Top Spin 4 First Impressions

[RaychelSnr]

Top Spin 4, thus far, has blown my mind. The game is very realistic, and like most 2K Sports games, it requires skill and practice to compete.

Gameplay

The one thing that stands out most to me is the artificial intelligence. The AI is, in one word, brilliant. It is smart, difficult and darn good at what it does. The best part about the AI is that it will switch up strategies in the middle of a match. For example, I was playing my fourth match, but it was the first time my opponent played the net. He ended up rocking me 1-6 in the first set, and I really had no chance.

After the first set I took a deep breath and switched up my game plan. It worked, and I won the second set 6-0. Now, here is where it got exciting, as my opponent changed his strategy for the third set, and it worked once again. He jumped out to a quick and easy 2-0, but I ended up winning 6-2. Basically, it's like one big chess match, and I'm Bobby Fischer.

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[Scottdau]

Great review. Looking forward to this game!

[Blzer]

Re: Top Spin 4 First Impressions

The demo is very fun, I just don't know how long a tennis game would last me, even Mario Tennis.

Great game though.

[RUFFNREADY]

The game is really fun; here's some game footage:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kSSI_5lhm3k

[ps3veron]

Excellent game and personally one of my current favorites!

Although I am a little perplexed at the lack of game modes. I would have loved a mini tourney a la TS3.

[beermn76]

Love this game... been playing almost non stop since it's release. The only thing I wish it had is custom tournaments... Other than that, fantastic game.

[Dazraz]

As beermn76 states, custom tournaments would of been alot more interesting than the winner stays on mode that is pretty weak. The game doesn't cater much for offline multiplayer. Beyond that it is by far the best tennis game out there.

[emelki1968]

It is one of the most realistic sport games ever made. The gameplay is just fantastic, although I agree that career mode is lacking some variety.

[clivo1050]

Re: Top Spin 4 First Impressions

I'm thinking about getting this game, however I just don't know if I have the time to play it. Between NBA 2k11 and fight night champion, I don't know if I can dedicate enough time to master it. I might start up my gamefly again and rent it for a while.

[BrownsFan72]

I am enjoying it. it is a very solid game. Good job 2k.

[Uncle Stumpy]

Sounds good. I'm really torn though. Right now, I have money for one game, and Tiger Woods 12 is leading the way, basically because I really enjoy the online tourneys. I am also thinking about getting The Show...so torn. I like all 3 sports equally, which is to say, casually.

Decisions decisions

[boritter]

My biggest complaint about the game is you cannot set up custom tournaments. My wife and I play co-op doubles.

But playing exhibition matches over and over gets old. It would be nice if you could set up a tournament and work your way through the bracket.

[bigdoc85]

2-player mode seems to be the best part of this game. My neighbor and I had a 3-set battle of Michael Chang vs. Andy Roddick.

[evilc08]

Re: Top Spin 4 First Impressions

My biggest complaint about the game is you cannot set up custom tournaments. My wife and I play co-op doubles.

But playing exhibition matches over and over gets old. It would be nice if you could set up a tournament and work your way through the bracket.

You're kidding me. I wanted to read reviews first and see impressions. I was worried that you could not set your custom tournaments with created players and/or setting the matches. Now the tourneys are gone too. Saves me some money for now I guess. Too bad it's probably a decent tennis sim like always.

Other things I wanted them to change but doubt they did were: 1) Up the aces against the computer. Too many times they hit back everything and the Aces come when it was right to them and they whiff.
2) The number of created players and being able to use them in a custom tourney like the grand slams. Last year I think you could only have 4 at a time, and maybe not even use them to play against. Either way it was limited.

For a game that comes out every few years, unlike yearly for other sports titles, I expect more.

[T3B0W]

So no career mode with tournaments? Really?