Top Spin 4 Impressions/Questions Thread

[kingdevin]

Is it possible to watch CPU v CPU this year

[Seymour Scagnetti]

The game play and in game atmosphere of this game I can only compare to MLB the Show and I've played alot of sports games in my time. Well except I didn't play NBA2K11 this year so I can't compare. I just had an **** 5 set match with Federer (me) against Nadal and 3 sets ended in a tiebreaker and it took 2:05 and my fingers are exhausted. Almost every game seemed to go to deuce and there must be an adaptive AI because as soon as I thought I had Nadal figured out, he would change his style by mixing it up, including going to the net. The way players celebrate when they win big points and the rising murmur in the crowd during big points really draws you into the match.

I can't find one real complaint about the gameplay after hours of playing exhibition matches. It's virtully perfect except maybe for the lack of aces by my player but I think that's more of a case of most players being rated too low for serves. Federer rated a 60 in serves is ridiculous but I guess it was needed to balance him out. I can live with that.

I'm ready to start a career and I couldn't be more pumped for it and if that match I had today is indicative of some of the Grand Slam matches I will have when my CAP hits level 20 then I will be playing for months.

This game has been done right. It may have taken almost 3 years but the devs solely concentrated on the 3 most important things in a sports game. Gameplay, presentation and career mode and they did it right and didn't get sidetracked by useless modes and all the frilly stuff like alot of sports games do and neglect the important stuff and then you get bugs and questionable AI.

[Seymour Scagnetti]

Quote: Originally Posted by Alistair

Ah crap. This is a HUGE negative for me. I really enjoyed reading the positives about the game, but this is almost a deal breaker for me. It would be like having a four team MLB playoff series in The Show, or only having a World Cup starting from the quarter finals in an EA soccer game. What's so hard about adding a couple of extra rounds, or even tournament qualifiers?

You're kidding right? You're getting 5 rounds in a grand slam instead of 7. Is it that important to play 2 extra rounds so you can beat tomato cans 6-1, 6-0, 6-1 because that's all you would be doing for 2 rounds. The top guys love it when they get 1st round byes like Federer did this week. I think that by doing that, it helps alleviate the boredom of playing those rounds when you know you're not gonna lose.

If that's the worst problem with career mode then I'll take that any time.

[Alistair]

Quote: Originally Posted by Seymour Scagnetti

You're kidding right? You're getting 5 rounds in a grand slam instead of 7. Is it that important to play 2 extra rounds so you can beat tomato cans 6-1, 6-0, 6-1 because that's all you would be doing for 2 rounds. The top guys love it when they get 1st round byes like Federer did this week. I think that by doing that, it helps alleviate the boredom of playing those rounds when you know you're not gonna lose. If that's the worst problem with career mode then I'll take that any time.

Well that being the case, why does NBA2K11 make the Spurs bother playing the Wizards every time they're scheduled to meet? Surely there's no point playing the Browns with the Patriots in a Madden franchise either?

1) Upsets can happen
2) Even if it's an easy win, it gives you a valuable opportunity to work on your game
3) How hard is it to add another round? Surely it's not rocket science to make a tournament realistic.

[rangerrick012]

After playing a few more days for hours on end, I have to say this game is almost everything I've wanted in a tennis game. The balancing of players so that people can't dump all their points into one area is great, and makes online play probably less of a cheesefest than in any other tennis game. I've only come across one 'cheese' type player who had 98 in Serve and Power.

But every other player I've played has been pretty balanced w/ no cheese type attributes. Even w/ my Level 9 pro I'm able to hang w/ level 18 guys, so I can't wait until I get fully developed. Some review apparently said this felt like a 'spreadsheet' game and only ratings matter - bs. I've been able to take my lowly rated pro online and win matches against guys rated level 20. Of course it's better to be highly rated, but it's not impossible to have success w/ a lowly rated guy if you know how to play the game. The only negative I have in regards to online is the relative lack of unforced errors, unless your opponent is tired; this goes for all game modes, which is frustrating at times but it goes both ways, so it's easy to overlook at least for me.

As for career mode - so far so good. I don't have a problem w/ the one tourney per month, b/c the tennis season is pretty long and playing it out would take a good amt of time. Would I like to see more real life small events and venues reflected in the game, like Dubai, Cincy, Toronto, of course. But I understand the limitations and am fine w/ the venues that are in the game.

The only negative I have so far in playing career mode on Very Hard is that unlike YTG, I've struggled a bit which is a good and bad thing. Good in that my opponents are putting up a fair challenge and I have to earn wins. Lost my first career match pretty decisevely, but got a bit better and made the finals of the next event. But in said final, it was like hitting against a brick wall; I noted earlier in my match w/ Sampras vs Nadal where Rafa made practically no errors, and it happened again in my career mode in a final against a pro of similar level to me.

Hoping it's just a matter of some matchups not being in my favor, and my pro not being strong enough yet (level 9 now), and not an issue of the AI just being infallible the higher their level is.

But anyways, I feel like I'm rambling now. My overall impressions - this game is easily better than TS3, and I felt that TS3 along w/ SCT2 were the best tennis games I've ever played. There's lots of replayability, online play is great (just wish King of the Court was available online!), and 2K definitely delivers with this one.

