Overview
Top Spin 4 is the follow-up to PAM Development's tennis simulator Top Spin 3. Top Spin 4 boasts a robust career mode and an extensive list of playable Tennis professionals.
Gameplay
My Player Mode
My Player Mode allows players to play as a custom Tennis star that they've created and altered to their liking. Players can determine their star's facial features, nationality and even play style. Play style dictates the star's swings and reactions.
Once a custom star has been created, players will then use the career calender to attend events and choose training partners. If an event is selected, players will face one of the game's licensed professionals.
My Player Mode awards players with experience points they will use to improve and tweak their star. Using the game's evolution screen, players can distribute points into skills such as forehand, backhand, serve, volley and many others. Gaining experience points and fame will increase the player's rank and notoriety. Leveling up allows the player to hire new coaches to further improve their skills and abilities.
As players gain notoriety, they will be contacted by agents and journalists to increase their publicity, gain endorsements and unlock even more events.
Controls
Previous Top Spin titles have been chastised for boasting complicated unintuitive control-schemes. In Top Spin 4, a large focus was put on simplifying the control-scheme, while maintaining the rewarding aspect of previous systems.
Basic shot types--these include lob,flat,slice and top spin--are mapped to the face buttons with modifiers mapped to the shoulder buttons.
The game's Top Spin Academy is a system whose goal is to get the player acclimated to the new control-scheme while also explaining the basic and complex aspects of the gameplay. The tool attempts to pin-point the player's problems and offer suggestions.
Playstation Move and 3D Support
Top Spin 4 is compatible with Sony's Playstation Move. While the title takes advantage of Sony's motion-control technology, the game is not compatible with Microsoft's Kinect.
Along with Move support, Top Spin 4 allows players to experience the game in 3D. This feature is available on both the Xbox 360 and Playstation 3.
Roster
Andre Agassi
Top Spin 4 marks the first time tennis legend Andre Agassi has appeared in an interactive entertainment experience in almost a decade. Agassi, along with Rafael Nadal and Serena Williams, appears on the cover of Top Spin 4.
Licensed Players
ATP
Roger Federer - Switzerland
Rafael Nadal - Spain
Andy Murray - Great Britain
Novak Djoković - Serbia
Andy Roddick - United States
James Blake - United States
Nikolay Davydenko - Russia
Gilles Simon - France
Stanislav Wawrinka - Switzerland
Bernard Tomic - Australia
WTA
Caroline Wozniacki - Denmark
Serena Williams - United States
Ana Ivanović - Serbia
Jelena Janković - Serbia
Dinara Safina - Russia
Vera Zvonareva - Russia
Eugenie Bouchard - Canada
Legends
Andre Agassi - United States
Pete Sampras - United States
Bjorn Borg - Sweden
Jim Courier - United States
Michael Chang - United States
Patrick Rafter - Australia
Ivan Lendl - Czech Republic
Boris Becker - Germany
Licensed Tournaments
Grand Slams
Australian Open (Rod Laver Arena) - Melbourne, Australia (Hard)
French Open (Court Philippe Chatrier) - Paris, France (Clay)
US Open (Arthur Ashe Stadium) - New York, New York, United States (Hard)
Masters 1000
BNP Paribas Open (Indian Wells Tennis Garden) - Indian Wells, California, USA (Hard)
BNP Paribas Masters - Paris, France (Carpet/Indoor)
Sony Ericsson Open - Miami, Florida, United States (Hard)
World Tour Finals
ATP World Tour Finals (O2 Arena) - London, England (Hard/Indoor)
Other Venues
Clay
Madrid Sports Arena - Madrid, Spain (Masters)
Stadio San Alessandro - Rome, Italy (Masters)
Court Principal - Monte Carlo, Monaco (Masters)
Casablanca Stadium - Casablanca, Morocco (Major)
Barcelona Stadium - Barcelona, Spain (Major)
Buenos Aires Tennis Center - Buenos Aires, Argentina (Major)
Westside Drive - Houston, Texas, USA (Minor)
Teranga Tennis Court - Dakar, Senegal (Playground)
Grass
Dublin Stadium - Dublin, Ireland (Grand Slam)
London Tennis Club - London, England (Major)
Boston Bay Tennis Center - Boston, Massachusetts, USA (Major)
Auckland Stadium - Auckland, New Zealand (Minor)
American Tennis Garden - San Francisco, California, USA (Minor)
Thorsten Brom - Munich, Germany (Minor)
Hard
Shanghai Palace - Shanghai, China (Masters)
Canada Tennis Center - Toronto, Canada (Masters)
Cincinnati Tennis Center - Cincinnati, Ohio, USA (Masters)
Hamburg Stadthalle - Hamburg, Germany (Major)
Moscow Tennis Arena - Moscow, Russia (Major)
Texas Arena - Dallas, Texas, USA (Major)
Seoul Colosseum - Seoul, South Korea (Major)
Amsterdam Tennis Park - Amsterdam, Netherlands (Major)
Vienna Tennis Center - Vienna, Austria (Minor)
Stavgaard Tennis Hall - Stavgaard, Sweden (Minor)
Abhijava Stadium - New Delhi, India (Minor)
Estadio Do Sol - Estoril, Portugal (Minor)
Silvjie Krleza - Omis, Croatia (Playground)
Bermuda Stadium - Hamilton, Bermuda (Playground)
Atlanta's Doves - Atlanta, Georgia, USA (Playground)
Dubai Sports Complex - Dubai, UAE (Playground)
Carpet
Grande Estadio De Chile - Santiago, Chile (Minor)
The Bauhinia - Hong Kong, China (Minor)
Kiev Indoor Arena - Kiev, Ukraine (Minor)
Soundtrack
The game features 15 licensed tracks.
Chromeo - "Fancy Footwork"
LCD Soundsystem - "North American Scum"
Daft Punk - "Da Funk"
OK Go - "This Too Shall Pass"
Schpilkas - "Fuzzy Fro"
Light Alive - "Trust Revenge"
RAMZI - "Mr. Pamplinas"
PURPL PoP - "It's Your Town"
Tigers That Talked - "Black Heart, Blue Eyes"
Ben Taimi - "Ticking Of Your Bicycle"
Gamble and Burke - "Isolated (With You)"
Darko Saric - "Circles"
Christian Larsen Music - "Breakwall"
Richard Boal/Robin Barter - "TPL Music" (ATP 20 and ATP Deep House)
Richard Parks/Joel Doran - "Free Air"
Pre-Order Bonus
2K Sports teamed up with GameStop to offer a pre-order bonus for Top Spin 4.
Players who pre-ordered Top Spin 4 for the Xbox 360 or Playstation 3 from GameStop received a vintage Andre Agassi character model featuring his signature mullet.
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