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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!!!!!!!!

don't waste time or money

1 Rating: 1, Useful: 2 / 7
Date: January 11, 2005
Author: Amazon User

yet another game in an ever growing list that bypasses the creation of challenging computer ai and instead relies on cheating a player to increase it's difficulty. the makers of this game should have taken their cue from the sega sports line of tennis games and seen why those games are so successful. i have sega's tennis game for playstation 2 and it offers fun and challenging gameplay without feeling like you're getting cheated on half the points.

top spin may well be fun as a multiplayer game but as a single player game it offers nothing but boredom and frustration. in career mode you spend the money you earn to build your character's various attributes. in the lower level tournaments your computer opponent barely even bothers hitting the ball back at you which is completely boring considering you have to beat three opponents by two sets that are played to three games. i've built several characters with varying strengths and it seems to make no difference where you put your skill points when you get to the grand slam tournaments. you need to win a grand slam to unlock the final career status and finish building your character. this is where the game really fails. you can have the computer completely outmatched and still stand no chance of winning because it continually pulls out impossible shot after impossible shot and at the same time makes your character inexplicably whiff at balls that just go floating by. computer risk shots are dead on whenever it needs a point and not close when it doesn't. when the computer is on the run on a point that it needs to win your shots start losing power for some reason and the computer eventually catches up and hammers a ball by you. on one point the computer dives for a ball well beyond the baseline and hits a lob perfectly placed in the far corner that you can't get close to and on the next it meekly taps the ball out of bounds when you would have no chance of getting to it. i could go on but i'm through wasting my time on this game, heed my advise and don't waste yours.

A fun tennis game buried beneath aggravation

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 22 / 24
Date: November 14, 2003
Author: Amazon User

On the one hand, Top Spin can be a fun and addictive tennis game--easily the best on Xbox and, in most respects, more than a match for the classic tennis game, Virtua Tennis. On the other, Top Spin is weighed down by numerous little points of irritation and frustration. Alone, none of them would make a major difference, but when put together, they really hurt the overall product.

First, the good. Top Spin is easy to pick up--if you've ever played any console tennis game, you can get the basics down in a minute or two; and if you haven't, there's a quick and easy tutorial. The controls work well here, with each button hitting a different kind of shot (normal, slice, top spin, lob), and the triggers allowing for more difficult drop and risky shots. The graphics are great, with gorgeous stadiums and nicely animated players. And the career mode is nice, with a create-a-player feature that lets you design even the particularities of your player's face and body type. As you play in career mode, you can develop an individual set of skills for your player. You might want to serve-and-volley, or stay on the baseline and hit with power. Any type of player is easily created.

But Top Spin has too many problems. The handful of licensed (real life) players are powered-up over and above their stats, so that the difficulty level swings wildly between the made-up players you'll face and the real-life ones. Second, the game abuses the risk shot system--obviously, the game doesn't have the same timing issues as a player, and your AI opponent will frequently kill you with perfect risk shot after risk shot. Perhaps most annoyingly, given that the Xbox has a hard drive, you can't quit playing in the middle of a tournament in career mode and come back later--you have to forfeit. Probably for this reason, in career mode, you win a set at 3 games, not 6. This makes the game even more frustrating, because if you're broken by the AI, you have to immediately break-back or the set may well be over.

All told, I enjoy Top Spin, but only in small doses, and not nearly as much as I might have. It remains the best tennis game on Xbox, but if the obvious points of frustration had been solved during development, it might have simply been the best tennis game.

Good Start

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 1 / 1
Date: April 01, 2004
Author: Amazon User

This is a great tennnis game if you have someone to play with. Although a little unreal, the rallys can last a long time and tennis strategy can be employed.

The computer, however, is another story. Someone below mentioned the computers use of the risk shot, and the near impossibility of pulling it off for us humans. This is true. However, its not that the computer is too good, its too predictible. There are 2 major flaws:

1. Serve to the weak side and volley, everytime. This alone will give you the match as it makes it nearly impossible to be broken. But then add...

2. the single player AI opponent gives away its intentions everytime it serves. If he/she lines up in the middle, the ball will go down the middle 95% of the time, if he/she lines up outside, the ball will be served to the outside.