If I had to give a score I'd say 8.5/10. Not a perfect game, but definitely a great game and the strengths far outnumber the weaknesses.

[Smallberries]

Quote: Originally Posted by Alistair

Well that being the case, why does NBA2K11 make the Spurs bother playing the Wizards every time they're scheduled to meet? Surely there's no point playing the Brows with the Patriots either in a Madden franchise either? 1) Upsets can happen 2) Even if it's an easy win, it gives you a valuable opportunity to work on your game 3) How hard is it to add another round? Surely it's not rocket science to make a tournament realistic.

Agree. The more true to the sport the better. And pro tennis does not do 8-player major tournaments. I'd personally like to play those extra rounds for the sake of authenticity or at least have the option to sim through them. The problem lies in the fact that the game only includes 80 players, so there's no way to field those real-size tournaments. But for me, an even more annoying problem is that the AI players are not dynamic off the actual court, i.e. they're neither improving nor growing stale, nor do they ever try to mount any serious challenge to the rankings. Just like in TS3, several of the players only play one or two tournaments a year. Tell me how THAT is realistic.

Nevertheless, I have to reiterate that TS4 gameplay is REALLY good. I'm still not sure that the franchise mode will hold my attention for more than a week, but I'm not disappointed in my purchase.

[Alistair]

Despite my previously mentioned misgiving, I decided to buy the game on the way home from work tonight.

I only had time for a brief play before gym, but I'm home now and can put a couple of hours into it. Will be back later to post my full thoughts.

Earlier I played a quick exhibition between Davydenko & Simon in Melbourne. It annoyed me how the American court announcer said "Mel-borne" instead of how we'd say it... "Melbun" but the pronunciation of Gilles name was even worse. He was introduced as "Simon" rather than the French "See-mon". Little things, but nice to get right.

[Alistair]

After messing around at the Academy for a while, I jumped into my first match: Nikolay Davydenko vs James Blake, best of three (six game) sets at Cincinnati.

First and foremost, let me say what we already know: the player models are close to flawless. You could be excused for thinking you're watching Tv for a split second. Just great work by 2K to nail each likeness.

The gameplay is also fantastic and plays better than any tennis game I've previously seen on any platform. The AI is superb and offers a constant challenge throughout. The thing I am most enjoying is the ability to "set up" your point. If you're being creamed with slice return, try hitting it back top spin across the court to the opposite corner. Opponents adjust on the fly too, so you need to be on your toes to find ways to unlock the guy on the other side of the net.

Here are a few things I am questioning about the game though.

- Is there a coin toss?? I have been serving first by default in EVERY match so far. Perhaps this changes in career mode or when you play a mode other than exhibition, but it stinks that the serving order is not randomised.

- I don't know if there were any copyright issues, but I really wish 'Hawkeye' was introduced to the game. Sure - it's easy enough for the game coding to tell you if it was in or out, but it would be nice to get the occasional bad call that you could refer to the video. I'm also yet to see a dispute/discussion with an umpire.

- Do players ever get injured? I doubt it, but it's a big part of tennis and will happen several times over the course of a Grand Slam event. It would be a nice touch to see your opponent do down with a torn muscle after stretching for a ball and have to retire. Likewise - your player should be able to get hurt and either choose to carry on injured (with limited attributes), or withdraw, lose the match but face less time on the sidelines.

- On a similar note, I'd love the ability to call for a trainer when your player was starting to fatigue. Not just regular exhaustion, but when their body is struggling to hold up. How cool would that be? Call for the trainer at a change of ends.

- Player celebrations look great, but I'd love to be able to initiate these myself. I know this was part of a previous version of the game (and got to be repetitive and annoying), but it would add another element. I just played (and won) a 30 shot rally on break point against me and actually gave a fist pump sitting here on my couch. Would have love to fire up my player in the match with a bit of an on-court celebration.

- 1st serve percentages are off the chart. Blake didn't miss a serve over two sets in my first match and Tomic only missed about four in my second match. Again, not sure if this is something that can be patched, but would love to see it harder for both human and AI players to put the first ball in play.

- Why are so many players ranked 20?? If memory serves me correctly, EVERY single pro is rated 20 with the exception of Bernard Tomic who is a 19. Is this saying that Gilles Simon and James Blake are on the same level of Rafa Nadal and Roger Federer? Come on 2K... why not rakn players out of 100 so you can create more distinction between different skill levels?

- Finally (and this is my biggest problem with the game) is that you cannot see your opponent's entire service motion. The top of the screen cuts off the ball before it reaches the apex of the ball toss, so your timing can often be a split second off when preparing for a return (especially against a fast server). I don't know if this can be patched, but I'd be hoping that enough feedback can convince 2K to look at it, because it's quite a significant issue in my opinion. What other sports game cuts a basic part of the action off the screen? There's no excuse in a tennis game either, since the playing area is largely static.

Overall it's a great game. Don't get me wrong - they have nailed the fundamentals (gameplay & AI), but I'd like to see some of the above points addressed.