Top Spin 4

Having not played a tennis video game, real tennis match, or watched much of professional tennis, I was able to pick up the mechanics quickly thanks to the training and became addicted to the career mode. But as is the case with all sports games, the longevity relies entirely upon your own interest in the sport. By using basic RPG elements, streamlined gameplay, and having robust options to choose from, Top Spin 4 is an easy choice for tennis fans and non-fans alike.

Surely there will be better tennis simulators in coming years, but after many hours with Top Spin 4, we can't imagine how to improve the recreation of the sport with such fun.

Top Spin 4 gets it right. It looks great. It's accessible without being too easy and can be played competently amongst friends without having to invest any more time than you decide. But for real tennis buffs it also stands alone as the best simulation to date.

Top Spin 4 is a return to prominence for the series. New players and veteran players both can feel comfortable with the changes to gameplay that 2K Czech has built into this latest tennis effort. The improvements easily outweigh the flaws and this game is the best tennis simulation to arrive in years and the best overall tennis video game since the original Virtua Tennis.

Fantastic. Probably the finest tennis game ever made - combining flair and accessibility with a level of depth that the competition has come nowhere near matching. Thanks to Top Spin 4, tennis games are relevant again. Very relevant.

The robust Career and World Tour modes offer up an amazing and in-depth game of tennis that fans of the sports will love. Even if you've never picked up a racquet in your life, Top Spin 4 is still a great game that is hard to put down. The controls, while requiring some time to get used to, are intuitive.

An absolutely killer tennis sim and one worthy of being considered one of the deepest and most rewarding seen thus far.

The best tennis game ever created. Top Spin 4 is great for experts and newcomers, being a deep simulation as well as an approachable one.

Top Spin 4 is definitely one of the best sports games I've ever played, and obviously a great tennis simulation.

What stands out about Top Spin 4 when it is all said and done is the amazing on court action. Whether your playing with a friend or the computer the game brings to life the game of tennis like no other game before it has.

With a wealth of content to explore, tight controls, and great visuals, Top Spin 4 is a fantastic tennis simulation that caters to pros and novices alike.

If you like tennis you can't miss Top Spin 4, a game that improves the last chapter of the series in every possible way. Like Tina Turner said in 1989, this is "simply the best" tennis game of all time.

The best tennis simulation around has got better graphics and is finally accessible to anyone. It's still meant for true tennis fanatics.

Top Spin 4 offers a lot of emotion on the court. The controls are very good but you will need a lot of time to master timing in every situation.

When I cannot go to the real court, Top Spin 4 is the proper alternative. Well, the simulation does not always perform at its best, but the game almost perfectly hits the ball and at the moment there is no other tennis game that can keep the pace.

A great simulation, better every year. Control on the athletes is absolute, and fun for the fans is guaranteed.

Accessible and fun, Top Spin 4 is the best tennis simulation around.

Overall, 2K has addressed most of the issues gamers had with the previous game and produced a quality game for both casual and hardcore gamers. If you are looking for a tennis game that delivers a unique control system, coupled with an interesting levelling based system for your created player, and have enough replay value for your cash, then its match point to Top Spin 4.

Excessive loading times and way too many menus to button through are also annoying, but the on-court and online tennis are so terrific and pure that these faults are easily overlooked. [May 2011, p.84]

A willingness to refine its trademark depth and realism with advanced features has provided enough of a leap for those of you well-versed in the game, and the excellent training Academy and on-screen indicators provide a crucial link for everybody else to get to grips.

Without any real competition to push the genre forward, 2K Czech delivered a solid, fun and quite enjoyable tennis game. But in the future, we'd like to see something more bold and innovative.

Top Spin 4 isn't the most accessible game for newcomers as there's a bit of a steep learning curve to begin with. However, stick with it, learn the strokes,start winning matches and you'll be rewarded with a deeply atmospheric, precise tennis game that's actually pretty darn good to play.

Despite Virtua Tennis 4 releasing a few months from now, it's safe to say that Top Spin 4 will be a difficult game to beat. The physics and fatigue system make this a deep sport simulation, while the improved control system and streamlined character leveling mechanic is simple enough that newcomers and casual players won't feel overwhelmed.

There's still room for improvement, but as it stands, Top Spin 4 is the most proficient tennis game of this generation.

Arguably the best tennis game around today, with a deep gameplay and a very good learning curve, great graphics and rich single and multiplayer modes.

Top Spin 4 really does come closer than any tennis game to date when it comes to capturing the real essence of one of sport's most graceful games.

While it's not a revolution in video game tennis, Top Spin 4 provides both a mastery of the basics and the most comprehensive career mode to date.

The core simulation is almost perfect, but the shortage of game modes is a serious flaw.

Top Spin 4 is a strong entry in the series, with a realism that is more polished than ever. The matches are hard but, at the same time, it feels really satisfying to fight until winning the point. The roster of players and the online game modes add up to create one of the best tennis simulators in the market right now.

