2K Sports
has released its new next-gen iteration of Top Spin, the game that takes the
rudimentary game of tennis and breathes remarkable life into it. Tennis, as a
video game, has been around in rudimentary forms since the dawn of the industry.
It is one of those games that, whether in the variation known as Pong, or in the
more advance format created by the Top Spin franchise, requires that you serve
or return a ball delivered from a fixed location to another fixed location.
Sounds
simple, but Top Spin 3 proves that anything sounding simple is simply not.
The game
focuses on immersion right from the start with the career mode (in single
player) and the ability to create a tennis player with the foundation template
already in place. Once you pick the template, you can spend the next 30-45
minutes tweaking. There is even an editor that allows you to manipulate facial
bones to create the player you would wish to resemble, if you wanted to take on
the pro circuit.
After you
create your player, you can move into the beginning stages of your career, which
begins with a series of three tie-breaker matches. From there you advance to a
small tourney, consisting of group qualifying matches that consist of a
best-of-five type setting (win three games and you chalk up the victory). As you
win, you earn points that can be used to upgrade your player. You start with an
overall rating of 30, and can distribute points (they go in chunks) in areas
such as volley, serve, forehand, backhand, stamina and speed.
The goal, at
this point, is rather obvious – win matches, build up your player and advance to
big-time tourneys.
Tantamount,
though, to the success of a game like this has to be the control mechanics. If
you were expecting an easy time on the court, driving your opponent nuts with
lobs and drop-shots, or running them ragged by volleying from one side of the
court to the next – yes, you can do that, but first you have to master the
controls and that is easier said than done. For whatever reason, 2K has decided
to toss out ease-of-use in favor of a more realistic approach. That means that
you have to have several buttons working in concert if you hope to return a
shot, or place a return, with any degree of success. The left thumbstick will
angle your player to the ball, but somewhere along the way, you will need to
load up the type of shot you want (the four hot buttons will determine the type
of shot you perform). You have to stop when the angle is right, and make certain
you hit the ball at the right moment in its upward trajectory. Re-involving the thumbstick seems to help direct the angle of the shot (if your timing on your
swing is right), and you can also use the L2 and R2 shoulder buttons to either
try to place the shot close to a line, or put more power in the return. Mess up
on any of those things, and you will either look like an idiot, miss the return
court, or just stand there and watch the ball bounce by you.
If the angle
of your approach to the ball is off, it might hit you or be so far outside your
reach that you end up flailing at the air.
Because you
are on the low end of the speed scale to start, your player will have a sluggish
time tracking to the ball. This can be rather frustrating.
Serving the
ball also requires timing. You initiate the serve with a hot button or use the
right thumbstick to load and release your stroke by pulling the stick in one
direction and then reversing it, then use the left thumbstick to set the angle
of the serve. Timing is, again, key.
(It should
be noted that the disk sent for this review was not the retail with the
instruction book, which would have been helpful – and yes, you can all gasp in
shock at that bit of news … a gamer using a manual??? – to outlining everything
that can be done. As it was, much of this was supplied by on-screen prompts –
which flew past quickly – and trial-and-error methods.)
Two new
features include the use of the left and right shoulder buttons. The left one
will allow you to move a bit faster (sort of a spurt of motion) but it will tax
your stamina and cost you if the match goes too long; the right shoulder button
will automatically have you start to charge the net – which is a nice thing, but
it can be a bad habit to get into, especially against the better players and
their AI.
Fatigue can
play into a match, and there is a heart-rate monitor that will measure how
excited or nervous your player can be. Get that heart beating too fast and you
may be a bit edgy and prone to more unforced errors.
In addition
to gaining XP through victories, you also get unlock points, which are used in
the virtual mall to buy new gear.
Graphically
the game is very good. The physics are, for the most part, well represented and
the animations look terrific. You might even be surprised a few times with a
poor approach to a return and then a creative shot animation on the part of your
player. The music has some techno stuff happening at times, and some other
pop-rock rhythms – all in all, not terribly exciting but not totally annoying.
The disk received did have an odd audio loop at times of a ball being rapidly
bounced. That may have been eliminated in the retail release.
Top Spin 3
has its moments of frustration simply because this is not a game for the casual
gamer. It has a steep learning curve, but once you find that rhythm, it can be a
challenging and enjoyable time.
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Gameplay: 8.0
If you want to
pop in the game and have instant success, you may be disappointed with this
game. The control scheme is well realized but the game AI is quite challenging.
Graphics: 8.7
The created
players can be as detailed as you want them to be, and the physics are well
done.
Sound: 7.8
The menu music is
fine, but there is not much on-court effects in play. That is both a good thing
and a bad thing. The grunting can get old, but the focus is purely on the
tennis.
Difficulty: Medium/Hard
Concept: 8.4
If the idea was
to sacrifice accessibility for realism, then 2K nailed it. The player creator is
terrific and the PS3 version has Rafael Nadal included with the cast of pro
players.
Multiplayer: N/A
This code was for the debug unit and at the time of the review, it was not
possible to find players online to play against.
Overall: 8.0
There is a huge
learning curve and some frustration when you, as the gamer, react but the
controls are sluggish in responding. However, once you find that flow in the
controls, and once you start to work up your player to the point where you can
compete well, start getting a feel for the court, serving up aces or returning
that power stroke inside the line, the game rewards will a real sense of
achievement.
