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Amazing Game

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 5 / 5
Date: January 15, 2006
Author: Amazon User

Top Spin is amazing in every sense of the word. Although players who desire in-depth commentary will find this game lacking, most players will enjoy the noises of the crowd and the ball hitting the racket. I am happy that the game developers strayed away from the tinny commentary voices that we all hate.

This game is VERY easy to learn and that may be one of the only negatives about it. A real tennis player expects to win some and lose some(unless you're Federer) but, if you play Top Spin, you can expect to win 95-99% of your matches. The only loss that I have sustained(throughout my entire career) is to Dementieva, and that was a fluke(I swear). Those of you who are looking for a hard, challenging game, will find this somewhat lacking.

Anyways...Enough Negatives!! This game is perfect in every other way! The Graphics are crisp, the sounds are real, the crowd noise is perfect, the player development is fun, the courts and tournaments are realistic, and the game is a bargain, what more do you want? I rate this game 9.4 stars only because it is a little too easy.

I really can't make up my mind on this one...

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 4 / 4
Date: October 01, 2005
Author: Amazon User

Well, after anticipating this game since I heard the reviews for the X-Box version I couldn't wait to get my hands on this game. Then I did, popped it into the PS2's hard drive, and then immediately loved the title screen and the opening movie.

Then came the game itself. The career mode is, for lack of a better word, absolute crap: no calender or any realism at all, not to mention the fact that you are unable to have multiple sponsers and you have to go to various contries to improve your game.

The only thing I really liked better than Smash Court's version was the gameplay itself, which plays much more like real tennis, and you dont go entire matches without missing a shot. But the fact that you are able to hit shots near perfection in no-mans land is completely inaccurate.

The graphics are mediocre and grainy, though I wouldnt call them blurry, and the courts in the game are generally unattractive and boring, with fans scarcely doing anything and the players having few cutscenes.

Overall, I like the gameplay enough that I probably woln't go back to Smash Court, due to the sheer simplicity of Namco's gameplay. But I do conclude this review wondering why the hell EA Sports can make games such as rugby, cricket, and golf and why EA is unable to make a tennis game. Without using profanity its hard to quite say to the company what I wish to, but I defidently will be looking into why the most succesful sport's game company is neglectful of tennis.

Better than nothing........

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 6 / 10
Date: October 25, 2005
Author: Amazon User

The bad thing about being a tennis fan is the lack of tennis games out there. So while Top Spin has its kinks, it's better than nothing at all.

The bad things(I've only played with the female player):

1. Only Venus Williams looks close to how she should. Martina Hingis is way taller in the game. You can tell they spent a little bit of time on Hingis and Maria Sharapova, but everyone else looks generic.

2. Elena Dementieva serves over 100mph..those of us that follow tennis know she rarely breaks 85mph, generally serving in the 70s.

3. They don't give you enough chances to pratice. You get these stars and once you've used up all your stars...that's it. No more training.

The good:

1. I love that you're sponsored by a real brand. I started out with Addias and right now I'm with Prince.

2. Some of the tournaments are real tournaments. Last night I played the Nasdaq 100 and The Pacific Life Open.

3. You have a ton of outfit choices and you can change the colors.

Top Spin

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 3 / 3
Date: September 03, 2006
Author: Amazon User

The game is only fun if you play beginner or intermediate, which can also be challenging sometimes. But when you want to push yourself to the ultimate challege and play hard, it is almost impossible to win. You have to hit almost all your shots using the risk shots. I found it very challenging, which made the game very interesting for me. But I did wish that the risk shot could have been a little bit much easier to hit. The computer seems to never miss a risk shot, especially at the big points and big moments in the match. The few I won was due to luck I have to say, so I never played it again for I had many bitter losses. I like smash court tennis pro tournament 2 better than any of the tennis games so far because it is very easy to control the players. But it is not challenging at all as much as Top spin. I have great skill in tennis and also tennis video games. I am not a beginner who just cant play tennis games. I have success beating many tennis games including this one, but the one thing that bothers me about this game is the risk shots, which basically is 25 of 100 chances of working for me (if I am lucky), as to the computers 90 of 100. It is really not fair, but again as I said, it is very challenging, you be the judge.

I Love This Game!

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 3 / 3
Date: April 06, 2007
Author: Amazon User

STRENGTHS:
Great graphics; Easy to play; Packed with options: customize your player from DNA; doubles option, career mode, training mode and many available tennis courts; Women are there too!

