Re: Top Spin 3
Now that I've played this game for over a week.
This is hands down the best tennis simulator ever made at this point. The learning curve is pretty steep, and initially it seems you need a PHD in Quantum Physics just to gave a decent rally. Once you get used to the controls its actually a very good tennis simulator with accurate replications of spin, angle and power which are true to the real sport. It helps that they seemed to have fixed the AI which no longer do stupid shit like drop shots and risk shots every second point (which they did a lot in the previous games). On the higher difficulties they actually employ some realistic tactics such as pushing you out wide and then hitting it down line, wrong footing and appropriate net approaches.
The real strength in the game is in the variety it gives you. When you get good at the game, point construction is entirely possible and a breath of fresh air compared to the relentless ball bashing found in Virtua Tennis franchise. Pretty much all shots from short angle slices, powerful flat strokes, deep/short angle topspin and my personal favourite, the on the run slice defence shots. The game allows you to play any style you want, from James Blake-esque ballbashing to Fabrice Santoro style slice bamboozling. Its nice to see that they have made the slice a useful shot, rather than gimping it like VT3 did.The volleying I still haven't quite worked out yet, but I have seen the AI on very hard do some excellent volleys on the stretch so it can be done. The frequency of errors is this game is surprisingly abundant, they happen often just like in real tennis, but once you get good at the game, they only occur when you try unrealistic shots on the defence or if you time a shit particularly poorly. Serving is okay if a little hard to aim. Again the game lets you hit every serve in the book, but I do feel that Top Spin 2 is superior in this area.
The risk shots seem pretty useless to me, as they go out half the time and don't seem to be that much better when you actually get them in. I've not managed to pull off a decent droppy yet, except for ones that land over the service box...
The game isn't perfect by any means. The biggest weakness has to be the forehand side animations. While some do look quite nice, there are particular ones which make Serena Williams look a graceful ballerina on court. Compared to the backhand animations, which are superb, they are certainly a letdown and spoil the look of rallies which otherwise look almost like replicas of real life tennis. Like in the old games, its still pretty much impossible to run around the backhand to hit a forehand unless you get an extremely weak reply, or you like hitting patty cake forehands because you didn't have time to charge up while slowly moving to the backhand cornor.
__________________
WARNING: This signature may contain extreme traces of clownishness and glory hunting
TOMMY HASS
0 slams (  ) and 0 finals
0 consecutive weeks at world no. 1
0 consecutive Laureus World Sports Awards
0 times qualified for YEC
2-10 H2H against Rogi Featherer
0-5 H2H against Rafito Nadull
Career low ranking: 1,241 (26.06.1995)
0 fake mullets flaunted in Roland Garros finals.
1 first name in common with Tommy Robredo
Last edited by leng jai : 07-06-2008 at 07:19 AM.
|
Top Spin 3
