... Well for those like myself who's back-hand ends up on the rail way tracks (as in where the trains really go) and who's forehand smash usually results with my swan-diving the asphalt, Top Spin, is our friend.
Published by Microsoft Game Studios, it was released in Q3 of 2003, to those Tennis ... Read review
Top Spin 3 brings the fun, action-packed excitement of tennis to your console with ... more
authentic features including signature styles and expressions for over 20 top ranked players, more than 40 breathtaking real world venues, jaw-dropping graphics via all-new Evolutionary Visuals, fully licensed soundtrack, and much more! Top Spin 3 is the first tennis game to incorporate right analog stick controls, and to include classic legendary players of the past. Are you ready for the challenge? New gameplay controls: Intuitive controls, now incorporating the right thumbstick, allow for precise movements and shot variety providing gamers with an unprecedented tennis experience.Signature style: The world's best players including Roger Federer, Maria Sharapova, and Andy Roddick are accurately depicted like never before with actual apparel, equipment, and even swing animations.Tennis legends: For the first time ever, play with or against legendary figures such as Bjrn Borg, Boris Becker and Monica Seles.2K Sports online: Play against anyone, anywhere, anytime in up to four game modes including singles, doubles, quick-match, and a comprehensive world tour with live stat tracking.All-new soundtrack: Great new music is included featuring Jamiroquai, Calvin Harris, Boys Like Girls, The Go! Team, Stone Roses, and Franz Ferdinand.
Top Spin 3 immerses players in a visually and physically realistic tennis experience. ... more
Using next generation technology, gameplay and graphics, Top Spin 3 is a benchmark-setting tennis experience with dynamic weather changes, evolutionary player visuals and the most comprehensive online offerings. In Top Spin 3, players compete online and offline to rise in the ranks against current top ranked professional players. Adding a unique user-generated component, players can also use new player creator features that include free-form body sculpting, makeup and tattoos.Outstanding NEW Gameplay Style - Incredibly precise control over your movements, positioning and swings. Players will feel every adrenaline fueled shot as they battle their way to supremacy.Evolutionary Visuals - Watch in real time as your players get progressively hotter, sweatier, and dirtier while competing at over 40 breathtaking venues where the weather dynamically changes from clear sunny skies to cloudy overcasts.Signature Style - From equipment to appearl to style and even to swing animations, over 20 top ranked players have been accurately depicted like never before to make this game the most visually realistic tennis experience to date.Easy to "Pick Up & Play" - Intuitive controls provide gamers of all skill levels the ability to set their own pace and learn to master the courts.Classic Legendary Players - For the first time ever play as your favorite pros from the past including Bjrn Borg, Boris Becker and Monica Seles.Expansive Online Offerings - Play in 4 different online game modes ranging from quick match to comprehensive World Tours with up to 2 separately connected consoles.
Advantages: Fun, easy to pick up, Multiplayer Disadvantages: a lil dated
...with my swan-diving the asphalt, Top Spin, is our friend.
Published by Microsoft Game Studios, it was released in Q3 of 2003, to those Tennis watching fans, who are also partial to some video gaming action. Originally hitting the American market in October of 03, and Britain in November 03, Japan's releases was in July of 2004. The game was released to massive success, and was the Xbox's first major Tennis game. Latterly it was published by ... ...Spin 2 and Top Spin 3.
The game which can be picked up for around £5 second hand if you can find any stores that still stock old Xbox games (I've recently purchased a 360 as I couldn't find any old Xbox games in high street stores, not even second hand), is worth it, and how. Though I admit I got it the Christmas I got my Xbox (2004 if memory serves), and traded it in, having, at the time, no real interest in Tennis, I re-bought it ... more
Tennis, a sport that the greats are amazing at, the great matches amaze us, but to be honest, so few of us are actually any good at. Well for those like myself who's back-hand ends up on the rail way tracks (as in where the trains really go) and who's forehand smash usually results with my swan-diving the asphalt, Top Spin, is our friend. Published by Microsoft Game Studios, it was released in Q3 of 2003, to those Tennis watching fans, who are also partial to some video gaming action. Originally hitting the American market in October of 03, and Britain in November 03, Japan's releases was in July of 2004. The game was released to massive success, and was the Xbox's first major Tennis game. Latterly it was published by 2K Sports for the PS2, before spawning sequels in Top Spin 2 and Top Spin 3.
The game which can be picked up for around £5 second hand if you can find any stores that still stock old Xbox games (I've recently purchased a 360 as I couldn't find any old Xbox games in high street stores, not even second hand), is worth it, and how. Though I admit I got it the Christmas I got my Xbox (2004 if memory serves), and traded it in, having, at the time, no real interest in Tennis, I re-bought it about 4 months before I upgraded my console and started playing it recently, suddenly remember how great the game actually was.
