Top Spin 3

27.06.08

Speaking of tennis aces, even Boris Becker is at the start. But a Boris Becker alone does not make a good game. Anyone who wants to leap up the career ladder like Roger Federer on the baseline has to create his own player anyway. Like in a role play game, you have to spend a good 20 minutes with the extensive character editor. After that work is done, that is some tattoos and reptilian eyes later, the first amateur matches await you. After a certain initiation period, in my case seven defeats, you get the hang of it and wipe the first amateurs off the court. Soon you find yourself in the junior league and your tournament calendar gives you the choice between an easy and a difficult tournament each month. There is nothing in between, and while the easy tournaments are also not child's play, a victory in a difficult tournament brings unlimited satisfaction. The fact that you keep meeting the same opponents with different attributes is a bit irritating. Formerly feared opponents mutate to ball serving machines and vice versa. So you climb up and down the rankings, receive attribute points to improve your volley, backhand or the speed of your character. You can spend your hard-earned cash for socks, rackets, T-shirts and other products from famous manufacturers. No more casual training and the associated hunt for points.

Now "Top Spin 3" banks on a new execution of hits, which is more realistic on the one hand and on the other leaves less room for playing. Everything is a little slower than in Top Spin 2, seems more real and now normal hits are more often successful. Risky or forceful hits however, are rarely crowned with success and more difficult to perform. Stops are made in combination with the right stick, which is a bit cumbersome and unfamiliar. Now you press the correct button early before the tennis ball comes at you, for a flat, topspin, lob or slice. You have to release the button at the right moment so your hero has enough time to execute the hit. In the beginning it often happens that you prepare for a swing and the ball sails by you because you forgot to let go in time. The earlier, or longer, you press the button, the stronger the hit is. If you are not in the right position, pressing early is of no use. To hit a ball at a certain angle, in a certain place or simply as you want, you have to have good leg work. Unfortunately the best legwork is of no use, if you want to react correctly to an opponent’s hit. If you have, for example, already pressed the A-button for a flat andthen see the opponent rush towards the net and you want to react with a lob to the baseline, it gets a bit hairy. Because as soon as the ball returns, it is too late to revise your strategy. The initially pressed hit is executed, your character gets muddled up in his movements and there is no time for a further hit. Not exactly commendable.

The career and online modes are clearly the top features of "Top Spin 3". There are no rankings for doubles with other players. You can shake the net with your human tennis pals only in the free game. As far as the ranking games and placement go, you are now completely on your own and therefore responsible for your own luck. Thanks to the new controls, all players have the same, new premises and at last you can see who really is the best. On the side, the eager player can of course play single matches and single tournaments or improve his abilities in the Top Spin School. Legends such as Becker or Borg play only in single matches. The true to life implementation of the aces of days gone by is amazing. A shame that you can't re-enact historic encounters with the old pros with their typical gestures and emotional outbursts.

If Top Spin has one thing to offer, it is the most beautiful tennis courts by far. You admire the stylish pattern on the court in the "Dubai Sports Center" and marvel at the artistic wall decorations in other places. Shadows of nearby trees slowly move across the clay courts, where our shoes have already left wild patterns around the baseline. The character models display their forehand in well done animations and thrust their fist in the air after an exciting and victorious rally. The events leave their mark on the entertainers in the shape of stains, sand marks or sweaty clothes. The acoustics with sparse ambient sounds, the grunting players, slightly noisy steps and the incessant sound of hit balls lags behind a bit. At least the soundtrack is convincing, with modern and appropriate music. With compliments from Jamiroquai.