Top Spin 4

Is this game out because you all seem to be playing it. I thought it came out on Friday.

I played the demo about 20 minutes ago and it was insanely easy (like 7-0 easy) so i hope it's not as easy as some people here are saying. Another thing i'd like to know about is the timing. On the demo i turned off in game helpers straight away because whilst might shots may have been 'too late' or 'too early' it didn't make any real difference to how well i was actually doing in the match. Do they serve (hehe) any purpose at all?

I was all ready to buy this but you people have made me think twice now. I knew it was kind of lacklustre in terms of game modes but if it's not very challenging either then i might think again at least whilst it remains £40.
 
Well I'm buying it, the last tennis game I spent any decent amount of time on was Virtua Tennis 2009 and comparing that to this, it makes Top Spin 4 seem like the greatest game of all time. :P

I wasn't a big fan of Virtua Tennis 2009 incase you're wondering...

Looking forward to the career mode and playing it with mates online.

and yeah on the demo I struggle to win points against the computer on hard lol, I mistime a shot and the next thing you know he's got me running back/forth and it's just a matter of time.
 
Virtua Tennis hasn't been very good lately but with VT4 its returning to the original internal SEGA devs who handled the Dreamcast games.

I enjoyed the Top Spin 4 demo and thought it was a nice balance between an arcade and simulation based tennis title (it leans more to the sim aspect). The only worry I have is of the difficulty. Eurogamer just reviewed it and gave it an 8 out of 10.
 
I think the career mode is pretty bad. You play the same players in the same order, at least in the beginning (when I realised this I stopped playing). So lets say you end up 2:nd place, since you'll have a goal of winning a minor tournament, you will keep playing the same players in the next tournament, even if it is a completely different one. So you always meet this crappy one first, then one a little better and the even better in the final. It's very scripted and arcady.
 
Rob92 said:
The difficulty levels just reduce the margin for error in timing, and improve the play of the AI opponent - the principles remain the same.

The ingame helpers (from my time with the demo, and watching videos), look like they would become unnecessary after a bit of practice anyway.

Nobody seems to have checked out that Dream Match Tennis game, so I'll post a vid (may need to go full screen to see the ball);
YouTube - Dream match tennis TarasUA VS Coolio

Notice the unforced errors, faults, aces, serve and volley play (2:43), shots hitting the net/lines and much more - it's such a better simulation than Top Spin...
Click to expand...

Just like with FIFA vs PES. Top spin have great animations and ball physics, which makes it look like the most realistic one. Even if gameplay wise, it's the opposite.
 
The game is awesome! I bought it here in Greece but i have a problem. Online isnt working completely! I can play only player quick matches! When i try to play world tour or 2k open games a message says The Top Spin 4 server is not available at this time. Please try again later...

Whats wrong on Live? Servers arent open yet? Did you try to play online?

Please help...
 
It's not in most EU stores until tomorrow so could be why.

Anyone else had it freeze/lockup on them? Was playing against the AI, he seemed to hit the ceiling or something for a let and it was just stuck there, was in the Hong Kong open, very weird.
 
Rob92 said:
The difficulty levels just reduce the margin for error in timing, and improve the play of the AI opponent - the principles remain the same.

The ingame helpers (from my time with the demo, and watching videos), look like they would become unnecessary after a bit of practice anyway.

Nobody seems to have checked out that Dream Match Tennis game, so I'll post a vid (may need to go full screen to see the ball);
YouTube - Dream match tennis TarasUA VS Coolio

Notice the unforced errors, faults, aces, serve and volley play (2:43), shots hitting the net/lines and much more - it's such a better simulation than Top Spin...
Click to expand...

Yeah, one guy at last thinks the same as me. DMT's far better than Top spin...:WORSHIP:
 
For people who think the game are easy, yes it's easy in mode "Difficult", but the more "Pro" are just so f*****g hard !
 
Just played a wonderful match against a complete stranger. I was Ivan Lendl and my opponent was Roger Federer.
It was so nail biting as we were so evenly matched. Managed to win in the end. Very enjoyable and the online was smooth as butter for me.
 
I have this.

It is awesome. Playing through career mode the last couple of days. Got to level 12 and finding some of my matches quite tough - none of the boring 6-0, 6-0 victories from previous iterations of the game. Think the opponents are the same for everyone and if so I'd like to let everyone know how much I hate Jamaican player Shawn Watson. He is pretty tough to beat, had two matches versus him now in different tournaments and only just scraped through in both.

