Your feelings about Top Spin 4

[Gahan1990]

I wonder why there isn't a thread where you can talk about the game, whats better, what could be improved, added etc.

I wish that it's a objective discussion and respect the other peoples opinion^^

I have to say I am not a big tennis fan like most of you, but more a sports nut and I think the most time when I watch TV, 90% it's Eurosport
But tennis is one of the sports I favour with: soccer, icehockey, motorsports and cycling

I had just Top Spin 1 on PC before with Anna Kournikovas Smash Court Tennis on PSX and not TS2 or TS3 (I played the demo) and played some Virtua Tennis games

After I played the TS1 demo on the original XBOX I thought like wow what a Tennis game
But in the last years with TS2 (reviews), TS3 and TS4 now I think about TS1 "wow, what a arcadestyle gameplay"
I never remember hitting there the ball out (when I count out the risk shot), had in about over 200 games there just twice a net roller (when the ball hits the tape of the net and just plops behind the net)

When I compare TS1 and TS4 I have to say that TS4 with this style of gameplay is definetly more realistic but maybe when I think of the TS3 demo more arcadish then TS3 while I think TS3 felt a bit more sluggish in the animations like jelly what makes TS4 better for me

There are things I like about TS1:
- The courts
They were better designed and there are many many courts but I wished there would be carpet courts
When I see the courts at TS4, I think it's very good to have many original courts, but the unlicensed courts aren't good as there are many courts with their faults
Moscow or Chile could be too dark and I don't think a ATP match would be in some dark places without lights and that many shadows where you can't see that good the ball or the players when you don't put up the gamma of your TV
Cinncinati it's difficult to see the ball as the court is a bit wrong with the colors and lightning
Also to have a "Wimbledon like" place with Dublin and that bad grass textures is wrong I think, maybe they had to change the place because London would be too obvious that it could represent Wimbledon, but that court just feels off and I rather play grass matches on the New Zealand court then at Dublin

- The diffrence of things like rackets, shirts etc.
When I see the TS4 things and TS1 things, I think the TS1 things are better
The Aveberry clothes just look awful while the Elyan, Advantage and Qualies clothes look ok, but not for the women
I liked that the game gave you the option to change the color of the clothes (but not for the original adidas, reebok etc. clothes) because it want to have my own colored clothes
I think the original clothes like adidas or nike are ok but I liked also there more the clothes of TS1 than TS4 I don't know if they should invest there more money for having more original clothes

What I like at TS4:
- many players
I think the first thing to invest in a tennis game is with original courts (at least the Grand Slam Tournamens) is to have many original players
It's very good to have a good choice of that many players I think never matched in any tennis game but I think there could be some more players like Tsonga, Monfils, Söderling (maybe some more as I said I don't know that much of tennis like you here) and at the women site legends like Graf, Seles, Navratilova and current players like Sharapova

- the Career mode
At the beginning it's more of a bit boring as you see the great tournaments and you can't play it while going to the first bad tournaments but after getting a grip at the rankings and hunting the goals especially the legend ones, it's more fun

- The gameplay
While I think some of you think of it's a more arcade game I think it's a semi-realistic gameplay it could be improved but I think at the moment it's good it requires you to play a solid game even at the World Tour if you play against someone not using a power or a TI/MD player
Somehow at the World Tour and 2k Open, I can get the other players having problems and hitting them the ball out when they have to reach a good slice or a power stroke
While at TS1 it was just smacking the ball over the court and the player who could play with risk shots (I was good at it, but played just offline) had a big advantage over the other ones who couldn't get a grip at these shots

What TS4 could be improved in for a better TS5 game:

- Gameplay
I think the studio should let the player decide how they would like to play the game and I could think of 2 settings:
1 like this at the moment and the other one would be a more realistic setting with no help for you like the timing (good, bad, too early etc.) and having bad timed shots should be more weaker and should more vary in their precision going more out, in the net or sometimes if they have luck just at the line etc. what requires a more realistic tennis gameplay

Also I think when you get very much outside especially on TI/MD players, you can't hit the ball from the outside just at the line but more they you will hit the ball infront of the other player which will play the ball to the free court side and make the point, I think thats just annoying at the moment, if that would be fixed, I think you could have a better grip at players which are playing just short top spins with a too good angle, everytime you get this ball you never score which is just bad, I think that could be even now fixed

- The coach system
It's a good idea to have this, but I think the TS1 option was better as you could really create a player which fits to you
The most coaches are bad as they don't give what you want to have, at the moment I doubt they tested this option enough because I think TI/MD option was obvious to be that good
In my opinion they should make a compromise of TS1 and TS4 player creation system as I think it would be easier to balance as you haven't many coaches and many levels and so have many options to create a player, Ben Fillion with 12/8 or 8/12 is a very diffrent player and that for over 20 coaches with 20 levels..