The game has several modes, a career mode, which is where the bulk of the single player game is spent, where you create a character (I advise a silly looking one, just...because it's funny), and play the real tournaments as your creation. Winning world tournaments like Roland Garros (The French Open) or Wimbledon is fun, especially as an Albino hippy with pink T-shirts... but this mode does lack any extensive difference, all the tournaments seem oddly short, with very few matches (simmed matches included). The multi-surface of the tennis world is replicated in the tournaments, with Wimbledon being grass, the Madrid masters being blue clay, etc, so the details are there and the game is pretty life like in that respect. Challenges for sponsorship deals are also fun, as is the training for specific shots early on, but the lack of long term improvement on the strokes feels a bit of a let down. Though for single players, like I said you will be spending time playing it, running across the globe winning the tournaments and getting to the #1 ranking. Fun and mid to long term appeal, though mainly only for the tennis nuts out there.
Though where the game comes into it's own is the multiplayer (upto 4 players), where you and a friend can either play 1 on 1, or doubles, where the games simple controls and complete playability, even for beginners, comes into it's own. The game is pretty pick up and play, which means after a few drinks, you come in with your buddies, switch it on, and even in a tipsy state can still put on a good match together, enjoy it and, much like pro evo, have a bloody good time. The doubles made is hectic, but yet not frantic, simple, but yet far from boring. Again all the courts are available, which were seemingly fully licensed.
As it seems were several key players including: (men) Lleyton Hewitt James Blake Tommy Robredo Pete Sampras* Michael Chang* Gustavo Kuerten* Sébastien Grosjean Jan-Michael Gambill
and (Women) Meghann Shaughnessy* Anna Kournikova* Daniela Hantuchová Martina Hingis* Barbara Schett* Ashley Harkleroad* Elena Dementieva Amanda Coetzer* (The PS2 version has slightly different players)
So for those of you who dreamed to be Sampras, now you're chance to do it, and to beat some stupidly dressed creation of your mates...what could be better?
Well as some of you Tennis fans will know, an awful lot of those have either retired, or were never that good. (* dictates retirement, or long term out of the game status, in some cases down to the birth of a child)
Now the games easy to play appeal, big name tournaments and high profile players all brought it awards when it was released, looking back the game still holds up strong as a multiplayer game, and even a solid single player one. Though it has aged (as noted with the retirement of many of the players), the game it's self is still fun, extremely playable, and probably better than it's follow ups. What I've played of Top spin 3 has made it look like the series went backwards in playability, which may just be the fact it's more complex, or it may be that the games have reversed in quality.
The simple controls made the game special, with the face buttons playing different types of shots and the shoulder buttons doing riskier shots (power serves, power shots, drop shots), the lift stick moving the player. See simple, in the newer one it's how long you hold the button and the timing is the key part not the shot selection as such.
The sounds on the game...I'll admit are totally unmemorable as I can't recall what any of them are apart from the “twhack” of a shot, and the graphics are relatively out dated, though you can still tell that Pistol Pete, is the character on the screen. The game probably still stands by reason that graphics aren't the key to any game, but can add something to it, in this case the games actual fun factor out weighs the cost of superior graphics.
Overall a fun if slightly limited single player game.
Advantages: Doubles, Career, Xbox Live Play Disadvantages: Nout
Top Spin (Xbox)
Intro
Top Spin is a tennis game, it was made by Microsoft and XSN Sports and is the best tennis game on the Xbox. Not only is it the best tennis game on the Xbox it's one of the best sports game on the Xbox. When the Xbox 360 came out Microsoft released Top Spin 2 on that because of the success of the original. It features a number of professional men and women tennis players, some current players and some retired players. It is ... ...game.
Tennis School
On top spin there is a tennis school. This is basically a tutorial of how to play the game. It shows you how to play various different shots that the game includes and how you move your player around the court. This is a useful feature and it helps you to learn the controls of the game and all the different shots you can play in about five minutes.
Gameplay
The gameplay is very simple and it is a really easy game to pick up ...
sifair 07.05.2007
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of Top Spin (Xbox)
Advantages: Long-lasting Career Mode, Create Your Own Player Disadvantages: Limited Selection of Pre-Made Players
Top Spin is an excellent tennis game. The core gameplay is solid, although there is some dubious calls around the boundaries and the players sometimes seem to run off in the wrong direction from time to time. Essentially it is the usual sort of thing: an array of shot types, a variety of game types: tournament or exhibition, doubles and singles (although no mixed matches). However, there are two major additions: Xbox Live and Career Mode. I'll only ... ...online.
Career Mode, first off, allows you to create your own player. This is great and has a number of tweaks to really get the most out of the photo-fit sort of set up. This is great as although the game has a lot of courts (from the major grand slam courts right down to backyards), there are only some 16 (at most) players for each gender as standard (and some of them I couldn't tell from Adam). Once you've created your character you can embark ...
