''Top Spin'' is a 2003

tennis Tennis is a racket sport that is played either individually against a single opponent ( singles) or between two teams of two players each ( doubles). Each player uses a tennis racket that is strung with cord to strike a hollow rubber ball c ...

video game Video games, also known as computer games, are electronic games that involves interaction with a user interface or input device such as a joystick, game controller, controller, computer keyboard, keyboard, or motion sensing device to gener ...

developed by PAM Development and

Indie Built Access Software, Inc. was an American video game developer based in Salt Lake City, Utah. Founded in November 1982 by Bruce Carver and Chris Jones, the company created the '' Beach Head'', '' Links'' and '' Tex Murphy'' series, as well as ''R ...

and originally published by

Microsoft Game Studios Xbox Game Studios (previously known as Microsoft Studios, Microsoft Game Studios, and Microsoft Games) is an American video game publisher and part of the Microsoft Gaming division based in Redmond, Washington. It was established in March 2000, ...

for the

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as part of their

XSN Sports Xbox Game Studios (previously known as Microsoft Studios, Microsoft Game Studios, and Microsoft Games) is an American video game publisher and part of the Microsoft Gaming division based in Redmond, Washington. It was established in March 2000, ...

brand. Atari Europe later published the game for the PC, while

2K Sports 2K is an American video game publisher based in Novato, California. 2K was founded under Take-Two Interactive in January 2005 through the 2K Games and 2K Sports labels, following Take-Two Interactive's acquisition of Visual Concepts that same m ...

published it for the

PlayStation 2 The PlayStation 2 (PS2) is a home video game console developed and marketed by Sony Computer Entertainment. It was first released in Japan on 4 March 2000, in North America on 26 October 2000, in Europe on 24 November 2000, and in Australia o ...

. The game was followed by '' Top Spin 2'' in 2006, '' Top Spin 3'' in 2008, and '' Top Spin 4'' in 2011.

Gameplay

In ''Top Spin'', players select from various game modes including singles matches, doubles, exhibition tournaments, a career mode or quick play matches. ''Top Spin'' features a number of professional tennis players who have licensed their likenesses to the game, a trend which continued in its

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s. It also contained fictional players as well. The player can work their way up through the amateur ranks to the pros in tournaments all over the world. They can do this by using the various licensed players, or by creating a unique character. The game can be played via the internet with XSN Sports and

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for

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matches.

Quick match

This mode contains the basic features that let the player get into a match as quickly as possible. The characters can be selected from the professional players available, or by using custom characters from the career mode option. A match can be held on the various available courts, ranging from Grand Slam venues to practice facilities.

Career mode

The

career mode Career mode is a video game term referring to the mode of gameplay that involves taking control of a single character and guiding the character through a structured career. The mode is normally associated with sports games, where it is referred to ...

in ''Top Spin'' begins with a create-a-player interface which begins with, DNA type. There are many strands to choose from with each containing a different skin color and unique player traits. Create a character continues with many face and body modeling options and apparel choices. The career mode begins with an option to choose a continent that has various opportunities for a player to better their rank by training and tournaments. A player must also make "coin" in order to pay for training which increases their attributes. Coin is earned by being sponsored by one of the corporate tennis apparel icons by performing commercials and other

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duties for them which are completed by scoring well in various exercises. Tournaments come in various types across the globe. Winning tournaments increases your world ranking, with more difficult tournaments taking much more precedence. ''Top Spin'' also allows users to load their career player into the tournament mode (and other game modes as well).

Multiplayer

The Optimatch feature allows the user to be very specific about the match that will be played including surface type, venue and how difficult the competition will be. This multiplayer feature is also the only tennis game to allow 2 vs. 2 online ranked play via Xbox live.

Controls

The various swings include: flat, top spin, slice, and lob, with swing strength increasing with each moment the button is depressed. Jumping, stretching and diving is automatically selected. Serves are executed in similar fashion, but with the addition of an on-screen power meter started and stopped with either the top spin, flat, or slice buttons. On the box, the controller's trigger buttons place you into a "risk mode" with a similar power meter, but the outcome of the shot is determined by how close to the center of the meter the user can stop a rapidly moving bar. Another component to the "risk mode" is the In-the-Zone meter which fills as momentum is gained with won points, making future risk shots easier to hit. The player can also express their character's emotion after a point by pressing buttons to choose a positive or negative reaction.

Reception

The Xbox version of ''Top Spin'' received "generally favorable reviews", just one point short of "universal acclaim", while the PC and PlayStation 2 versions received "average" reviews, according to the

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website

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. ''

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'' said of the PS2 version that "''Top Spin''s big trump card is the inclusion of online play", and despite the fluid animations, the game suffers from long loading times and flat textures. '' IGN'' said of the same console version: "Tennis fans, videogame or otherwise, will find quite a bit to like in the game if they never picked up the previous version, though nay-sayers will have a fair bit to complain about with disappointing graphics and, again, quite lengthy load times". In Japan, ''

Famitsu formerly ''Famicom Tsūshin'', is a line of Japanese video game magazines published by Kadokawa Game Linkage (previously known as Gzbrain), a subsidiary of Kadokawa. ''Famitsu'' is published in both weekly and monthly formats as well as in the f ...

'' gave it a score of two sevens, one six and one seven for a total of 27 out of 40.

References

External links