Top Spin 4

[Syborg1211]

I didn't find any threads on this game yet, so I figured I'd start one. Anyone else playing this game?

At first, I found it to be a bit challenging and almost quit playing it. Then I dropped the difficulty down from Normal to Easy and got the hang of the game. I'm now going through the career mode on Hard, and it is truly one of the most rewarding experiences I've had with a game in quite some time.

The controls are pretty easy to learn and intuitive, but the timing is where it took some getting used to for me. The timing is really the key to the game so bear with it for a while and you'll get used to it. The presentation is spot on with the crowd ooo'ing and ahh'ing at the right times, and even the replays are only played after the most exciting of rallies. The gameplay is really superb. Each opponent does play differently, and you really have to learn how to play to their game.

The multiplayer is such a blast too! I played with a couple friends over the weekend, and the King of the Court mode really had us screaming and yelling and having a really fun time. It's a pretty low buzz game, but it's my favorite sports game in possibly ever. If anyone is remotely interested in this game, I suggest you check out the demo.

 

[chalmers]

Sounds fun I'll give the demo a shot. Thanks.

 

[Queasy]

Yep, I did a review of it and aside from the repetitive and annoying menu music, loved it.

 

[FeathersMcGraw]

Which platform (I'm assuming 360)? My father's a tennis buff, so I'm entertaining the idea of getting him the Wii version for his birthday.

 

[Syborg1211]

Yep, I did a review of it and aside from the repetitive and annoying menu music, loved it.

Lol I kinda like the music, but I can definitely see it getting old soon.

I played it on the PS3 version, without Move. I'm not a fan of moving while gaming, especially when there is a lot of timing involved with the movement. So much easier to time hitting a button versus moving your arm a foot or two.

 

[Queasy]

Which platform (I'm assuming 360)? My father's a tennis buff, so I'm entertaining the idea of getting him the Wii version for his birthday.

I reviewed the Xbox 360 version. No clue on how the Wii version would perform with the motion controls.

 

[MikeMike]

I was decent at the ORIGINAL one... downloading demo on ps3 now... My buddies back in the day were rank #2 in the world on xbl in doubles.

 

[rocadelpunk]

It's pretty fun, don't have move so don't know if that would add to the experience.

 

[MikeMike]

It's pretty fun, don't have move so don't know if that would add to the experience.

same... havent bought it yet... trying to defeat the computer on hard on the demo.

 

[Syborg1211]

same... havent bought it yet... trying to defeat the computer on hard on the demo.

I never played the demo before getting the game, but I heard from a friend that it doesn't give you a tutorial or anything in the demo. I imagine it would be pretty tough to beat a hard PC without going through the Top Spin Academy.

I've taken my created player to level 20, and now I'm playing Grand Slam tournaments against all the big names. I think the computer gets harder in bigger tournaments because I owned Federer in a smaller tournament at level 17, but now I can barely trade points with him in Grand Slams at level 20. Anyone else experience this?

 

[Izzo]

Just needed to rant. It's a good game and the gameplay is solid, but....

1. Career has some stupid aspects. I maxed out my character and I couldn't even play grand slam events yet. What's the point in that? Why do I have 20,000 exps and can't do anything with them?

2. I understand that tennis players aren't good at every aspect, but Rafa and Roger are a couple of the best of all time. Look at Roger's stats, they are pedestrian-esque. They don't need to be 99's across the board, but capping everyone's overall by making their average stat = 75 just seems dumb.

3. AI at Grand Slam levels and after you become Super Star status - Just dumb. I was playing on hard and having a good time with challenging games. Now I've won two grand slams and I'm a super star status (but can't get any more stats to improve my player) and I'm losing games at love because of what I would consider cheating AI. I get that it's hard to program good AI that remains challenging as you improve. But I don't even want to pick up the game anymore. My "perfect" shots are floating and landing in the middle of the court. No matter how much I make the computer run, they are hitting them back with pace and picking the corners. Good serves are not putting me in a dominant position to win the point. I'm not even in the point on most games as a returner. Very frustrating. I would understand if I had the chance to improve my character some more, but I can't. So why even play anymore?

I've never played the top spin series before, but I picked up the learning curve pretty quickly and won every game on Normal and then kicked it up to hard and only lost a couple of finals at that level. But now that I'm a Super Star status, it's like I'm a noob that can't do anything, despite it telling me that my timing is perfect and I'm hitting power shots on nearly every shot (with FH, BH, and power stats well above my opponent.

 

[MikeMike]

I never played the demo before getting the game, but I heard from a friend that it doesn't give you a tutorial or anything in the demo. I imagine it would be pretty tough to beat a hard PC without going through the Top Spin Academy.

I've taken my created player to level 20, and now I'm playing Grand Slam tournaments against all the big names. I think the computer gets harder in bigger tournaments because I owned Federer in a smaller tournament at level 17, but now I can barely trade points with him in Grand Slams at level 20. Anyone else experience this?

I've played the original, and i know how to play tennis... The quick control overview has been helpful, and I am working on inside out shots, after attempting to determine how to get a perfect shot... however i figured the perfect shot out... its just me attempting to learn some more slight controls...

 

[MikeMike]

Well I beat Hard once... going back at it again.

getting my ass handed to me in Hard again, but Normal is to easy now...

 

[ajskydiver]

Just needed to rant. It's a good game and the gameplay is solid, but....

1. Career has some stupid aspects. I maxed out my character and I couldn't even play grand slam events yet. What's the point in that? Why do I have 20,000 exps and can't do anything with them?

You have to use them to improve your character's stats in one of the menu options...dig around and you'll find it.