When I want to have a more offensive player with the drop shot ability, why shouldn't I have this? At the moment I just can take a allround coach with volley ability or a very defensive player

- put more effort in getting player/court licences
I wouldn't like to have a soundtrack like at EA (while they would have a bigger budget for everything compared to 2k) because the PS3 and XBOX 360 let you to play your own music, but I think a sports game is all about licences and a good gameplay, while I thought of the gameplay earlier, I think having more original courts and players would make the game better as it's content and can't have enough of original content like players, courts and brands like Nike and Adidas for your player

[supinesmokey13]

I wonder why there isn't a thread where you can talk about the game, whats better, what could be improved, added etc.

I wish that it's a objective discussion and respect the other peoples opinion^^

I have to say I am not a big tennis fan like most of you, but more a sports nut and I think the most time when I watch TV, 90% it's Eurosport
But tennis is one of the sports I favour with: soccer, icehockey, motorsports and cycling

I had just Top Spin 1 on PC before with Anna Kournikovas Smash Court Tennis on PSX and not TS2 or TS3 (I played the demo) and played some Virtua Tennis games

After I played the TS1 demo on the original XBOX I thought like wow what a Tennis game
But in the last years with TS2 (reviews), TS3 and TS4 now I think about TS1 "wow, what a arcadestyle gameplay"
I never remember hitting there the ball out (when I count out the risk shot), had in about over 200 games there just twice a net roller (when the ball hits the tape of the net and just plops behind the net)

When I compare TS1 and TS4 I have to say that TS4 with this style of gameplay is definetly more realistic but maybe when I think of the TS3 demo more arcadish then TS3 while I think TS3 felt a bit more sluggish in the animations like jelly what makes TS4 better for me

There are things I like about TS1:
- The courts
They were better designed and there are many many courts but I wished there would be carpet courts
When I see the courts at TS4, I think it's very good to have many original courts, but the unlicensed courts aren't good as there are many courts with their faults
Moscow or Chile could be too dark and I don't think a ATP match would be in some dark places without lights and that many shadows where you can't see that good the ball or the players when you don't put up the gamma of your TV
Cinncinati it's difficult to see the ball as the court is a bit wrong with the colors and lightning
Also to have a "Wimbledon like" place with Dublin and that bad grass textures is wrong I think, maybe they had to change the place because London would be too obvious that it could represent Wimbledon, but that court just feels off and I rather play grass matches on the New Zealand court then at Dublin

- The diffrence of things like rackets, shirts etc.
When I see the TS4 things and TS1 things, I think the TS1 things are better
The Aveberry clothes just look awful while the Elyan, Advantage and Qualies clothes look ok, but not for the women
I liked that the game gave you the option to change the color of the clothes (but not for the original adidas, reebok etc. clothes) because it want to have my own colored clothes
I think the original clothes like adidas or nike are ok but I liked also there more the clothes of TS1 than TS4 I don't know if they should invest there more money for having more original clothes

What I like at TS4:
- many players
I think the first thing to invest in a tennis game is with original courts (at least the Grand Slam Tournamens) is to have many original players
It's very good to have a good choice of that many players I think never matched in any tennis game but I think there could be some more players like Tsonga, Monfils, Söderling (maybe some more as I said I don't know that much of tennis like you here) and at the women site legends like Graf, Seles, Navratilova and current players like Sharapova

- the Career mode
At the beginning it's more of a bit boring as you see the great tournaments and you can't play it while going to the first bad tournaments but after getting a grip at the rankings and hunting the goals especially the legend ones, it's more fun

- The gameplay
While I think some of you think of it's a more arcade game I think it's a semi-realistic gameplay it could be improved but I think at the moment it's good it requires you to play a solid game even at the World Tour if you play against someone not using a power or a TI/MD player
Somehow at the World Tour and 2k Open, I can get the other players having problems and hitting them the ball out when they have to reach a good slice or a power stroke
While at TS1 it was just smacking the ball over the court and the player who could play with risk shots (I was good at it, but played just offline) had a big advantage over the other ones who couldn't get a grip at these shots