These 2 major flaws make the computer opponent useless. If you have someone to play, it is a totally different game. It would be great for MS to give the AI a stronger service return, and stop the foolish line up problem that kills the AI game.

Beyond those flaws the game is actually great. Fantastic graphics and lots of fun to play with another gamer.

Good tennis game, but not great. Hoping for Top Spin 2!

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 1 / 1
Date: May 22, 2004
Author: Amazon User

After 3 weeks play, this game is losing its appeal. It's worth playing but much of what has been written about the game's deficiencies is very true. It is clear that the game is rigged. When controlling your play, there are obvious and frustrating times when movement or swing input is ignored.

On the other hand, at the surface level, the graphics and variety of tennis venues are very appealing. Actually, though I think they could improve on this too.

Here are my likes:
1. Great stadium feel when playing around the world, although a little too canned.
2. Overall good play which may help you hone real strategy.
3. Career play is a great way to keep the game interesting.
4. Controls allow moderate range of tactics that require real practice.

Here are my dislikes:
1. Controls are frustratingly inconsistent at times, usually when playing a real-life character.
2. 99.9% of the time, a safe shot is guaranteed, even as a beginner. Is that realistic?
3. Career play needs more emphasis on training to gain better skills - achieved #1 rank too easily.
4. Opponent's movement and speed is unrealistic at times.
5. Opponent's serves are too predictable and easy to return.
6. You really cannot aim your serve where you want to - controls too inconsistent.

A very good tennis game, but could have been better...

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 1 / 1
Date: June 14, 2004
Author: Amazon User

First off, there's not much that I can say that hasn't already been covered by the other reviewers. This is a very good tennis game, but certainly not without it's flaws.

First, the pros. The graphics are amazing and very life-like. I loved the player animations, and the real-life men in the game look uncannily similar to the players they represent. Unfortunately, the women aren't quite as well done. The various courts and stadiums are well-rendered and beautiful. Also excellent is the sound, as all the effects are excellent and sound just the way they should. The career mode is a lot of fun, but entirely too short and easy. I'll cover that in my cons. And I would be remiss if I didn't mention the gameplay, because overall it rivals Virtua Tennis as being one of the best out there.

And now, for the cons. As mentioned numerous times before, the inability to save your game while in the midst of playing a tournament is beyond frustrating. Most people don't have the time to sit and play the game for an hour or more, but if you start a tournament that's exactly what you'll have to do. The game makers attempt to remedy this by making the sets only 3 games long, but this only serves to weaken the credibility of the game. An easy way to fix this would have been to allow for the saving of tournaments in between matches, as well as including an option of 3 or 6-game sets. That way those who have the time and prefer the realism of 6 games aren't disappointed. Seems simple enough to me, why didn't MS think of this? Also, the career mode is very short and entirely too easy to achieve the coveted number one ranking. I'm no video game master by any means, but by the second day of playing I had achieved the number one ranking and "Legend" status. Piece of cake, and once finished there really is no reason to go back and keep playing. One last gripe is the numerous cut-scenes during matches. For starters, there should have been an option to turn these off entirely. After seeing the same thing countless times, it gets frustrating to have to push a button two or three times just to get to the next point. The novelty of the excitement/frustration buttons wears off after the first match, and adds virtually nothing to the game.

With all this being said, the game is not bad. Even with all the cons I listed, it's a very enjoyable experience. Definitely the best tennis the Xbox has to offer. And with the price having now dropped quite a bit, it's certainly worthy of a purchase.

Not quite the equal of Virtua Tennis

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 28 / 37
Date: November 04, 2003
Author: Amazon User

As a major fan of Sega's Virtua Tennis and Tennis 2K2 on the Dreamcast (the latter also appearing on the PS2 as Sega Sports Tennis), I could not wait to get my hands on Power And Magic Development's newest virtual tennis game, Top Spin Tennis. A relatively unheralded console developer, PAM has done a fantastic job taking Sega's amazing formula and attempting to refine it - in fact there are aspects of Top Spin that are improvements - but despite the online capabilities of Top Spin, the gameplay itself doesn't quite match the fine-tuned perfection of Sega's efforts.

