[Xbox 360] Deel 83: 7 april tennis ballen

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Top Spin 2 Review (Xbox 360)
By: Dale Nardozzi - "Legba"
March 28th, 2006
Top Spin 2 (Xbox 360)REVIEWSPREVIEWSMOVIESSCREENSHOTSINTERVIEWSCHEATSNEWS
Microsoft put out a few strong titles under the now-defunct XSN brand. Top Spin was XSN’s refreshing take on tennis, developed by little known PAM. As XSN went, so went the Xbox follow-up to this quite intoxicating sports title.

2K Sports to save the day…

2K Sports decided to publish PAM’s Top Spin 2 - developed for the Xbox 360 as an upgraded and more current model of the original XSN SKU. Does Top Spin 2 deliver the felt-covered goods nearly three years after the franchise’s launch? Let’s find out.


Gameplay

There isn’t a ton of variety in professional tennis, so there’s no sense in getting all excited about the fancy gameplay in Top Spin 2. Top Spin 2 is a fairly straightforward tennis sim, featuring a robust create-a-player for the Career mode, and some of the world’s best talent for online and offline battles.


Watching the line.

Top Spin 2 is played like traditional tennis, either in singles and doubles format, with both types being split into genders. Mixed doubles are possible too, as it is a sanctioned event in most ranked matches. Quick Match in Top Spin 2 allows you to pick from many of the best men and women players and go at it offline style. Federer, Williams, Roddick, Sharapova, and many more are just a few of the highly-talented players that were worked into Top Spin 2.

Along with Quick Match play, Top Spin 2 features a super-deep Career Mode complete with an intricate create-a-player section. After picking from various strands of base DNA (base character models), everything from playing style to skin tone can be modified with the use of handy sliders. There are various equipment upgrades too, all sponsored by real-deal manufacturers looking for that laser-focused target audience. Equipment can be purchased with money earned from winning matches and, you guessed it, signing endorsement deals with, well, real-deal manufacturers.

I signed a deal with Fila right away in my career mode and earned tons of bank, but was scalded by the sponsor through the voice/data messaging service for not gaining enough exposure in tournament play. Nope, I was too busy messing around in the extremely entertaining and worthwhile training rounds. Training consists of hands-on tutorials by a tough woman coach; teaching the basics of the sport. Training also features crazy and specific drills that will not only further hone your gaming skill, but will also rank up your character in a wide variety of areas. For instance, knocking down an imaginary wall with wicked ground strokes will not only build up your timing for game time, but will also add a few points to the “Power” designation in your player’s list of attributes.

PAM went one step further with the ranking system by allowing gamers a few choices of where to designate points (stars). Let’s say you just completed a volley drill that consisted of knocking down tennis cans set up like pins in the court. You could use your points to increase overall volley ability, or add points to “reflexes” which help over a broader range of court actions. Some point ranking can even obtain a silver status, which denotes them as a key attribute to a player’s development. For instance, if you want to build the perfect baseline assassin, you’ll surely want to have a silver star in the “Power” slot.

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The Career mode tracks your player’s weeks in the pursuit of the number one ranking. You’ll have to face increasingly tougher competition, and therefore higher-ranked opponents, to get toward your goal of numero uno in the world. Tournaments occur on the local, national, and international level, including events which are meant to represent the stops of the Grand Slam. Clay, hard court, and grass are all supported in these matches, as the backgrounds are from all over the globe; diverse as the create-a-character options. The handy interface tracks your tournament trek across the globe, keeping impressive offline statistics, and offering sage advice through the useful messaging system.


There are the popular 2K Sports party games to mess round with in case the Career or Quick Match modes aren’t stringing your racket. Top Spin 2 also features online play with the popular OptiMatch functionality, which makes searching for opponents of like ability a snap. You can play singles and doubles online, but unfortunately there’s no tournament functionality to be had. Bummer.

Gameplay Controls:

The control scheme has changed a bit from the original, with new features that are meant to make Top Spin 2 more exciting. Perhaps the best addition to the control setup is the “always in” safe shot. There is NO WAY to hit a ball out if you use X for your shots; a nice feature for those just learning the ropes. The top spin button is for those who have mastered keeping the ball in bounds, or for low-risk types that want to go for one every now and then.


Returning the serve.

Extreme risk takers will want to use the right trigger in conjunction with the basic strokes in order to pull off a Risk Shot. These super shots involve a meter which times the pressing of the face button. Start the swing too early and the ball drives into the net. Start too late, and the pill ends up sailing like a bird. But nail the meter at its pinnacle, and the result is a nearly un-returnable serve, forehand, backhand, lob, or even drop shot. There are also additional shots known as Advanced Shots that occur when the left trigger is used along with a face button. Counter shots, passing shots, and side-slice shots are possible when the Momentum meter at the top of the screen is in your favor.