But yeah, enjoying it. Just wish the roster was bigger and better. Hoping for some DLC players.
 
ThomasGOAL said:
Funny to see no more message in this thread about maybe the best game sports of the year.
Click to expand...

The gameplay is good, but the game is not even close to be sports game of the year. The carrear mode is very similar to last version, the roster is depressing since there´s not even the full top 20 players on it, the player creation only allow 4 players (again, just like las version).

When playing against the AI on higher levels we have the clear impression that sometimes our controls become totally unresponsive and slow, also the stamina of the CPU don´t fall so much during the game like our player, even my player having +70 stamina and the AI having less than that. Also when playing against a high level CPU player (lvl 17-20) on VERY HARD the player type is totally useless because all AI players plays like they have 90 stamina and 90 speed, they defend everything the whole game and they all plays very similar.

The point of a difficult level is about to make the AI smarter and less predictable and not make they having more advantages on some atributes, the high AI in this game is similar to EA games where they do exactly that, gave the CPU advantages and don´t make they actually "think" better.
 
Honome_WEC said:
The gameplay is good, but the game is not even close to be sports game of the year...

...on VERY HARD the player type is totally useless because all AI players plays like they have 90 stamina and 90 speed, they defend everything the whole game and they all plays very similar.

The point of a difficult level is about to make the AI smarter and less predictable and not make they having more advantages on some atributes, the high AI in this game is similar to EA games where they do exactly that, gave the CPU advantages and don´t make they actually "think" better.
Click to expand...

Totally agreed. Playing on HARD and already finding it totally irritating. Rallies of 30 hits to make a point simply because players can reach any ball all the time. But there's a lot more wrong:

- Unforced errors aren't there at all. Forced errors are scarce and volleying feels like playing with a frying pan. In real life, if you volley well to a side, you win the point. Sometimes you need 2 volleys, but in this game volleying is just not enough powerful (I have 70 volleying stats).

- In the career mode, sometimes you have to play double matches, and it's probably the worse gaming experience of the last years. Points take ages by no reason, players simply reach any ball, AI players act like robots and can make like 10 consecutive volleys between them without doing the point at all. Absolutely boring.

- A lot of times, the CPU will serve and my player won't even move, even if I started the move towards the ball. That gives the CPU a lot of ACES when dififculty ramps up, while it's hard to make any againsnt them, as they act like Terminators that always reach the ball. Wrongfooting the AI is almost impossible, they always seem to go for the ball automatically.

- Lobs are way too accurate (as all strokes in general), but to make it even more ridiculous, the CPU, who was in the net, can effortlessly track backwards and, having their back turned to you completely, suddenly turn in the last frame and make a perfect crossed shot. Nonsense.

- In career mode, it doesn't matter if I choose autosave or not, it will always autosave even if I disable it! Who tested this?

So, while the game has definitely some potential and has moments of brilliance, the ropes are too exposed and I feel that gameplay is -again- dumbed down. Points in real life are way way shorter and errors and mentality play a big part, while in Top Spin are blatantly missing.

Haven't touched online, though. May be fun vs the appropiate person.
 
Very good game indeed. Fun and depth and a great flow.

I personally find that too much simulation makes a sport game very boring. Unforced errors are there when u are under pressure.

visually there is nothing fancy but it manages to look better than a lot of highly acclaimed games.

Overall if feels like an old pes game: a great and engaging gameplay.
 
Wendetta said:
Unforced errors are there when u are under pressure
Click to expand...
That's a forced error...

Unforced errors are when you miss a shot when under no pressure whatsoever.
Even Top Spin 1-3 had them in some form, with mistimed risk shots, but 4 doesn't even have those, so when under no pressure it seems (from the demo) absolutely impossible to hit the ball out.

The idea of a "risk shot" wasn't bad, it's just that they made it too easy to pull off in the previous TS games and it wasn't context-sensitive - it didn't need removing. DMT has a "super hard shot" button, which is basically a risk shot, but it depends more on the situation than the timing.

I prefer games to reward tactical decision making rather than gaming skills, hence why I prefer PES over FIFA, hate COD etc...
 