Top Spin was designed from the start to be more of a simulation than the arcade-based Virtua Tennis, and as such has more complex gameplay. Each face button on the Xbox's controller is used for a different kind of shot: A is a "safe" shot, X is a slice, B is an angled top spin shot, and Y is a lob. These shots can also be used to mix up your serves. In addition, each trigger performs a "risk" shot, which can be quite a potent weapon when mastered. The R trigger is used for power smashes, and the L trigger is used for drop shots. As a result, the game doesn't quite have the same instant pick-up-and-play accessibility of Virtua Tennis, but once some time is spent behind the controller, the shots become second nature. Top Spin also features an In The Zone meter, which is basically a power meter meant to simulate adrenaline. Play well, and the meter rises, and once full, risk shots come easier and the player performs at his/her peak. To help with this, you can have your player react in between points, celebrating a great effort or complaining at a missed opportunity.

Top Spin features several modes, including a tutorial, Exhibition for up to four players, and a mode that lets you create a Custom Tournament. Most of your single-player hours will be spent in Career Mode, in which you build your own player using a pretty robust creation system and send him or her out on tour in a quest to become number one in the world. Your player travels from continent to continent, competing in various tournaments, earning sponsorships, and visiting coaches to learn skills. This aspect of Top Spin is closer to an RPG than Virtua Tennis, as you must choose distinct strengths for your character instead of becoming a superhuman performer. It is important in Top Spin to choose skills that will cover up your weaknesses (as you cannot max out all abilities), but it is also possible to become a specialized power baseliner or a quick serve & volleyer. You earn money for match wins, which you can use to purchase more gear and to pay coaches to train you, and victories also assure a rise in rank, but should you lose a match or two, your rank will drop. The Career Mode is a very nice idea, but it doesn't have the imaginative challenges of Virtua Tennis (where you'd serve to knock over bowling pins, etc. etc.) and you can enter any tournament at any time, rather than having to wait a simulated year before retrying. When you add that Top Spin's AI can be easily exploited, the battle to become and stay number one can drag.

Visually, the game is terrific, especially the detail of the courts. Fully polygonal crowds cheer, real-life ads are everywhere in the larger arenas, and cities rise in the background. There are even playground courts ranging from in the middle of the desert to indoor arenas with snow falling outside or joggers out for some morning exercise. Player animation is very well-done, and the licensed players look strikingly lifelike, even down to signature animations (Lleyton Hewitt's serve looks just like it does on TV). However, there are no night courts, the ball boys don't chase the ball, and ambient shadows don't change during play as in Sega's games.

Top Spin's sound package isn't quite as remarkable. Matches can get very quiet with no music or crowd noise - only the grunts of the players and the smack of the rackets. It's supposed to simulate real matches, but the option to include music would have been welcome. In addition, crowd noise will suddenly appear as a roar out of nowhere, which can be jarring.

The gameplay itself is good, but doesn't quite measure up to Virtua Tennis or Tennis 2K2. New players will have trouble making risk shots, and as a result, points can be unnaturally long, especially in doubles. Sega's games did a great job allowing many types of shots with just the control stick and a single button, but it's not so easy to pull off a drop shot in Top Spin. Players will often lunge when you don't want them to, and then won't lunge when you DO want them to. Top Spin also is a lot more sensitive when it comes to player position in relation to the ball - in order to hit with power, you've got to be in exactly the right position, even after being fully trained. You'd think that a pro player could adjust, but Top Spin is a little too precise. Also, once players get the timing of the risk shots down, matches end up going far too quickly and lose a lot of the sim nature.

Still, even with these slight problems, Top Spin is quite an achievement. It looks great, plays well online or off, and has a deep Career Mode. With a couple of changes, Power And Magic could very well upset Sega's Tennis 2K2 as king of the virtual court.