Let’s take a look at the standard control scheme of Top Spin 2:


Left thumbstick – move player
Left trigger – advanced shots
Right trigger – risk shots/serves
Left bumper – exaggerated attitude
Right bumper – exaggerated attitude
A button – safe shot/serve
Y button – lob shot
B button – top spin shot/serve
X button – slice shot/serve


Overall Gameplay Impressions:

Although not what I would consider very “next-gen” in the gameplay department, Top Spin 2 is a well-structured sports title that entertaining on many levels. The overall interface is slick, making Top Spin 2 outshine the other 2K Sports titles in terms of navigation. The Career Mode is especially well laid out, featuring sweet load screens which are interactive to pass the time. The progression of the Career Mode is stellar too, with lots to do to keep the marathon ground stroke matches from becoming tedious. You can even simulate early Career Mode matches if the thought of actually “working” to get from two hundred to one in the world rankings seems ridiculous.

The in-game action of Top Spin 2 is much like its predecessor, but a bit less smooth. There’s a slight hiccup from animation-to-animation that throws the gameplay off a bit. It usually happens when a passed ball animation is being loaded, or when a ball is too close to a player’s feet. It also seems like this possible program anomaly affects a player’s ability to return a nearly out-of-reach ball, even on clay. Players seem to give up on balls which aren’t that far away, as it appears some of the queued-up animations put an end to the effort.

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Graphics

The courts and subsequent backgrounds of Top Spin 2 are quite impressive. Court surfaces show off some snazzy texture work, nets are respond naturally to lets, and peripheral animations (joggers, spectators, and the like) jazz up the overall ensemble.

Character animations are pretty decent, but the aforementioned lack of smoothness that hurts the gameplay also hurts the visuals a bit. Facial maps of the star players aren’t bad, and the “create-a” characters appear to have some variance and individual personality. Textile animations are pretty amazing, however, as clothing seems to flow in a completely believable manner. The ability to emote after a tough point shows off some nice character detail and interesting animations, but the “shaky cam” effects are a bit overdone.



Gaining composure.

Audio

Balls smacking cat gut, sneaker squeaks, and player grunts - the important stuff - all sound excellent in Top Spin 2. The less-important sound effects are mediocre, however. The calls from match judges match the settings well (for instance, the French call at Roland Garros), and they sound fairly believable, but they’re not at the level that I expected for a next-gen piece. The soundtrack is as equally as uninspiring as the voice work in Top Spin 2, lacking any real connection to the sport of tennis, or the action at any given moment.


The Bottom Line

Although not without some issues (some of these technical), Top Spin 2 delivers a somewhat satisfying experience that will most likely please fans of the sport. The next-gen quotient could have been higher (the online area is fairly weak), as Top Spin 2 sometimes seems like a slightly better version of the original. A bit more thought put into the gameplay definition of “next-gen” would have paid large dividends. This is an entertaining title nonetheless, and one that deserves at least a rental for a little critical evaluation.
Platform:
Xbox 360
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Publisher:
2K Games
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Developer:
PAM Development
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Genre:
Sports
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Release Date:
3/29/2006
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Game Features:
Offline Players: 1-4
Online Multiplayer
Online Leaderboards
EDTV 480p Support
HDTV 720p Support
HDTV 1080i Support
Dolby 5.1 In-Game





View Screenshots (65)


Online tournaments should have been standard. Framerate hiccups will, at times, mess with your strokes.


Clothing animation is extremely natural. Player models aren’t bad, but the courts and backgrounds are impressive.


The audio programming is a bit stark. Nice if you like the “thunk” of a pressurized ball contacting tightly-wound cat gut.


Online play and a deep Career Mode equal hours of enjoyment.


When is Top Spin 3 coming out again?


Overall Score NOT an average

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Op woensdag 29 maart 2006 12:22 schreef devv05 het volgende:

[..]

Fifa wint het meestal op grafisch gebied ja, maarja zo speculeren als jij doet is totaal onzinnig want je weet nog helemaal niks van PES 6 en er zal heus wel een grafische verbetering in zitten.

Bovendien rij jij dus blijkbaar liever in een mooie auto die hobbelt en voor geen meter zit dan in een auto die er iets minder spetterend uitziet maar gewoon heerlijk rijdt. Tja....

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Op woensdag 29 maart 2006 21:43 schreef twi het volgende:
Was het trouwens al bekend dat je je Friends List nu via de website van Xbox.com kunt beheren? Ga 't nu effe testen, las 't net op XBW.