WEAKNESSES:
Not many leading players are present; Game loading times are longer than expected; Risk shot option is very hard and unrealistic; Training wasn't much useful.

CONCLUSIVE OVERVIEW:

This is the best tennis game I've ever played so far! The graphics are really good and gameplay is smooth that I can feel the player. It has a lot of features such as career mode in which you can customize your player starting with its DNA. Yeah, sounds funny but it's true. You even customize face details, hair color and style, height of the player, body build, etc. Not only that, you can design your own uniform. I wish there were more players. Some prominent players available are Roger Federer, Carlos Moya, Gustavo Kuerten, Tim Henman, Sebastiyan Grojan, Maria Sharapova, Venus Williams, Martina Hingis and a few more.

In a career mode you go from one tournament to other and with every win your rank will progress. But you won't be able to win all tournaments at once! It may take a full day. So, prepare your memory card to save the game.
There are a few available sponsors such as Reebok, Adidas, Wilson, Prince, Dunlop and more. In order for them to become your sponsor you must beat their challenges. Training mode is very interesting but it is hard to go up to the last level - gold. I could reach silver status, but again not it all categories. :) Supposedly through training you can improve your serve, flat shot, backhand, volley. However, I found training not as sharpening your skills but rather completing a set of various challenges which supposedly will improve your gameplay and statistics. I did't find it useful that much.

I do play regular tennis and have idea of tennis strategy, so I love this game even more. First time I played this game with a person who didn't really want to play it. But she got caught by smooth and easy gameplay and made many laughs. That first time I played about 5 hours straight!

Please read game instructions before you play. Otherwise "X" button will be a risk-free shot button to use. You may actually direct your shots by left-right arrow buttons and make your opponent to run from one corner to another. It works pretty good if you have a basic idea of tennis strategy.

I like doubles option. You can even play doubles by yourself. In this case your partner will be PC. So, basically it will be you and PC vs. PC+PC. That was fun too.

This game is definitely one of the best tennis games, I highly recommend it to everyone!

Fun for the tennis fans.

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 2 / 2
Date: January 17, 2007
Author: Amazon User

Pros:
1. Detailed in-game playing options in career mode, you not only can choose how to develop your player, what sponsor to take on, which tournament to play, etc., but this game also have tons of details to design your player, from the body size, chin size, eye style... Personally I usually just go with the default but it's nice to know you have those options.
2. Simple play control. Aside from the risk shot/drop shots (which aren't really that hard to get done) everything else is easy to do, and you'll almost never hit the ball out of bounds if you only use the "X" button (Yes you can win in Hard mode using only that shot).
3. Graphics is decent, not the best I've seen out there but definitely enjoyable. Commentators don't really yap a lot during matches, which is one thing I didn't really like from some other tennis games.
4. Multi-player mode can support 4 people playing (I know most tennis game has this feature but I still want to stress that), it's always a blast when I get a few of my friends over the house.

Cons:
1. I can see the detailed play options being a pain for some people, it can take quite a while to set up a player in career mode. The first time I played it took me about 20 minutes before I actually get to play my first match. It's nice to have all the options but sometimes they get to be a bit too complicated.
2. Limited choices of players in exhibition mode. You do get Federer, Hewitt, Henmen, Moya, etc., but they left out quite a few good players, the list can definitely be expanded.
3. Lengthy load. Probably due to the complexity of the game, loading can take quite a bit time.

Other thoughts:
I tried a couple other tennis games on PS2 before I picked up this one, I've been playing it for a while now yet it is still challenging in Hard mode, even with the top-rated Roger Federer I'd still have trouble beating Hewitt in a 6-point/5-set match. Unlike what some other people have said in the review, the computer doesn't get the risk-shots EVERYTIME, although they do have a VERY high chance getting in on a serve, but after ball is in even if they get it perfectly they still hit the ball out of bounds 2 out of every 5 times. I have won the exhibition in hard mode using only the "x" button and risk shots only on serve, I'd like to expand my game play more but I find it easier to win when I just keep it simple. I would recommand this game to anyone who likes tennis, especially for the price people are selling on here.