Very Addictive

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 6 / 6
Date: January 17, 2004
Author: Amazon User

I have never played tennis before. On the video game or real life. But, I must say I wish I had. I never imagined that I would have so much fun playing tennis. My boyfriend is a fan of tennis and video games. He purchased Top Spin and I couldn't get him from in front of the television. He played for hours hollering and yelling at the game. I wondered what was the big deal. Then I played. I was in for a surprise. I instantly became addicted. At first it took me sometime to get use to the control buttons and understanding the whole game of tennis (My boyfriend acts like my coach when I play.) Top Spin has an awesome gameplay. There are different modes to play. The graphics are good. You can build your player, purchase cloths and tennis equipment. In the career mode, you can become sponsored by Reebok, Yonex, Addidas etc... The sound of the game gives you a feeling that you are at a tennis match. Eventhough this game is very fun, it is also very challenging. As you rank higher and enter different tournaments you play harder and more experienced players. All I have to say is go out and get the game. You will hours of fun. i guarantee you will be holloring and yelling at the television like me.

multiplayer-excitement

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 5 / 5
Date: January 31, 2004
Author: Amazon User

Top Spin for many people is just an upgraded version of pong, with sweet graphics, but the game is supprisingly deep. Now I am not a huge tennis fan, but after playing a few matches you feel the need to pick up a real raquet and go whoop your friends on a real court. The Graphics for this game are quite simply amazing, one of the top 5 games graphically on the xbox. The gameplay while may take a few matches to get used to, becomes an immediete reaction when playing a game, never questioning what type of shot you should use and when. The single player experience is so deep that you can almost start to believe you are the character in the game. Which brings me to a good point, whenever starting a career you have to create your character from scratch. This is the best create-a-player I have ever seen. Create yourself with that huge nose or big eyebrows, because you have dozens of options on how to mold your face into different categories. Putting yourself into the game is not hard, by anyone's standards, you can pretty much mold any aspect of your body or face to match your real life looks. After spending days just creating funny characters you actually have a whole career to go through. Play tournaments, get sponsered by major companies (Wilson, Prince, K-Swiss) and work your way from rank 100 to number 1. Of course the real fun in this game is the multiplayer game. Having doubles tournaments with three buddies is unbelievably entertaining, and taking your game online to play against rivals from other countries will never get old. However the only downfall is once you play through the career mode once, you will probably never play through it again with another character. This game is a must for any tennis fan, or for anyone that is looking for an intense multiplayer game whether that is with all your buddies gathered around one tv, or online against some loser that dares challenge you.

Who Knew Tennis Could Be This Fun????

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 3 / 6
Date: December 20, 2003
Author: Amazon User

Let me start out by saying that I am not a tennis fan. I don't watch it on TV because I think that it is boring and is too long. I bought this game because I wanted to get familiar with the sport and also to try something new. I had my doubts about his game....for one the Williams sister aren't on the game and I was hoping to play with one of them. Also I just thought that I would get bored easily doing the same thing over and over again. Boy was I ever wrong.

Story/Season Mode(9/10):The season is really fun and competitive. Your player can travel to different countries around the world and compete with some of the top ranked players in the world. Your player also has the opportunity to train and go out for sponserships such as Prince, Reebok, Adaidas and more (except there is no sign of NIKE). The goal is to become the #1 tennis player in the world. There are also differnt ranking such as minor, pro, major pro and grandslams!!!

Graphics(10/10):I think that the graphics are top notch for the Xbox. The lighting is off the hook on this game. You can see the sun rays and also the players shadows on the court. In some countries such as Africa the courts are made of sand, so when the player slides you can here the noise it makes and also see the slide marks. To put make it simple...THE GRAPHICS ARE GREAT!!!

Controls(8.5/10) Well the only problem that I really have with the controls is the fact that there are not different buttons for different strokes. Forehand and backhand are the same buttons it depends on your positioning that determines which stoke is going to be used. The only stroke that has its own button is the lob. I do like the fact that you can control your players action by using the black and white buttons. Your player will end up pumping his fists, throwing their racket or shaking their head.

Bottom line is that if you a hard core tennis fan you should pick this game up. Even if you aren't that familiar with tennis you should still give it a try because there is so much to do in the game(changing clothes, sponsers and even changing your players apperance). Also don't forget that you can take your player online(XBOX LIVE) and top their charts as the best tennis player in the world.

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