After spending some time with Top Spin 4 a few weeks back, I was pretty certain that it would be far and away the best installment in the popular tennis franchise, and after getting a chance to see TS4’s other game modes and features, I can say that TS4 will be the best tennis simulation game to date.
We already know that the team at 2K Sports wanted to make Top Spin 4 more accessible while still maintaining the authenticity and complexity of the game of tennis. This certainly has held true and this influence is seen in every other aspect of TS4.
Starting with Career mode, players are given the opportunity to create their very own tennis pro and send him or her out and compete in an inordinate amount of matches and tournaments. But before you even pick up a racquet, gamers will have an almost endless amount of customization options with which they can create their own unique character. Literally, every single thing you can think of is customizable, with either the dozens upon dozens of preset options or the numerous sliders that allow you to create your player with pinpoint accuracy. With these options and the expert face editor, players can really perfect the look and feel of their pro, which is important because everything has an effect on the look of your player during a match (i.e. clothes and hair adjust to sweat and movement). There were clearly no cut corners in player creation.
Once your pro is customized to your liking, it’s time to turn that character into a tennis legend with the likes of Sampras, Agassi and Federer. The Career mode main hub features a news feed in the top right-hand corner of the screen as well as a scrolling bar at the bottom, you player sheet (which show your statistics), and the goals you are required to complete to level up. You can hone your players skills through preparation, which features sparring with a partner, training and reaching special objectives to gain bonus experience points. Once you are comfortable enough you can enter into a tournament, and depending upon the surface, objectives and rankings, you may select a specific type of tournament that is either tailored to your strengths or in an area you think needs improvement.
Outside of the basic tournaments and prep events, you can also unlock special events and dream matches that will help you gain fans, experience and bolster your reputation.
In addition to just playing and practicing, the new Coach list can help you gain an edge while playing through Career mode. A list of 100 coaches is available to players throughout their career and each coach has a certain list of requirements and there are 50 different game skills that can be unlocked and added to your player’s repertoire. The coaches are ranked in a three-tier system (bronze, silver, gold) and players can swap coaches at any point in the game.
One bonus that fans of Top Spin 3 will be happy to see in the latest version is that once you complete your career and your character reaches level 20, you can create an unlimited number of pros who automatically start at level 20 without having to play through career mode once again.
Now while playing your regular Career mode might be enough for some players, the team at 2K Sports stressed to me that Top Spin 4 is meant to be an online tennis game. Your created character will gain points no matter what mode you play in, and the real meat and potatoes of the game will be through online competition. Gamers will have the opportunity to play your standard quick matches and alternative games such as serve and score percentage, but the main online game modes will be World Tour and the 2K Open.
World Tour is where players match up against each other using their created characters. Gamers will have the opportunity to build their rank through playing in the game’s single elimination tournaments which will be uploaded every week. There will be seven tournaments each week for players to compete in and based on the level of prestige carried with each tournament, the higher you will be able to climb in the rankings and the more experience points you will gain.
Also, in order to keep the ranking systems fresh and allow late-comers to get in on the fun, the rankings will change every week and the last 12 months for each player will be tracked, much like the actual world tennis rankings. This is meant to keep the challenge alive for gamers throughout the duration of the game. The online world is essentially a living breathing tennis experience.
The 2K open acts in almost the same way, although you can only use pros in the matches played online and the game will track not only the player’s rank, but also the pro’s rank. Basically it will not only track how many games Rafael Nadal has won online, but will also track how many players use him throughout the game. This adds an additional fold to the game as it is essentially a popularity contest and you can help push your favorite pro to the top of the ranks.
With all of these new gameplay models and the immense level of customization, Top Spin 4 is definitely shaping up to be the ultimate tennis gaming experience when it hits shelves March 15.
