Aside from the love-it-or-hate-it Amped franchise, PAM Development’s Top Spin was the only great reason to care about Microsoft’s short-lived in-house sports division, XSN. Whereas Microsoft’s attempts at competing with EA and 2K Sports in the realms of football, basketball, hockey and golf ranged anywhere from uninspired to laughable, PAM Development’s take on the game of tennis was arguably the best to come around since Sega added the sport to their Virtua lineup. Top Spin leaned away from the emphasis on arcade sensibilities that the Virtua Tennis series established as the standard for videogame tennis, and successfully found a sweet spot between casual accessibility and simulation-style nuance and depth. While some may be turned off by the fact that PAM Development has nudged Top Spin 2 slightly outside this sweet spot, from a gameplay standpoint the game is likely to appeal to fans of the original, even if those fans are disappointed by the lack of progress made in the visual or online facets of the experience.

Gameplay

Top Spin 2 pushes the gameplay balance further toward the simulation side of the spectrum, and it doing so it provides more depth and sophistication than its predecessor. On the court, the game feels similar to the original game, which is to say it feels like a beefed up version of Virtual Tennis. The game, like its predecessor, provides players with the same level of intuitive control over the ball’s speed and direction as Sega’s standard-bearer, while simultaneously offering a wider range of specialized strokes to make use of in order to keep the opposition guessing and out of position.

At any time, the player has the ability to use the four primary swings, each of which has a slightly different affect on the speed, direction and spin of the ball. The go to shot is the safe shot, performed via the A button. Whereas this shot was fairly idiot-proof in the first game, you literally have to break the game in order for this shot to fail, as it is been programmed such that it is impossible to hit out of bounds. Go ahead, break that left analog stick right off trying, that ball will not go past the white lines so by all means hammer it. The X button executes a slice shot that travels low and fast, making it the ideal choice for shots intended to go across the court horizontally – it does however, stand a fair chance of hitting the net thanks to its low altitude. The B button delivers the game’s namesake, a topspin shot that bounces straight and high but travels very fast, requiring quick reflexes to return, but also a bit of skill to keep the ball from going out of bounds. Finally there’s the lob, pulled off via a simple press of the Y button, which sends the ball long and far – perfect for punishing those players that hug the net trying to cut off angles.

In addition to these four standard swings, there are two upgraded forms of each stroke made available through pressing one of the two triggers. The risk shots return from the first game along with the new advanced shots, both of which operate on a risk-versus-reward system, with the reward being a shot that is more difficult for the opponent to return. As in the last game, holding down the right trigger will bring up a rising power meter, which is stopped through the use of one of the face buttons – each face button corresponds to a different risk shot. The rise of the power meter must be stopped at its peak in order for the shot to be successful, too early and the ball gets buried in the net or in the fence behind the opponent’s baseline. While it may seem as though the practice would be simple, combined with the act of positioning the player character, and keeping tabs on the opponent such that the ball can be aimed effectively, nailing that perfect spot on the power meter can be insanely difficult. Advanced moves, which are essentially more powerful but unwieldy versions of the standard strokes, can be pulled off simply through holding the left trigger and pushing the face button that corresponds to the shot they want.

Both the risk shots and the new advanced shots are powered by momentum, which is accumulated as players score points. Lose points, and you lose momentum, so in theory its best to use the advanced and risk shots while you’re doing well, rather than receiving punishment. The problem is the balance between the risk taken and the reward for success is unfortunately skewed such that successfully performing such techniques is more trouble that it’s worth. This was a problem with the last game as well, and it took a career mode worth of time for players in the first game to get to a point where the majority of risk shot attempts were successful. If anything, it seems as though PAM Development has used the addition of the slightly less difficult advanced shots to leave this issue unattended to, and as a result, the difficulty of successful pulling off risk shots with any measure of consistence is likely to lead many players to eschewing use of the feature altogether.

On one hand, the wealth of specialized shots adds an additional layer of depth to the proceedings, and brings some finesse to the gameplay. Unfortunately, the game is also less immediately accessible as a result of this added complexity. In order to get the most out of the gameplay, players will need to learn the intricacies and effects of each of the shots, as well as learn to pin-point the situations in which they are most effective. Obviously reaching this level of competence takes a bit of time and effort to develop, and for those without the time or inclination to do so, the game becomes a fairly hollow experience - something akin to button-mashing one's way through Virtua Fighter.