Preview
Top Spin 3: Buy It For The Tennis, Love It For The Custom Grunts
June 16, 2008
The upcoming release of Top Spin 3 on next-gen consoles and the Wii brings plenty to the various consoles. Both games feature the same base roster of 16 real life players and three legends: Bjorn Borg, Boris Becker and Monica Seles. You can play for all the major titles except for Wimbledon. 2K still included a grass court (set in Dublin) but the Brits wanted too much dough for the official license.
Besides getting snazzier graphics, Xbox 360 and PS3 owners get to customize players right down to picking everything from Wild Eyes-style contact lenses to your little pro’s in-game grunt. Wii aficionados get to flail wildly with their Wiimotes while in the first tennis game for their system to feature players with legs and arms. Check out our full preview with 2K Sports product manager Ryan Hunt after the jump.
During our hands on time with the Wii version (pictured above) we pretty quickly figured out the base mechanic for playing the game. You have considerably more control over your players than Wii Tennis. Instead of kind of floating towards the ball you can roam the baseline and rush the net. Serving the ball is kind of a mini-game in itself which involves timing your serve to a moving power meter. You can also just cheat and send out a second serve with a press of the Z button that’s automatically in play. However, it will make you feel like a Sally (trust us) and you won’t get a chance to hear the umpire scream “Fault!” like he’s trying to cough up his spleen. Hunt prefaced the demo by saying the Wii version of the game has a bit more of an arcade-style for the casual gamers. But it seemed a lot more realistic than say the Wii-version of Shaun White Snowboarding. There won’t be any online play for Nintendo owners till the next iteration of the game. 2K threw in a couple of mini games as well as a tutorial for those that have a hard time figuring out the game and probably have trouble remembering to breathe.
We moved along to the Xbox 360 version (above and below) of Top Spin 3 and quickly received a bitchslapping from the virtual Andy Roddick at the other end of the court. The game controls include the right analog stick for the first time, allowing players to shape their shots from lobs to cuts. The next-gen graphics also shows the clay courts at Roland Garros stadium getting progressively marked up with scuffs and the players get sweatier–which would have looked at lot cooler if we had been using Maria Sharapova instead of Roger Federer. 2K clearly went above and beyond when it comes to tricking out your custom players.
You have total control over the facial construction, Hunt showed off the in-game character he created to look exactly like Ryan Seacrest. Don’t judge him! You can also select every piece of gear from Rafael Nadal’s capri pants to a very unfortunate Adidas tee-shirt with the slogan “Game, Sweat & Match.” PS3 owners get the exclusive on Nadal, though we kind of doubt he’s going to have the power to move a lot of copies. And last, the next-gen crowd will have to listen to the high-pitched trill or the cyclops when they fault on a serve or hit it long. There’s something to be said for the voice of the Nintendo judge pointing out that you suck at tennis.
Top Spin 3 hits shelves on June 23rd for consoles and the DS. Pre-order your copy by clicking here.
Tags: custom grunt selection, sports, tennis, Top Spin 3