Just had a game agains Nadal in very hard, lost 6-1, 6-1, 6-1, he had 69 winners and 1 unforced error. That says everything about the "simulation" aspect of the game. A good top 5 player on a good game would have at least 30 unforced errors with 69 winners, and in some cases much more.

Now the game is useless for me, on hard i beat the AI 6-0, 6-0, 6-0 and on very hard half of the points are 30 rally shots, and the AI makes absolutelly no error, too bad they didn´t even gave us a slider to high or make the errors part of the game.

The game had potential but ends up being terrible with the poor and cheating AI.

Also just figured out that the CPU doens´t play with our created players! How can it be???? I simply can´t play against my created player and have no idea why is that, even with him on level 20.
 
it is a game, if u want a sim go out with a racket. how much fun would it be to witness 30/40% of unforced/forces errors from top players, which means 70% from crappy players?

0 fun. videogames are about fun and depth, i honestly think they should pursue the best side and excitement of a game, not the dull and boring side.

I don't understand this obsession with simulation in a videogame. But i am old school, first videogame i played was in 1979. maybe the new generations spend more time simulating real life than living it.
 
Wendetta said:
it is a game, if u want a sim go out with a racket. how much fun would it be to witness 30/40% of unforced/forces errors from top players, which means 70% from crappy players?

0 fun. videogames are about fun and depth, i honestly think they should pursue the best side and excitement of a game, not the dull and boring side.

I don't understand this obsession with simulation in a videogame. But i am old school, first videogame i played was in 1979. maybe the new generations spend more time simulating real life than living it.
Click to expand...


That´s the exact mentality that makes the games looks more and more dumb nowadays. All the producers cares is about this called "fun" factor and don´t give a damn if you have to think to play a game, in fact the less people think playing the best, in their point of view.

So i repeat one more time, games industry is almost as bad as hollywood industry, they both make 90% of their games/movies for dumbs. And i agree with drekkard, few are the games today that you have to think to play, or that you play a fair game against an AI that on difficult levels don´t put their players as supermen.

Also the most of complain about simulation come from old school gamers, like myself, i remember playing games on computer where we actually had to type the action of the character, those kind of games are unthinkable today because they are not "fun" for the majoroty of people.

But there´s still hope, while there are people that prefer playing PES than Fifa there´s still hope...
 
you people stop enjoying playing game because of your obsession with realism. fun and depth are the keys.

What a very mature post rob, u rock!!!! wanna put some more faces?

Another thing...these days is all about putting faces and offending people.
 
Maybe he thinks realism is fun? And if you can get me to play tournaments with pro tennis players in real life, please do.
 
He has a point though. In your constant quest for ultra realism and simulation you may lose the most important aspect of this entertainment category we call video games.
Fun.

I love when football games that get closer to the real thing but that doesn't necessarily mean the game will be fun. For example I find SWOS offers just as much in terms of enjoyment if not more in comparison to the current releases of PES & FIFA. But clearly these more recent titles are far more realistic (no banana shots and offside for example).

Top Spin gets a lot of things right and replicates a lot of things that occur in real life tennis but it also gets somethings wrong. However I accept these shortcomings because the overall package is enjoyable. Some members on this forum are almost demanding in their attitude that each sports title be as close to real life as possible and if they do miss out on a few things for whatever reason it automatically makes the game appalling. That certainly isn't a correct and balanced viewpoint. At the end of the day they are video games and as much as we wish for them to be a reflection of the real thing they never truly will be.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
BillyBoy said:
He has a point though. In your constant quest for ultra realism and simulation you may lose the most important aspect of this entertainment category we call video games.
Fun.

I love when football games that get closer to the real thing but that doesn't necessarily mean the game will be fun. For example I find SWOS offers just as much in terms of enjoyment if not more in comparison to the current releases of PES & FIFA. But clearly these more recent titles are far more realistic (no banana shots and offside for example).

Top Spin gets a lot of things right and replicates a lot of things that occur in real life tennis but it also gets somethings wrong. However I accept these shortcomings because the overall package is enjoyable. Some members on this forum are almost demanding in their attitude that each sports title be as close to real life as possible and if they do miss out on a few things for whatever reason it automatically makes the game appalling. That certainly isn't a correct and balanced viewpoint. At the end of the day they are video games and as much as we wish for them to be a reflection of the real thing they never truly will be.
Click to expand...

A realism/simulation mode and an arcade mode, problem solved everyone happy.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom