way through the pro circuit. You
will need to constantly train to really nail down some of the more advanced
shots. Sure, you can try them at any time, but you will be more successful as
you gain abilities by successfully passing your training. From what I can tell
just about every shot can be mastered from by diligently taking time to be
coached. Some tips are given through out the game to help you along.
There are some
party games that were designed in case you want something a bit different than
tennis. Why would anyone buy a this title unless they lived and breathed
tennis is beyond me, but it is a refreshing choice nonetheless. Time Bomb
is a game where you try and make the opponents clock reach zero before your own
clock does by winning points. Wall Breaker is a game where you destroy
as much of the wall of boxes as possible to earn points, and defend the wall
to keep your opponents from earning more points than you. You just have to be
careful not to knock down your own wall. Splash Court is designed to
cover your opponent’s side of the court with permanent splashes of paint by
winning points. Some good games to be found here and I can appreciate the
ability to play on a PC. I just would have liked to have known I needed a game
pad to enjoy these games. This was not stated on the retail box or the games
Web site. That is very disappointing.
Video and
sound were Ok for this title. I strongly recommend only playing on a home PC
with a non-integrated video card. According to the Web site there is a small blurp that stated that integrated video cards and mobile video cards are not
supported. Another important piece of information not found on the retail box.
In short, I
feel that there were some good ideas that were laid out in this title, but
someone dropped the ball on really giving the gamer the important information
in the system requirements to enjoy this title. The manual only gives
directions on how to play with a keyboard and mouse, which is a bear to play.
If a game pad could be used, not to mention required, for some aspects of the
game, why not say so on both the box AND Web site? Furthermore give some
directions in the manual for game pad use. This, to me, just says the product is
misrepresented. It is very hard for me to recommend this for the PC and would
most likely be more enjoyable on a console where game pads are the required
peripherals for play.
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Gameplay: 5.0
I
would have liked to have seen a better set up for a keyboard and mouse.
Specs on the retail box and Web site state Windows-compatible keyboard and
mouse. Nowhere does it say game pads required for multiplayer. They are
required for party games. In addition the keyboard-and-mouse commands are
uncomfortable and clunky to say the least. I imagined a more swinging style of
tennis like found in EA’s Tiger Woods series with the True Swing where your
swing is based on the way you move or rotate the mouse. I believe this would
have been a more realistic style of play.
Graphics: 7.0
The
venues and arenas are nicely detailed and littered with sponsor logos just
like any major tennis event. The players were modeled nicely, but still could
have been more fine-tuned. If playing looked like the beginning video sequence
it would have been much better. This title does not support integrated or
mobile video cards but you would not know that unless you checked out the
website. That pertinent information should have been on the box under system
requirements.
Sound: 8.0
Typical tennis sounds and pretty good music. Voice-overs were Ok and I liked
the ability to customize your character’s voice.
Difficulty:
Hard
The
game is tough to play because I believe it is directly correlated to the
gameplay rating above. The instruction booklet only gives keyboard commands in
how to play with keyboard and mouse. Trying to anticipate your opponent’s
shots is already difficult enough, but trying to return shots with this set up
is difficult. I have not played with a game pad so I cannot be for certain if
that would help. I chose this title based on the required specs so that is how
I played.
Concept: 7.0
Well, we have not seen too many tennis games out there for the PC so I guess
the concept is good for that small niche of gamers. I did like that party
games were offered as a change of pace, but because they lack the ability to
play with mouse and keyboard I’m a bit perplexed as to why that was not
mentioned in the system specs.
Multiplayer:
N/A
Multiplayer is offered but at time of review could not find a game online. As
mentioned above game pads are required for party games yet you would not know
that until you already dished out money for the game. I was disappointed to
find that I had to (ctrl alt del) to get out of the waiting to find a game
screen. After five minutes of waiting there should have been an option to
continue searching or go back to main menu.
Overall: 5.0
The
game had some good ideas but fell short on the execution.
