Graphics, sound, conclusion
The surfaces of the tennis courts used throughout Top Spin 2 play well. If you’ve ever played tennis you’ll know the huge difference between playing on lawn and playing on a hard court. Top Spin 2 reflects these changes accurately. You’ll often be slugging it out at the back of the court during grass play, making it a more tactical game, or fizzing the ball about on the slippery surface of the red clay courts.
Graphically Top Spin 2 doesn’t quite hit the dizzy heights of some Xbox 360 games. There is an improvement from the Xbox version, but nothing that will take your breath away. Whilst shadowing techniques are efficient and character animations are, for the most part, well executed, the half empty grand slam arenas fail to capture the atmosphere of an important match. There’s a fair amount of glitches to, including glitching through the game’s officials and your player hovering, David Blaine style, above the ground.
The atmosphere presented within games should also be mentioned. There is none. Canned applause fails to add anything to the game and a pounding soundtrack would have been a welcome addition.
On Xbox live you can take on the World’s best players through 1 vs 1 or 2 vs 2 matches. You can compete in ranked matches or friendlies, and, although I’ve experienced games filled with lag, it’s a solid gameplay experience. It’s just a shame the variation in game modes,seen offline, hasn’t been replicated online. It just all feels a but rushed.
There’s no question about it though, Top Spin 2 is the best tennis game out there. There’s not much change from the first game, but then did we want it to change? 2K sports have played it safe, they knew that Top Spin was a success and it feels like they’ve stuck with the same formula rather than taking any major risks. The graphics could be better and more attention could have been paid to some of the glitchier aspects of gameplay but, if you’re looking for a compelling, addictive sports game, you could do far worse than Top Spin 2.
Pros
Fluid control system
Addictive career mode
Superb physics and graphics
Cons
Single player lacking options
Online lag
The best table tennis game out there *coughs* - seriously great fun online!
HEXUS Awards
Top Spin 2
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Table Tennis is available now at £26.99, click the following links to order:Play.com