It is not that Top Spin 4 revolutionizes the tennis game genre, it just provides a comfortable control scheme, an extremely robust career mode, and a presentation that has yet to be matched in a tennis title.

Top Spin 4 is a great sports game and one that depicts tennis as if you were playing the real thing. Every aspect of the franchise has been tweaked almost to perfection, and only the relative speed of progression and ease of the career hold it back from perfection. Tennis fans should certainly pick this up, and it will certainly hold its own against most other sports games out there too.

Top Spin 4 has been a lesson in ambivalence for me. I liked it, but couldn't overlook some of its flaws. But the truth is, Top Spin 4 is probably the best tennis game that's been made to date. It's fun to play, and pretty satisfying to blast winners and watch your opponent throw up his (or her) hands in frustration.

If you love tennis then Top Spin 4 is a must-own game. It rises above all of its predecessors and even surpasses its competition – what little it has - with brilliant presentation values and intuitive, deep, and challenge controls and gameplay. The lines of arcade tennis and professional simulation are nearly transparent, making this a game enjoyable by anyone with a deep or even a passing interest in the sport.

Unites casual gamers and tennis fanatics in the best game in the series. [June 2011, p.95]

Top Spin 4 is a fantastic game and definitely the best tennis game currently on the market. There a few minor flaws, but for every negative, there are a hundred more positives. The realism of the game play is leaps and bounds ahead of competitors and predecessors in the series, but there are still a few loose ends that need to be tied up.

New Top Spin shows the world how a proper tennis simulation should look like. Great piece not only for fans of white sport. Thumbs up! [Issue#203]

The gameplay in Top Spin 4 is almost unrivaled. The amount of customization, options and fluidity the control scheme gives really heat up the competition. If you've never played a tennis game before Top Spin 4 will change how you look at the sport.

Top Spin 4 isn't flashy and doesn't come with any gimmicks, but it's an incredibly competent and in-depth tennis sim that the sport's fans would be foolish to pass up.

Hitting a difficulty sweet spot, Top Spin 4 is deep enough to let you spend hours mastering the perfect volley, but won't turn its nose up at you if you don't fancy anything more than an occasional late-night session of backhanding with Federer.

Fully fledged and extensive, this is a great tennis simulator that becomes much more enjoyable once you get past the initial frustrations. [Issue#70, p.86]

Top Spin 4 is a pleasure to play, not only for tennis fans but for any gamer who enjoys good multiplayer. It has everything that makes the genre great, makes a couple of smart additions, and ends up as the best tennis game to date. And it's accessible enough that anyone with a modicum of interest in the sport can play along.

This means that the real value to Top Spin 4 lies not in its career mode, but in online play and the 'King of the Court' mode which turns tennis into a school yard game of 'winner holds the court'. This is fully customisable and offers the potential for hours of good competition between friends. Sure, it's not 'real' tennis, but it's certainly fun.

Top Spin 4 lacks the polish of a truly fantastic game, but does have a potent balance between accessibility and depth. This fourth instalment is on all fronts better than its predecessor and works especially well online. It's a nice overture for the new tennis season.

Top Spin 4 preserves the series' signature depth, ensuring that it remains the most advanced tennis experience available to gamers. Its easy to learn, hard to master control system is a triumph, and manages to retain overtones of simulation while simultaneously executing accessibility. Even without Virtua Tennis' sense of silliness and whimsy, Top Spin 4 is still a real hoot and, apart from one or two niggles, it's perhaps only limited by the repetitive nature of the sport itself.

If not the best tennis sim ever then certainly the most realistic, and with a training tool that should be the envy of any other game.

By putting accessibility and instant enjoyment at the forefront, 2K Czech has cast all the old frustrations aside at a stroke, and the fact the developer has eased passage into the game without sacrificing any of its depth is also remarkable. It feels as though a balance has been struck, which should suit players of all skill levels.

We've played too many sports games those last years to be wrong: Top Spin 4 is one of those masterpieces, a milestone in the sports gaming genre.

2K Czech har tried to "arcadify" the Top Spin series which, in the end, hurts the overall experience. But as long as you play it as a true simulator, Top Spin 4 is at it's best and probably the best simulation of the sport so far.

Slightly disappointing upgrade. Still enjoyable but lacks the grunt needed to be a champion. [May 2011, p.80]

It's definitely got something to offer for those who put the time and effort into it. Everyone else, however, may want to hold off and wait for next month's Virtua Tennis 4 from Sega's camp, or you'll throw more fits than John McEnroe on a bad day.

Between the lengthy career mode, customizable characters, and online tournaments, there's enough here to keep fans of the series and tennis game newcomers alike grabbing their rackets and hitting the court.

Top Spin 4 has become a reasonably good game, it's much better than the previous Top Spin. There's a lot to explore but unfortunately there's a lack of real improvement. So the game isn't perfect.