Top Spin 4 Review [NY Post] Career Mode Not Deep

[econoodle]

http://www.nypost.com/p/blogs/gamere...zjIH37T1ewuQpK

Disappointed in the short career mode.
I'll pass on this and wait to see what Ea has up their sleeve with Grand Slam,

[Seymour Scagnetti]

"In addition to that, the career mode is not very deep, as you can only do one training session and one major tournament per month. Granted, your career is not over shortly, but you are looking at a pretty quick ride when you play through your first created player’s career."

I'm not sure what that bolded part means. He's contradicting himself. How is it not over shortly but yet you are looking at a quick ride? Most top players don't play more than 12 -15 tourneys a year anyways. It's not a 4 day golf tourney, tennis tourneys last up to 2 weeks so I really don't think that's a big deal. I will be playing 3-5 set matches with 6 games per set so I think there will be more than enough gameplay in career and the depth they have is good enough for me coupled with great presentation. The goal is to be #1 so I'm pretty sure you are getting multiple seasons to achieve that goal.

That review has me pretty excited. The gameplay holds up, the presentation is top notch and the career seems meaty enough when compared to the prior Top Spin games. He loves the online aspect so what more do you want? It just became a purchase for me if the other reviews hold up the same.

Sounds like this reviewer played the game for an hour and wrote this up. I would have liked a more in depth gameplay review. Are there more unforced errors and aces, what's the most realistic skill level and what part does fatigue play on court. He kinda just brushed over it.

[Seymour Scagnetti]

http://xbox-360.nowgamer.com/reviews...-4?o=0#listing

This review is simply terrible. This guy thinks it's the exact same as Top Spin 3. Why the hell do they get guys to review a game who nitpicks the stupidest thing and he even admits it's a minor thing (the crowd cheering prematurely for a winner.) and totally ignore all other aspects of the game. He even admits the career mode is great and the presentation is much better yet trashes the game because of a minor thing and gives it a 6\10 and says it's merely a minor update from Top Spin 3. Has he even played Top Spin 3? That career mode was horrible and presentation was crap and online was a mess. What a moron.

[The Visualizer]

Wouldn't put a whole lot of credence into a video game review from the New York Post. From what was said and shown in the Dev Diary I don't see any possibility that the career mode isn't deep. Read here for details if you haven't already:

http://www.facebook.com/notes/top-sp...05128686168928

[econoodle]

Quote: Originally Posted by The Visualizer

Wouldn't put a whole lot of credence into a video game review from the New York Post. From what was said and shown in the Dev Diary I don't see any possibility that the career mode isn't deep. Read here for details if you haven't already: http://www.facebook.com/notes/top-sp...05128686168928

Wel Vis, I would believe a guy who actually played the game as opposed to the spin [no pun intended] by the developers/marketing.
Who cares if its the NY Post. They have a dedicated game review area now. Whos a qualified reviewer? The people on here? That Post guy might have been gaming longer than U have been alive. Don't judge like that.

Plus, how many times do devs say this is gonna have this or that and you get it and its not what they promised?

Do you really thnik they are going to say their own career mode bites?

[The Visualizer]

Quote: Originally Posted by econoodle

Wel Vis, I would believe a guy who actually played the game as opposed to the spin [no pun intended] by the developers/marketing. Who cares if its the NY Post. They have a dedicated game review area now. Whos a qualified reviewer? The people on here? That Post guy might have been gaming longer than U have been alive. Don't judge like that. Plus, how many times do devs say this is gonna have this or that and you get it and its not what they promised? Do you really thnik they are going to say their own career mode bites?

I get where you are coming from, but I'm gonna have to disagree. All reviews are not made equal. I can't really speak for the quality of the New York Post's reviewer or his work, but it surely wouldn't sway me either way from purchasing or trying a game.

To your second point, I wouldn't "always" trust someone who has played the game over solid information (which is what I believe the devs provided with the dev diary for Career Mode) that says otherwise. If you are always to trust people that have the game you would be led to believe that Madden is an exceptional game each year by some.

If you are basing whether or not to play a game from a newspaper's review then more power to you I guess. I'd put more stock in a review from an established gaming website with a good reputation as opposed to some random guy contracted by a newspaper who when I search for his wealth of gaming reviews I can only find his "work" writing gossip columns for WWE matches and Jersey Shore episodes: http://www.gossipcolumns.com/index.p...lla-heffinger/

Quote:

Entering the Career mode, everything is literally mapped out for you, and while some may consider this to be a good thing, others may be turned off by the fact that the tutorial menus and pop-up windows hold your hand throughout the entire first part of career mode. In addition to that, the career mode is not very deep, as you can only do one training session and one major tournament per month. Granted, your career is not over shortly, but you are looking at a pretty quick ride when you play through your first created player’s career However quick the ride may be, there are a ton of other bonuses to unlock throughout your player’s career. Top Spin 4 gives you the ability play in a number of tournaments, training exhibitions, hire and experiment with over 100 different coaches, develop and hone over 50 unique skill sets, partake in “Dream Matches” and cement your legacy as a tennis legend. While all of these features are a plus, the game’s career mode could have been deeper, and although it is very good, I would have liked to have seen a little bit more depth and RPG-style elements to it.

The review is a joke, the guy completely contradicts himself twice. "Granted your career is not over quickly, but you are looking at a quick ride..." Even does it in the same sentence, and you want to defend this guy?

Whoever made the thread is in the wrong too, how do you title the thread negatively when your precious review ends with the following statement:

Quote:

Final Thoughts: There is no question that Top Spin 4 is the best tennis game to date. While there are some minor issues such as the depth of the game’s career mode and the tutorials, it’s still a very clean and accessible title. The depth of the online world is absolutely amazing and is sure to keep gamers interested and playing for months, if not years to come.

[Yeah...THAT Guy]

Quote: Originally Posted by econoodle

Wel Vis, I would believe a guy who actually played the game as opposed to the spin [no pun intended] by the developers/marketing. Who cares if its the NY Post. They have a dedicated game review area now. Whos a qualified reviewer? The people on here? That Post guy might have been gaming longer than U have been alive. Don't judge like that. Plus, how many times do devs say this is gonna have this or that and you get it and its not what they promised? Do you really thnik they are going to say their own career mode bites?

I guess the point is, what exactly do you want from your career mode? Even the guy from the NY Post talked about all of the things mentioned in that Developer Diary. He mentioned that you can get over 100 different coaches, 50 different skill sets, a few different options for match length, a deep player creator, "a number of tournaments and training exhibitions", dream matches against guys like Pete Sampras and Andre Agassi, and the ability to try to climb the ranks and become the #1 tennis player in the world. I'm not really sure what more you would want? Gillette commercials?

[Smallberries]

the ny post review said that the online tour is limited to pro players. Does that mean the game's "real" pro players? If so I'll be disappointed. It'll get old playing as the same dozen guys, and online tourneys will likely be severely limited in size. I mean, who will wanna be stuck playing as Giles Simon or Stanislav Warwrinka? NOT! Instead, I fear we'll see tourneys with 5 Feds, 4 Nadals, 6 Agassis, etc. And there's not enough females to have even an 8-player draw, so I suppose they get thrown in with the men. Lame. Lack of variety, lack of a real tournament atmosphere. No thanks. I just hope NY post is wrong or I'm misundertanding things.

Having said all that, online plays second fiddle to a robust single-player mode for me. If it's not deep, it's no buy. I'll wait for more reviews, but as somebody mentioned, EA has a tennis game coming out, which I completely forgot about. I can wait to see if that's any good.