Top Spin 3 Hands-On Preview

[Steve_OS]

IGN has posted their hands-on preview of Top Spin 3.

Quote:

"This owes itself to a new gameplay engine that's been, according to 2K developers, built from scratch in order to be more faithful and respectful to real-life tennis, while attempting to put more power in the user's hands to make specific types of shots. This, in our unskilled hands, meant that we hit lots of lob shots down the middle, and threw up a serve or two off our shoulder. Towards the end of our second match, though, we finally began to get the timing down and started to hit shots with slightly more force, albeit with little to no accuracy. For example, if we wanted to hit a groundstroke down the line with some force, we were forced to hit LB (to get to the proper angle to hit the shot) and immediately follow it with the left trigger and A, timed properly, using the left analog to place the shot. If you're better at video games than us, well, you will be able to do this before you finish two matches."

[Scott]

cannot wait for this game.

[mgoblue]

Quote: Originally Posted by Scott

cannot wait for this game.

It sounds promising how you have to determine whether or not to play a safe shot. I'm learning to play tennis in real life, and I quickly learned that you can't just try and hit that hard shot down the line all the time. You need to pick your openings and go.

[Seymour Scagnetti]

Sounds good but if with the crappy roster they better let us create players and use them in career mode where we can play against them.

2 other things are a must. 6 game sets in career mode. It's like playing 9 holes in TW or 5 inning games in the Show. Total game breaker for me. It should at least have an option for you to do it. In match saves are a must as well so you can enjoy those 6 game matches and not all in one sitting. If they don't have these then they won't be getting my money even if they do have online.

[eugreene2]

So right Seymour ... they should at least give you the option

[mgoblue]

Quote: Originally Posted by Seymour Scagnetti

Sounds good but if with the crappy roster they better let us create players and use them in career mode where we can play against them. 2 other things are a must. 6 game sets in career mode. It's like playing 9 holes in TW or 5 inning games in the Show. Total game breaker for me. It should at least have an option for you to do it. In match saves are a must as well so you can enjoy those 6 game matches and not all in one sitting. If they don't have these then they won't be getting my money even if they do have online.

I think it was TS1, but man playing a tourney took like an hour and you couldn't save...it was a nightmare.

This game is being developed by PAM - the original two were created by Indy Games. (a great dev who 2K sacked)

I don't understand why they are making the controls more complicated. Top Spin 2 had it almost right if they would just tighten things up. A more complicated control scheme does not mean a more realistic one.

I think the great thing with 2 was it added the depth missing from 1 while also retaining the pick up and play factor for everyone else. It walked the tight rope. The new game sounds like it is not going to be pick up and play friendly and that was always half the allure.

Top Spin 2 had position and momentum and it worked really well. It did not always match the animation though so people tended to think their player should have had a shot when they really shouldn't have. It is just the animation would always have the player going toward the ball even if you started your momentum/stick in the wrong direction. Your character would still lunge toward the ball but miss and this gave people the impression the controls were not responding correctly.

Really all they need to do with Top Spin 2s gameplay is tighten up the responsiveness and fix the animations so they more closely match the input ( I understand they wanted it to always look real - like the player was going for the ball - but that feedback didn't work for someone controlling the game). Let realism suffer and have players momentum driving them the wrong way...then people will get it. Some of the sliding animations need cleaned up as well.

The other BIG BIG issues they need to fix are :

1) Don't have the camera switch sides unless playing VS on the same TV with someone. Otherwise I want to always be controlling the player in the front court - not switching between the back and front.

2) Some of the worst load times ever - even compared to games like Oblivion and MassEffect.

3) Option to turn off cut scenes between shots (and just do away with entire "emotion" gimmick.

I don't get why IGN goes on about the player creation system. If they don't utilize the camera like Tiger or Rainbow then who cares.

I would also like to see them work out a much bigger pro lineup. The lineup should include tons more pros and even go back in history picking up some legends. Then like Madden - when someone starts a career they can opt if they want to include the legends. The existing career mode was pretty good but had a crappy interface. The training could stand to be more interesting as well.

I understand those who want full 6 game sets in career and I don't see why it isn't an option. An option I said because even with 3 it can take a long time to play through a grand slam event. I don't think everyone would enjoy 2 hour matches.

I like the star attributes and hope this sweat thing works like a stamina meter. Stamina seemed to effect accuracy in Top Spin 2 but it wasn't always obvious when a player was tiring..other than seeing some unforced errors. Star experience should be gained in any mode - since it is capped anyway to keep it fair there is no reason you can't play whatever mode you like and build up your character.

Not a lot of details about online but hopefully they really blow it out and make the online options more comparable to the other 2K games.