Top Spin Review

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 2 / 4
Date: March 05, 2006
Author: Amazon User

If you are a tennis fan, you will definitely love this game. You have the ability to create your own charcter and improve his ranking to #1 in the world. The only down thing about it is it doesn't have a large professional tennis roster. Players such as Serena, Jennifer, Andy, and Agassi are all missing from the game. Also the graphics could be much better. We are in 2006, not 2000. However, the other features make up for it. Overall I give it three out of five stars.

What happened?

2 Rating: 2, Useful: 2 / 4
Date: October 06, 2005
Author: Amazon User

For all of those who loved the Xbox version, this is trash. The only difference in this version is the addition of new players, and a downgrade on graphics and gameplay. Don't get me wrong, playing is fluid...if i ever get to play. The loading time in between screens is entirely too slow. The judge's voice sounds like Stephen Hawking and on some shots where I see that it's out, the point still counts. If you've never played the Xbox version then yes, it's a decent game. However, the PS2 version is disappointing and I hope to see a mjor change in Top Spin 2 whenever it's released for 360.

Best Tennis Game Since Virtua Tennis

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 4 / 14
Date: October 21, 2005
Author: Amazon User

Firstly I should like to deal with a major gripe that has been present ad nauseam in the last handful of years of PC and game console tennis games. Most of the tennis games, aside from falling short of the great quality of Virtua Tennis, spectacularly fail to keep abreast of the emerging youngbloods in tennis and remain stale. The tennis rosters of the predecessors seem to be just recycled choruses of the same faces, Yvgeny Kafelnikov, Carlos Moya, Gustavo Kuerten, Tim Henman etc.. Ok Sampras is still there, fine...the man is one of the greats... but so was Rod Laver and John McEnroe...the Zinedine Zidane of tennis. Plus with his lively character and incendiary temper (to put it nicely) would have been a great addition.
And we can't forget of course our dear Anna Kournikova. Whom if I recall correctly used to be a model.....oh yeah but she also played some tennis on the side. But for the testosterone aspect of tennis we gotta keep her in there I guess. (Crowd approves) No offense, but the Serena and Venus Williams brothers, I think they'd only add to the testosterone.
So, the protracted inclusion of Anna Kournikova undoubtedly gives us guys something to look forward to on the weekend. Hey if I'm gonna get humiliated on the tennis court, at least I'll get to see Anna K bounce up and down and get a little hot and sweaty first. (Sad, but true nonetheless).

So by sheer miraculous divinity, Mr. Roger Federer who has been reigning as undisputed World #1 for a long time now, has finally been included in the tennis roster. So you can now whup some derriere as the Frank Sinatra of tennis. Or as Will Vanders would call the peerless Swiss, "The Chairman of the Board". Because he really is the man around the house right now.

It's about time Federer and Sharapova at least, finally get included in the tennis games so we can actually revere them a little more interactively. What confuses me is this gobbledygook in the product description "and the world's number-one player, Lleyton Hewitt.".

Makes you wonder if they hire Cricket fanatics to write these things. No offense to cricket fans out there....although it is a sport for disabled people.

In all fairness the PS2 adaptation isn't bad at all. It's at least decent enough to play. Most of the big boys and and the big girls are there, so you can dispatch your opponents by Federer Express, or the shrieking Sharapova, who seems to have managed to fit the entire Russian Revolution into her pipes. Alternatively you can develop your own player and govern the court more personally.

However, chief among its flaws are the lesser-than X-Box, graphics, lengthy loading times where you can cook a full Penne al Pesto in-between loads.
As much of a PS2 advocate as I am, I'd like to reserve priority for being objective and the XBox version really does seem to tick all the boxes (if not most).

If you've hardly touched an XBox then this shouldn't be too much of an issue to get in the way of your enjoyment.
If you've seen and played the XBox version...at least keep in mind that although synonymously compared...they are relatively different consoles.

Good...but not great!

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 1 / 1
Date: October 02, 2005
Author: Amazon User

I had been looking forward to this game for a couple of months, and was hopeing for somthing amazing after seeing the quality of the xbox version-but I was slightly disappointed. The gameplay is very good with the players making realistic shots and ocasionaly missing the ball-unlike smash court pro tournament 2! But there is slow loading times which can make you bored whilst waiting for a match to load. The graphics aren't half as bad as people are making them out to be-but the crowd are a little umm...fake! I agree the world tour is not as realistic as smash court 2-with the game not even having dates! But when you are actualy playing in a tournament you totally forget that because the gameplay is so good. So I'd say give this game a go-because if you can see past the long loading times and crowd, you will not be disappointed...

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