What TS4 could be improved in for a better TS5 game:

- Gameplay
I think the studio should let the player decide how they would like to play the game and I could think of 2 settings:
1 like this at the moment and the other one would be a more realistic setting with no help for you like the timing (good, bad, too early etc.) and having bad timed shots should be more weaker and should more vary in their precision going more out, in the net or sometimes if they have luck just at the line etc. what requires a more realistic tennis gameplay

Also I think when you get very much outside especially on TI/MD players, you can't hit the ball from the outside just at the line but more they you will hit the ball infront of the other player which will play the ball to the free court side and make the point, I think thats just annoying at the moment, if that would be fixed, I think you could have a better grip at players which are playing just short top spins with a too good angle, everytime you get this ball you never score which is just bad, I think that could be even now fixed

- The coach system
It's a good idea to have this, but I think the TS1 option was better as you could really create a player which fits to you
The most coaches are bad as they don't give what you want to have, at the moment I doubt they tested this option enough because I think TI/MD option was obvious to be that good
In my opinion they should make a compromise of TS1 and TS4 player creation system as I think it would be easier to balance as you haven't many coaches and many levels and so have many options to create a player, Ben Fillion with 12/8 or 8/12 is a very diffrent player and that for over 20 coaches with 20 levels..

When I want to have a more offensive player with the drop shot ability, why shouldn't I have this? At the moment I just can take a allround coach with volley ability or a very defensive player

- put more effort in getting player/court licences
I wouldn't like to have a soundtrack like at EA (while they would have a bigger budget for everything compared to 2k) because the PS3 and XBOX 360 let you to play your own music, but I think a sports game is all about licences and a good gameplay, while I thought of the gameplay earlier, I think having more original courts and players would make the game better as it's content and can't have enough of original content like players, courts and brands like Nike and Adidas for your player

iyour right about licensing and that ti/md combo you can be and all court offensive player u just need to ajust you setup to give you more power but me having play onliline a bit the como of of orange speed and reflexes with good groundstrokes can overcome power, if they fix the chinese lady the combo i mentioned can handle power fairly well even on serve provided you knw hw to return well

[xMFHxMataiiBANNED]

I'd like to see improved lighting/graphics in the game.

Better animations..

More stadiums - better grass courts and Wimbledon added

[SoundfSilence]

Since TS3 was only the other TS Series that I spent a lot of time playing, I will make TS4 comparison to this. I have played TS1 on the PS2 on my nephews' console a few times, I loved the game, but didn't play enough to know it in detail.

So, new things in TS4 I like are:

- Faster gameplay. This is really well done, much better pace than TS3. TS3 seemed painfully slow at times.

- Movement animation. I think it looks fantastic, especially the pros, very close to real life (Federer, Djokovic, Murray, Sampras, Agassi!).

- Improved Atmosphere. Crowd involvement is more fitting. Umpires sound like human beings rather than a Robot in TS3. Better ambience overall.

- Net cords / Let. Speaks for itself, nice addition.

- Fun objectives in Career Mode. I'm someone who likes unlocking stuff

- Serves / shots hitting the lines. This just looks so much better than TS3 did.

- More shots. The additional volleys, inside out button, control shot mechanism. All good stuff.

- More courts. Although the majority looked the same as TS3, that's fine, as courts did look good in TS3. They managed to add more courts.

Now, what I don't like in TS4:

- No Risk shot system. All TS Series, they have risks. This causes virtually no unforced errors. No return winners. Also, as someone has already mentioned, when you get a weak short top spin shot that pulls you outwide (but not that wide), you are left at a disadvantage as you can hit the ball 'Perfect' aiming for down the line, but the shot goes in the middle back at your opponent. The opponent just hits it back over the net and you are left stranded. Perhaps if there was risk, you can hit closer the lines?

- Not enough service animations. Need more pros signature serve. How can you have Sampras but not have his serve?!

- Adverts in the way during replays.

- Usual imbalance in character creation. This is not a huge problem for me, as I don't really bother playing people with Monster setups, but I play people who enjoy the game, using different styles, play fair etc.

Overall though, I am pleased with TS4. I've not played it that much yet, so that opinion may change or not along the way. But first look, great stuff