Below are user reviews of Top Spin and on the right are links to professionally written reviews.
The summary of review scores shows the distribution of scores given by the professional reviewers for Top Spin.
Column height indicates the number of reviews with a score within the range shown at the bottom of the column.
Higher scores (columns further towards the right) are better.
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User Reviews (31 - 41 of 42)
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Nice and not so nice
5
Rating: 5,
Useful: 0 / 3
Date: December 05, 2004
Author: Amazon User
I bought this game a day ago and it is crazy the graphics are tricked out you can see players so well it is awsome. Game play is quick to learn I was winning within minutes literally. I would sujest this game if you buy the holiday bundle of X-Box and definetly to tennis game fanatics who own a x-box. But the characters are limited and game play does get boring pretty fast. It is a good game overall though.
4, because of on-line play or human vs. human play
4
Rating: 4,
Useful: 0 / 2
Date: March 30, 2005
Author: Amazon User
Good day tennis fans!
I think this game has the look and feel of real modern day tennis. I was happy to play it, I felt the awe of being in the court and hitting topspin and slice shots with perfect form (no stretching before-hand! *smile*). In this game you can enjoy the fantasy of being in great matches and having great points (whether you are a tennis player or not).
1st, my experience: I've been playing this game for about 3 months, have created about 20 characters of my own (including famous ones like John McEnroe, Steffi Graf, Yonnick Noah, Agassi, Federer, Serena Williams, Stefan Edberg, Becker, Borg, etc...). I currently have all 14 star/3 skill players (I'm close to having 4 skill players, it just takes some time to cultivate 20+ players, so there's some time required to get there...). And I understand that to have a 15 star player, you must buy both of the 1,000,000 [$coin] Xbox clothes (shirt and pants), and your player will be reset (with different skills) and you will boot-back-up with a 15 star player. Woo-Hoooo! That's what a little bird told me :)
I've won a couple grand slams, and I've pretty well mastered the playing style in the CAREER mode of the game. I can usually win 3-0, 3-0 in every match I encounter. (sometimes 3-1, sometimes 4-2). 1 month ago, I would only be barely winning grand slams, or losing in the quarterfinals.
... Onward with the review......
The game has flaws, of course (don't all computer games which try to simulate some real thing?). When playing against Other HUMAN players (you know, real people) the game is fantastic! You can't have any real complaints, because each person has to use his/her skills to compete in the same arena, same rules.
Where the game shows it's flaws, is ... When playing against the computer (I'm talking about Exhibition mode, here, but the computer un-fairness idea counts for Career mode as well). It is the typical game where the level of difficulty you select (EASY, NORMAL, HARD) doesn't seem to fairly represent a real match. On NORMAL, for example, It's too easy for me now. It's boringly easy to play anyone (exCEPT a human player). But on HARD it is TOO HARD! It's as if the opponent is invincible. It seems that only his/her power and forcefullness are increased. I would like to see a game which increases NOT the POWER and FORCEFULLNESS in HARD mode, but increases the Creativeness of play, and the adaptiveness of play. Because it shouldn't be the case that a crappy 2 star player can blast a 14 star player, just because you chose the HARD setting. Isn't that correct?
For example: I would like to play in the NORMAL difficulty, but I would like to have intelligent, creative, adaptive, moody opponents who show more variety than the opponents in Top Spin, currently. The way it is, the play is un-realistic after a few months of playing.
Specific critiques (of the computer opponents). Once again, when playing REAL HUMAN PLAYERS, I don't have any complaints. Then the random play of a real person dictates the play, and that is fantastic.
Comptuter opponent critiques:
(1) Serve wide.
I can serve wide with slice that shoots the ball outside (or topspin, depending on which side I'm serving from), and come into the net and volley to the opposite line for a winner EVERY TIME! Once in a blue moon the returner tries to hit down the line, and foil my plans. But I've got about a 96% rate of winning that way (against ANY player at ANY difficulty). This is a major flaw. The computer player should "mix it up" more, or show some variety or adaptiveness.
(2) Opponents serve.
I've figured this out. If the opponent stands wide, he is going to serve wide. If the opponent stands by the middle line, he is going to serve down the middle line or to the center of the box. This never fails! Every time! This COMPLETELY takes away from the element of surprise when trying to return serve. It's COMPLETELY ubn-realistic. I play tennis at a high level, and one of the most powerful things about a serve is NOT KNOWING WHERE IT'S GOING TO ARRIVE.
The only time that is ~seems~ like the opponent is standing by the center line, and serves wide -- the opponent hits the ball out! Every time! So, the situation exists -- it's just that the opponent will NEVER land a serve that way! So you don't have to ever worry about second-guessing your stance.
If PAM (Power And Magic) wants to email me and ask me what I'd do to alleviate this problem, please do so:
mrjeffkraus@yahoo.com
I'd be happy to work with them, creating a fantastically real tennis game with the appropriate options and programming worthy of the greatest tennnis game ever! Really. Just write to me.
I think about these things like I have 'a gift', it's really my calling (game creation is in my blood). Write me. I know I sound arrogant, but it's only because I know that my ideas are perfect. This is the one thing that I know about very well, because I really enjoy seeing things work fantastically!
And what's more fun than a fantastic game!
The game is good.
With my added Real LEGENDS (McEnroe, Edberg, etc...) I've created a nice pool of players to choose from.
Just yesterday my brother-in-law and I played as McEnroe (young with the big hair and red sweatband) and Goran Ivanisevic (BIG serve) and kicked the crap out of Yonnick Noah and Stefan Edberg!
Then we got toasted (fried!!) by Sampras and Agassi!
Man, we need to get our revenge on those 2 the next time.
:-D
3 out of the 4 players I just mentioned, were created by myself.
