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Top Spin 3


Labeled With  top spin 3 xbox360 2k games
Written by DM on Thursday, June 26 2008

Speaking of increasing your stats, I recommend that you get started on your career as soon as possible. The difference between a low-stats player and a higher-stats player is like night and day. When you have significantly boosted your player to near-pro levels, the game changes – it gets much easier. The shot timings are much more forgiving, and since you move faster, you do not miss half as many shots. It occurs to me that this seems backwards; it should start out easier and get harder. It is almost like playing two separate games – an amateur, FIFA-street like game, and then a professional, FIFA type game. Fortunately, it does not take forever to raise your stats to where you can compete at the pro level. The first part of the career mode, when you have to play the scrubs in the city parks and side courts, does seem like it will drag on forever, but it actually does give you a good introduction to the game. Oh and, by the way, gone are the fun min-games (like tennis bowling). I suppose PAM decided that this was going to be a serious game, through and through.

The graphics and animations in Top Spin 3 have been redone as well, but they are just as good as they were in TS2. Here and there you may even be hard pressed to tell you are playing a game. Watching the replay is fun here and there, especially on hard-fought points. Don’t get me wrong, player models still clip into walls here and there, player models still react incorrectly here and there, but not enough to detract from the game. One thing I did experience and you will too, is the fact that the game stutters before the match while it is loading, almost every single time. It is only a second or two, mind you, but you will surely stop and take notice.




Of course, along with the single player and exhibition mode, there is the online play mode. You can take your personalized career player online if you like, but you better have the stats. You can then join any tournament in the game and play. There is a 14-day tournament timer online as well, which is the length of a Grand Slam Tournament in real life, and when it reaches zero, all the tourney stats are wiped clean after a champion is crowned. Supposedly, this was done to allow players to join the online society a long time after the game’s release, and still be able to have a shot at winning. It does not really address the issue of the skill needed to do so, though. Of course, the normal, run-of-the-mill leaderboards are still in place. Another great online feature is that you can still earn XP for your character’s stat growth, even if you have maxed out career mode. This allows for player growth beyond the normal, offline, mode.

Top Spin 3 is probably the most inaccessible tennis video game I have ever played. Now, this is not necessarily a bad thing, but it certainly means you need to look elsewhere for your pick-up-and-play tennis. The totally new gameplay mechanics have been implemented very well, and playing a “tennis sim” is certainly a unique experience. Being able to control the ball like an actually human being would, is great fun at times. If you have the time and effort to put in to make yourself great at this game, then you will be happy spending the money. If you do not have a decent amount of time to play Top Spin 3, at least in its training areas, then I really cannot recommend a purchase here. Just like in real life, plan for some serious “knee-skinning,” whiffing, and ball-outs, before you become competent. For those who do not deal well with those hardships, stick with Virtua Tennis for your sore-thumb needs.

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Top Spin 3


 
 
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7.5
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