Top Spin 2
You know, as an avid tennis player and someone who tries to follow the sport, I'm always searching for the best - and most realistic - depiction of the sport in video games. The original Top Spin was by far the closest, so I was really hoping the sequel would take another step towards better tennis simulation. As it turns out, it somehow managed to take a few steps forward in certain areas, and a few steps back in other areas...both at the same time. Bizarre, yes, but still true.
I think we all expected a very pretty visual presentation, thanks to the spiffy new Xbox 360 hardware, but what we have here is a lackluster and surprisingly bland graphics palette. The courts, stadiums, and players all have a decent amount of detail, but things aren't nearly as sharp as you might expect. The game features an interesting dichotomy of vibrant colors (the grass of Wimbledon and the clay in Paris are nicely protrayed) and a general case of muddiness throughout. If this were a Xbox title, it'd be awfully impressive, but it's not and...well, it's not.
When you load up the game and begin to navigate through the menus, especially in career mode, you're greeted with an upbeat alternative track. Note that I said "track," not "tracks;" that song will get beaten into your head throughout the course of your career because it's the only song in the game. Things get a lot better when you're out on the court, though, as you'll hear the audible crack of a solidly struck forehand, the crisp sound of shoes sliding on clay, and the clear grunts of effort. It's not perfect, but it helps to offset the horrid repetitiveness of that one menu track.
Unfortunately, because it isn't nearly as popular as football, tennis video games haven't advanced as far as extreme simulations like Madden. If you're a tennis player and you know a little something about the sport, you know the original Top Spin was the most realistic in the interactive world, yet it still fell far short of an accurate simulation. As mentioned before, the sequel took a few steps towards that goal, but oddly enough, missed the mark in areas the original excelled.
First, the good. This time around, the game is certainly more of a challenge as it requires a lighter touch and higher skill. Even as a seasoned professional, you can still miss shots (which is perfectly realistic), and you've got to concentrate for the tougher situations. There is also a place for both baseliners and serve-and-vollyers, provided you traverse the correct training route. And speaking of training, this leads to another "good."
The training is greatly enhanced and more in-depth than it was in the original, as you'll select from more than twice as many skills to upgrade. Some of the training sessions are too arcade-y for their own good, but then again, it's difficult to make training of any kind entertaining...what would you rather do? Try to knock down those bowling pins using accuracy or just hit a thousand balls to the same spot for an hour? It's an interesting way of bypassing actual tennis training, which is a ton of repetition and wouldn't translate well to a game environment.
The control is once again very solid, even though they've apparently taken momentum more into account with this sequel. It can be frustrating, but at the same time, you have to realize just how difficult it can be to change directions so quickly. Preparation is still a major aspect of the gameplay, which remains the most realistic aspect of both games by far. But all this being said, we do have to mention a few major issues-
First of all, it'd be really nice if Indie could've remembered that the three surfaces (hard, clay, grass) play very differently. Even the original depicted the obvious - and quite drastic - differences better, because in Top Spin 2, it's barely noticeable. The ball doesn't react the way it should on grass or clay, and the same kind of approach is almost equally effective on all three surfaces. This is a major failing, and anyone who knows tennis understands just how a big a failing it is.
Then you've got the issue of serving, which is admittedly a very complex and therefore difficult mechanic to simulate. The original wasn't very realistic because it was far too easy, but the sequel did a good job making it more of a challenge. However, a great serve actually served a purpose in the original, and it apparently does not in the sequel. In fact, aces are just as difficult to come by whether or not you bother to train that skill. And furthermore, the computer very, very rarely misses a first serve, which is another huge discrepancy in comparison to real life.
All in all, though, the solid control combined with the decent gameplay makes the game well worth playing. And while there are glaring and very significant flaws, it's good to see Indie take strides in areas of the sport where XSN lagged behind. It remains disappointing that the original still managed to excel in other facets of the game, but nevertheless, Top Spin 2 does feel more like a fully realized tennis simulation. It also features some top-notch Live play, which was another staple of the original.
It's just that we expected more, that's all. We expected a lot more in terms of the technicals and we anticipated a more faithful representation of the real sport on all fronts. The career mode will net you a good 20 hours of game time, at least, and there's always different ways of creating and customizing a player (thus making the replay value quite high), but overall, fans of the original will experience both satisfaction and disappointment. And if you really think about it, that's not exactly what you look for in a sports simulation sequel.