BadOtaku 10.07.2005
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: helpful Review of Top Spin (Xbox)
Advantages: The Best Tennis game ever on a console and Its LIVE!!! Disadvantages: Minor touching up of how how the LIVE system works. XSN is poor for topspin.
I purchased top spin partly because of it's good magazine reviews, but also because it is the first ever online tennis game. Add to that the fact that it is on the most powerful console out there it had to be a smash!
Offline the game a wonderful. Online the game is awesome. Offline the game is easy. Online the game is very hard! I am going to talk mainly about the online part of the game in my review as I feel this is where the heart of the game ... ...in you LIVE connection and Top Spin goes on and on and on never seeming to become stayed or repetitive. So varied is every match while playing online against humans that you will forget you are not playing for real. You can play Darren down in Dorset UK then the next minute play Austin in Australia, with very little in the way of lag (once you get used to the slightly different timing of shot online compared to off).
The graphics are beautiful. ...
RRobertson 07.10.2004
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: helpful Review of Top Spin (Xbox)
Advantages: Real players greqat gameplay Disadvantages: out of date players.
Top spin tennis exclusive to Xbox is a clever game with your pro tennis players and real courts. Tennis is really brought to life. There is a range of different modes including exhibition with men, women in singles and doubles. Or you can go to tournament mode to create your own player and take through the rankings of the professional Tennis world! You can create anybody you want whether it be you, Tim Henman, Roger Federer or even your best friend, ... ...Open or even Wimbledon.
With top spin you get all the action of the tennis world at your fingertips!
Creating your own players is great you give them clothes, do their hair and even get down tothe nitty gritty detail of the nose shape. You can bring anything to the life of tennis!
The only disadvantage is that they have few famous players on the game and some they do are out of date, for example Pete Sampras and Martina Hingis who are now both ...
CADC 20.01.2005
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: helpful Review of Top Spin (Xbox)
Advantages: Best tennis game on Xbox + xbox live enabled Disadvantages: Not enough real players
Top spin tennis is the first tennis game released for xbox and is an exclusive to the console.
In this game the tennis experience is as real as it gets! There is a range of matches you can play- single, mixed singles, doubles and mixed doubles, all these available to play in the exhibition modes as one of the few professional players that appear on the game, these include Pete Sampras, Martina Hingis, Leyton Hewitt and more!!
for me though, it ... ...create a person from scratch and choose their looks, clothes name etc. you start off at 100 in the rankings and your main aims are to become number one and to win a grand slam in order to gain legend status. whilst completing this aim you can change sponsors which unlocks new outfits and raquets and new challenges which can earn you money! you can also improve your stats by completing various challenges throughout your career which can improve your ...
Magicalbadger 17.06.2005 (18.06.2005)
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: somewhat helpful Review of Top Spin (Xbox)
Gameplay/Playability
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Advantages: good graphics good gameplay Disadvantages: not that addictive
This is a good game for the xbox 360. Proberly the best feature to this tennis game is the range of players. the layout on the court is rather good as well. you can play online with friends or play in the tournaments. its user friendly layout it the menu means that the younger children can play aswell. for a tennis game the graphics are rather good. i'm a racing or shooting man when it comes the the xbox 360, but i bought this game off of eBay for a change of game play. i was completely satisfied with this game and highly recommend it. the only let down with this game is that it isn't very addictive but that might just be me because i don't usually play these types of game. ...
Advantages: Best tennis game on the market, very addictive and a lot of fun Disadvantages: long loading times
When TopSpin arrived on the original Xbox it was the natural successor to Segas Virtua Tennis, easy to pick up and play, addictive and fun. TopSpin 2 takes this further by improving nearly every aspect of the excellent original.
The game is a joy to behold, everything is rendered in great detail and things look almost photo realistic, at a glance you could easily mistake it for a TV broadcast of a real tennis game. The games sound matches the graphics, being very realistic.
Gameplay has evolved from the original game, making it more of a simulation, but without sacrificing the pick up and playability that made the original so accessible, your normal buttons give you safe, spin, slice and lob shots and can be used in conjunction with the controllers triggers to perform risk and counter shots.
The single player career mode is quite ...
Advantages: Good graphics in a lot of places, OK gameplay, Good career mode Disadvantages: Again graphics sometimes, controls too complicated, Long loading times, Short longetivity
Topspin 3 has introduced a new, unique, control system. It really does take a long time to get used to. I would advise not to play this while you are tired because you need to be concentrating fully on when the ball bounces or you will not be very successful at this game at all. The whole gameplay mechanic in TopSpin 3 is about timing and less about positioning.
In my opinion this new system is pretty pointless. I have played many tennis games and I don't see why the controls on this have to be overly complicated and why they couldn't be the usual.
I don't actually see what they were trying to achieve in making it like this. It is much too hard to win a rally. Even if you time the ball perfectly there are normally rallies in the 20s and 30s with you just hitting the ball from side to side, waiting for a chance to hit a winner ...