I'd given them the appropriate skills according to reality (when they were at the top of their game), and facial features, height/weight, etc... blah blah blah, you know what I mean if you have the game...
All you modern day ONLY tennis fans will shoot me for saying this:
I'm going to create Rod Laver in a couple days.
Kudos!
I'm outta here,
-Jeff
THIS GAME IS THE MOST FRUSTRATING THING IN THE WORLD
1
Rating: 1,
Useful: 0 / 6
Date: February 19, 2006
Author: Amazon User
This game is terrible!!! The game doesn't give you any idea of where the ball is going which results in:
Having no idea where serves are going to go.
Never knowing whether or not the ball will be out.
Having no idea where to go when the player lobs it.
This was the most frustrating, un-fun videogame I have ever played in my life. STAY AWAY FROM IT COMPLETELY!!!!!!!!
Anna Kournikova...WHAT ELSE DO YOU WANT??
5
Rating: 5,
Useful: 0 / 1
Date: January 05, 2004
Author: Amazon User
I love tennis, love watching it, love playing it, unfortunately when it comes to videogames tennis isnt that heavy of a hitter, the last game to come out before this was Sega Sports Tennis which was as the Comic Book Guy would say "best tennis game ever," and that was a while ago. I wish this would come out on PS2 so goddamn much! I stumbled upon it at a videogame store and was very impressed. Considering Id never played XboX before the controls were pretty easy to learn, and it was very fun playing as my girl Anna Kournikova (wish she was in Sega Sports Tennis!) although this game's gameplay is a lot more sophisticated as Sega Sports Tennis, but its also a lot more realistic. SSN's CPU was ridiculously tough at times (HARD and VERY HARD difficulty) this game the opponents seem to be a little more down to earth. If I had XboX Id buy this game in a second, but until then Ill have to hope it (or something like it) comes out on PS2...
Fantastic
4
Rating: 4,
Useful: 0 / 1
Date: March 29, 2004
Author: Amazon User
This game is awesome! The Few of the Famous players that it has, they are the best! It has players such as James Blake, Gustavo Kuerten, Pete Sampras, and the great player of Lleyton Hewitt. The option of career mode features great skills and ladders tu jump from rank 50 to rank 1! This is awesome I just saw it and right away I bought it!
The best sports game I've ever played!!!
4
Rating: 4,
Useful: 0 / 1
Date: August 14, 2004
Author: Amazon User
This is the best tennis game ever, hands down. The exhibition mode features talented, if not a bit outdated, pros, including Sampras, Hewitt, and Kournikova. The career mode allows you to create your own player and enter him in real tournaments around the world. You can even get sponsered by famous companies including Wilson, Addidas, Prince, and Yonex.
If this game included more up to date players, it would be perfect. But, overall, it's probably the best tennis game you'll ever play. BUY IT!!!
Topspin
4
Rating: 4,
Useful: 0 / 1
Date: August 20, 2004
Author: Amazon User
OK in 2004 there are 2 Tennis games that are at the top. The 1st is Topsin and the other is Samashcourt Tennis 2. Topspin is the best Tennis video game out there. There are just a few minor improvements to be made to this game. Unlike Topsin, Smashcourt Tennis 2 has an exellent choice of players to choose from. Topspin has very bland and uninteresting players. In Topspin 2 they need to add Roger Federer, Carlos Moya, Marat Safin, Andy Rodddick,Andre Agassi and Guiermollo Coria, On the womens side Topsin 2 should add serena williams, Venus, Justine Henin - hardenne, Maria Sharapova, Kim Clijsters and Jennifer Capriati. The Last impovemnet Topspin 2 should make is that in the career mode getting to world no 1 is far too damn easy. Topsin 2 needs to add more sponors like babolat, head, dunlop. But overall this game was a 4 out of 5. If ur a hardcore tennis fan this game is great for ya and also get topsin 2.
Best Tennis Game
4
Rating: 4,
Useful: 0 / 1
Date: November 03, 2003
Author: Amazon User
This has to be the best tennis game to date. The graphics are great and just the overall play is good. I definately recommend this game if your a fan or not of tennis. There's plenty of events to select from minor tournaments to grand slams. And your ranking is always going up and down. The surfaces are realistic especially on clay where you slide. As far as your character, you build it up to what you'd like their strengths and weakenesses to be. Trust this game is worth the money. The only bad thing is that there is no Andy Roddick, but other than that its great game to play.
Great Game
4
Rating: 4,
Useful: 0 / 3
Date: November 13, 2003
Author: Amazon User
This is a great game. It's well worth the money. The graphics are very good. Career mode is very cool, and you can play as 32 players from both genders including Pete Sampras, Jeff Blake, Leyton Hewitt, and Anna Kournikova. Controls are made very well as the A button is safe shot, B top spin, Y lob, X slice, and also drop shots, smashes and power shots. Buy this GAME!
Addicting Tennis!
5
Rating: 5,
Useful: 0 / 0
Date: January 13, 2004
Author: Amazon User
I purchased Top Spin not even owning an XBox! Can you believe it? Plunking down $50? Call me stupid, but those marketing guys are good, really good! And the visuals for the game are unbelievable.
Well my buddy brought his Xbox over and we played and played and played and played... My buddy left his console at my house, and needless to say I haven't had much sleep the last week, all because of Top Spin. It is fun, especially if you love tennis, which I do.
It takes time to learn all of the controls, but once you do, it's a blast and it's even fun while you learn. I am having so much fun in career mode. I created a dorky looking guy with my dog's first name and my last name... and he's currently #5 in the world!
I know this isn't sounding too much like a review, but being a self-proclaimed "non-gamer", I really do love Top Spin.
If you love tennis, you'll love this game too!
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