You have to do it in packages like serve & volley, baseline attacker, baseline defender, etc.

 

[Syborg1211]

Just needed to rant. It's a good game and the gameplay is solid, but....

1. Career has some stupid aspects. I maxed out my character and I couldn't even play grand slam events yet. What's the point in that? Why do I have 20,000 exps and can't do anything with them?

2. I understand that tennis players aren't good at every aspect, but Rafa and Roger are a couple of the best of all time. Look at Roger's stats, they are pedestrian-esque. They don't need to be 99's across the board, but capping everyone's overall by making their average stat = 75 just seems dumb.

3. AI at Grand Slam levels and after you become Super Star status - Just dumb. I was playing on hard and having a good time with challenging games. Now I've won two grand slams and I'm a super star status (but can't get any more stats to improve my player) and I'm losing games at love because of what I would consider cheating AI. I get that it's hard to program good AI that remains challenging as you improve. But I don't even want to pick up the game anymore. My "perfect" shots are floating and landing in the middle of the court. No matter how much I make the computer run, they are hitting them back with pace and picking the corners. Good serves are not putting me in a dominant position to win the point. I'm not even in the point on most games as a returner. Very frustrating. I would understand if I had the chance to improve my character some more, but I can't. So why even play anymore?

I've never played the top spin series before, but I picked up the learning curve pretty quickly and won every game on Normal and then kicked it up to hard and only lost a couple of finals at that level. But now that I'm a Super Star status, it's like I'm a noob that can't do anything, despite it telling me that my timing is perfect and I'm hitting power shots on nearly every shot (with FH, BH, and power stats well above my opponent.

Izzo - My feelings exactly. I don't really like how the AI continues to get harder even after you max out your player. I was level 17 and owning Federer and Nadal in Majors/Masters, and they are just eating me alive in Grand Slam at level 20 - something's not adding up here. I turned the difficulty down to Normal, and it's still actually pretty challenging at the Grand Slam level so that might be the way I make it through the rest of career.

Just doesn't make any sense to turn the difficulty up like this without warning. I don't even want to know what Very Hard is like at this level. Playing Federer in a Masters should be just as challenging as playing him in Grand Slam - it's not like he's suddenly going to be faster/stronger/more accurate from one month to the next. It seems like they realized the career mode wasn't quite long enough so they opted to jack up the difficulty to extend play time, but they really killed the replayability/longevity of the career mode for me. Luckily, multiplayer with friends is still very fun.

 

[MikeMike]

Okay, just played more of the demo and have the ability to beat normal no matter what... beating hard player was there once, and then an 11-9 match was lost by me...

 

[Syborg1211]

Okay, just played more of the demo and have the ability to beat normal no matter what... beating hard player was there once, and then an 11-9 match was lost by me...

I'm curious if Hard on the demo is Majors/Masters Hard or if it is Grand Slams Hard... you could be in store for a rude awakening if you get the real game and expect to beat it on Hard.

 

[MikeMike]

I'm curious if Hard on the demo is Majors/Masters Hard or if it is Grand Slams Hard... you could be in store for a rude awakening if you get the real game and expect to beat it on Hard.

I don't expect to beat it on hard, well... i might take the first time i play the real game on hard...

It seems to vary... there are times where I can compete, stay with and even beat the computer on Hard... then there are times it just rapes me, no matter what i do.

One of the biggest helps though is actually having played tennis, it gives you a good idea of where they can/will hit the ball to.

 

[NoSoup4You]

This game is addicting, oh dear is it ever...

I bought TS4 yesterday and somehow I can't put the damn thing down... I loved TS3 by the way but it had deep, DEEP flaws that eventually made the game unspeakably frustrating. I am only playing TS4 online, for the record... it's the only part that appeals to me (the AI is dreadfully dull in my opinion).

Oddly enough, first impressions had me thinking I was still playing TS3... it looks and plays EXACTLY the same... and yet they've improved upon it in every way imaginable. I'm amazed - so far the networking code is incredible, I never get lag online whereas the first game was horrible in this regard - and it's not my connection because if anything my connection is worse now (I moved since TS3). They added the shot feedback (seen in NBA2K11, as well) and it's such an important addition - it makes the game accessible and provides constructive feedback. For instance, the timing on a service return is scary early, but you'd never know that in TS3... they fixed that in TS4 with the feedback thingy.

Also,you can't min/max your characters anymore which thankfully prevents the psycho's online using 100/100/80/100/100 characters (that translates to FH/BH/SRV/PWR/SPD... by the way). Plus the addition of coaches adds to the variety available.

I could probably go on and on, needless to say the game is quite addicting and I'm super impressed. Every sequel should strive to do the same, sure - TS4 uses all the same graphics and animations from TS3 but it's implemented better, and the handful of new moves thrown in are welcome. But it's the little things that TS3 did wrong which TS4 got right... this is the best tennis game bar none. And I know that's not saying a lot but this is great simulation tennis and it's really never been done like this on the current gen consoles.

 

[Halexus]

Izzo, in response to your rant, i would personally say that you have built your character wrong, it's always good to get a good balance, if you have built it correctly then you wouldn't have these problems, believe me, i was once told this same thing i was convinced i had done the best possible job of building my character, a stat that is over 75 is usually adequate and can be used effectively providing you are using it correctly.

Alot of people tend to play top spin as if it's against a real person, e,g repeated wrong foot attempts that just turn the rally against you, hit corners, aim for the space on the court, use the net once they are in a awkward position, use some diversity in your game and you'll see improvements. I see so many forums ranting about this very same problem. I know so many people that have won grand slams on very hard and unlocked expert, it's just practice, you cannot expect to pick up a game and automatically be the best at it.