Take it onto the court
Top Spin returns to the court in its third edition of the game and possibly it's at it's very best. Video games have come along way since the very first "tennis" type game Pong. Now we have fully immersive 3D courts and stunning high definition graphics that look fantastic, but how does Top Spin 3 fare?
The roster in the game includes most of the Worlds top players, including Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal (PS3 only) and Maria Sharapova among others, the absence of some of the current top ranked players is a shame, as it would have been nice to play as a few more of the top players. But to fill up the roster 2k have included some custom characters, which you probably won't use for the most part.
The first thing you notice about the game is the stunning visuals, the courts look fantastic in high definition and have this realsitic feel to them. Skid marks are indented into clay courts for example, with some open courts having clouds that will darken the court during certain parts of the game. The character models are pretty well designed, but not perfect. Some of the players look spot on with some looking a bit off, the animations for most players are rather generic instead of actually having the players animations. In a typical next gen fashion the players sweat and progressively get worse and worse, the character sweat appears on the nicely animated clothes and the players will visually appear more and more tired as the game goes on.
The sound in the game is fine, but again not great. The player grunts are far from their trademark grunts, this is most obvious with Sharapova as she does not have her unmistakable and unique grunts. The crowds sound is also rather generic however. Overall the sound is good enough however.
The gameplay is where you'll notice the biggest change, the game is now slower paced and is based around timing more so than in the past. As ball approaches you, you hold the button for as long as you can to build up power and release to swing at the racket towards the ball. A precise hit will send the ball where you desire, a mis-hit could cause the ball to go wide or too long. Risk shots are back again, and are again slightly different. They can be pulled off at any stage, and as often as you want by using the triggers, these require perfect timing otherwise your ball will be sent sailing towards the net or out. As a game progresses and the more you run, the more and more fatigued you get. This is visible from a heart rate meter prior the serve. This has minor effects on the game but your character certainly feels more sluggish as time progresses stamping down Top Spin 3's aim to be more realistic. The controls can feel somewhat clunky at times and you feel that you could of had a hit had it not been for the controls, but apart from that the controls work well.
The career mode is also back and has been improved on, in this you start off by creating a character in an easy to use create a character editor, allowing you to change things from hair to details like play style. Upon entering the career as a nobody and work your way up through the ranks going through the junior events and onto the professional events until you get the chance to face the legends. The whole time you are awarded XP to level up your characters stats, improving the characters power, serve, speed etc. However your overall character limited to 70 meaning you cannot be rated as high as say Federer or Nadal in overall skill. As you progress through the career you go up the rankings, the aim the career is to be the best and become the world number one. This feels difficult at first as you play higher ranked and skilled computer players but once you started to get stats similar to your opponents you can start to beat them fairly easy.
The online is a nice addition to the game and much welcomed to the PS3 after Virtua Tennis 3 left out online for PSN. The online introduces both single games and a World Tour mode, which is where you're bound to have the most fun. The World Tour mode takes the offline career and makes it online, where every player is playing to be the world number one by entering tournaments and playing games. After every game you will get a certain amount of points, depending on what the event is, for example a Grand Slam gives more points than a lesser event so it gives you the reason to win the big ones. To attempt to simulate the real world rankings 2K have decided to reset the World tour rankings every few weeks, allowing even a new gamer to have a shot at being the world number 1. The online players pretty flawlessly, with lag not generally being present, however when lag occurs it can be frustrating as it will inevitably break your rhythm. Risk shots can also feel a bit of a hidderence online with some players managing to pull off risk shots nearly every shot.
Overall the game is of a high standard, and is great fun with friends and especially if you're a tennis fan. Some of the tiny little details missing is a shame; the character editor missing some details like sweatbands and the option for sunglasses for example. Another feature that would have been nice would be challenges so you could challenge shots you think may have just been in. But if you're a fan of Tennis and own a PS3 and want to play online then this is the perfect game for you, the single player is better than the competition and it feels like a very complete tennis game that any Tennis fan with a PS3 should seriously consider!
