Top Spin 4 Impressions/Questions Thread

[fearwhatnow]

Μy suggestion: Don't upgrade the stats of your player in career mode if you're having fun/intense matches against some pros.Reach for example level 10-12 and stay there.
The lack of a custom tournament mode is the biggest dissapointment of the game imho.Top Spin 5 must bring back full tournament mode and seasons along with a deep pros creator tool where users can create their pros in any level and then importing them to tournaments.

[Yeah...THAT Guy]

For what it's worth, I don't think the players on Very Hard have been unrealistic at all. I'm one tournament away from qualifying for Masters tournaments and I'm somewhere around 22-1 this season. Shawn Watson finally beat me but I just beat him last night to get my revenge (6-7 7-6 7-5). I think I'm level 16 right now.

[rangerrick012]

I like career mode. So far through my first year and I'm about to reach the 'new talent' status. I understand other's concerns about things like length of tournaments and lack of progression from other players, which I do hope they improve for TS5. But I do think that this career mode adds more from TS3. And me personally, I play using the realistic settings, and don't think I'd have the time to play through the tournaments (particularly the slams) if I had to play 6 or 7 matches total. But I do agree that full tourneys should at least be an option. And I don't have a problem w/ lack of progression, b/c I want to play the best of the best when I get to the top, not some no namers, even if they came 'through the ranks' with me.

[Methlab]

This game is meant for online..it's been stated MANY times by the devs. So if you are an offline person only, you are missing out. Taking your created player online against other people's players is the way to go. They advance and grow with you and you will have really fun battles and tournaments. this game is really geared more for online players so I am not surprised that people who just play franchise modes in games are frustrated. But just reading interviews months before the game came out prepared me for this, and since I am an online guy, I'm quite happy with this format.

[rangerrick012]

Quote: Originally Posted by Methlab

This game is meant for online..it's been stated MANY times by the devs. So if you are an offline person only, you are missing out. Taking your created player online against other people's players is the way to go. They advance and grow with you and you will have really fun battles and tournaments. this game is really geared more for online players so I am not surprised that people who just play franchise modes in games are frustrated. But just reading interviews months before the game came out prepared me for this, and since I am an online guy, I'm quite happy with this format.

Yep, forgot to mention that. The online World Tour mode adds another dimension to the game, and the leveling system makes it so overpowered cheese players aren't as prevalent anymore.

[DJ]

Quote: Originally Posted by Methlab

This game is meant for online..it's been stated MANY times by the devs. So if you are an offline person only, you are missing out. Taking your created player online against other people's players is the way to go. They advance and grow with you and you will have really fun battles and tournaments. this game is really geared more for online players so I am not surprised that people who just play franchise modes in games are frustrated. But just reading interviews months before the game came out prepared me for this, and since I am an online guy, I'm quite happy with this format.

I've got no problems with that, as long as the developers were up front about it.

I'm an offline guy and while I'm really interested in this game, I don't know if it would sustain me over the long haul. One of the moderators (CMH, I think) brought up a great point about how CPU players in Career Mode need to progress along with your created player. Otherwise, you'll end up without any true rivals, and that takes a lot of fun out of the game.

[Dudd]

Just won my first tournament online, the Massachusetts Open. Crushed the first round, beat a 19 guy with my 11 in a hard fought 3-0, 0-3, 10-8 final. Great match, lot of back and forth. However, one thing that was really apparent was that the backdrop played a huge role using one of the baseline cameras. I play with helpers off since I think it's more fun that way, and picking up the yellow ball against the bright wide background on the sunny side of the court was so much harder than picking it up against the gray background on the shaded side of the court. There were numerous occasions where I just lost the ball and had no idea where it was, only picking it up right before it bounced past me. I think the other player must have had some problems too, because it was obvious that his reflexes weren't as sharp when he was looking into the sun either. There's a reason that every tennis court I can think of uses a green or blue backdrop and not a white one, I hope there aren't too many other courts in the game with white as the backdrop.

[chuckm1961]

I like to be "immersed" in a game ... forget I am playing a video game, because I'm thinking just like I would if I was really playing.

Which is why the "power shot" mechanic in this game really bothers me.

I am an avid-mediocre-middle-aged-tennis player who has taken lessons. No one has ever told me to plan my next shot the micro-second that the ball leaves my opponent's racquet. Tennis is a game of minute, last-second adjustments in positioning of the feet, the hands, the racquet, etc.

Yet in Top Spin 4, to pull off a "power shot," I have to hold the appropriate button down (it seems to me) from the micro-second the ball leaves my opponent's racquet. I essentially have to decide my next shot type BEFORE he even hits the ball! Pulls me completely out of the experience of feeling like I'm really playing tennis... and leaves me feeling like i'm pushing buttons in a video game.