TopSpin 2K25 - Bringing Back Tennis in a Big Way
The humble tennis game has had a rough run of late. It feels like it has been years and years since we had a genuinely good tennis title. The heady days of Virtua Tennis and TopSpin faded into nothing and they were replaced by games that varied in quality but never matched up to the previous stalwarts of the genre. It has been a bleak gaming landscape for fans of furry balls being bashed over nets. The headbands have been put away and the sound of grunting has faded into memory. But like Agassi returning to competition sans-flowing locks, TopSpin has returned not looking as sharp as it once did, but it still playing a mean game of tennis.
I want to get the obvious out of the way first so I can focus on the really important stuff and that is the graphics. Sadly, TopSpin 2K25 isn’t a good-looking game. In a lot of cases, it is even a bad-looking game. The player models lack detail causing a sort of Madam Tussard’s effect, with players looking like their real-life counterparts just enough to be identifiable, but not enough to be believable. To top these looks off, there are a host of graphical glitches that I am sure will get patched out eventually but for now are annoying. Hair disappearing and leaving a giant bald patch on my created player, tennis racquets not showing during replays and strange texture pop-in are just some of the things I experienced every time I picked up the controller. This would have been a good-looking game back in the 360 era when the last TopSpin game was released, but as it is, well let’s just say no one is going to be impressed.
Luckily though, gameplay is king and TopSpin 2K25 has the gameplay down pat. Moment-to-moment is where this game truly shines, capturing every aspect of the sport. This is a simulation, not an arcade title, so there is quite a bit to master, but it is so very satisfying when you do. Different shots are assigned to the face buttons on your controller, but power and accuracy are determined by timing. Tapping the shot button will play a safe shot that will be slower and easier for the opposition to hit while holding the shot will start an onscreen meter. Time the release of the button correctly and you will rip a crosscourt backhand, miss it and you will likely send the ball into the net. At first, this mechanic seemed to create frustration, but as I played I became more accustomed to it, even getting to the point now that I don’t really need the meter to get the timing right. Mixing these power and control shots with all the different shot types (Top spin, slice, drop etc) is key to success, especially against better players and higher-ranked opponents.
Speaking of difficulty, I want to point out just how well-balanced TopSpin is with its AI difficulty levels. A lot of sports games get this horribly wrong, with Easy being way too easy and Normal being impossible. Not the case here, each difficulty level feels perfectly tuned to players as they get better with the game, offering the right amount of challenge for a newbie, a regular player and a seasoned professional. There is also a fantastic Tennis Academy narrated by John McEnroe that does a wonderful job of explaining and teaching the game’s basic and advanced techniques as well as the different types of player archetypes people can create. So if you don’t know the difference between a serve and volley player and someone who loves the baseline, don’t worry, TopSpin has you covered.
Sport games in general live or die by their career mode and the career mode here is solid. Players can take their Avatar through the low rankings all the way to number one, chasing tournaments around the world and raising their profile in the process. Each month is broken up into three activities, training, special events and tournaments. Training is obvious, but what is worth mentioning is that, unlike many sports games, the training events make you a better player. Each training session is keyed to a particular type of shot and it uses targets and zones to teach players in a way that not only boosts in-game XP but improves their actual skills. Special events are essentially sponsor challenges that require players to win matches while fulfilling certain conditions. For example, be the first player to 10 points and hit at least 10 volleys in the match. These award cosmetics that can be used to spruce up your created player. Finally, tournaments, which are the most obvious. Win matches, win tournaments. Simple right? A key part of the career is stamina as each event uses a certain amount. When players are low in stamina they are more susceptible to injury, so choosing when to rest is essential. Do you rest, miss a tourney and drop a few rank points or do you risk it and potentially be out for much longer?
There are some issues with the career mode that are worth pointing out. As a whole, it is solid, but not groundbreaking in any way. Things are pretty much the same for the whole way through, with very little in the way of variety. Also for some reason, players have to be online when playing the entirely single-player mode. This, quite frankly, is absurd and it stops this game from ever becoming a hit on systems like the Steam Deck or the ROG Ally. They are some big markets that 2K are basically shutting out for no particular reason. Due to the low standard of graphics and the pick-and-play nature of tennis, I would have thought that TopSpin was a natural fit for these systems. Hopefully, 2K patches the online requirement out, but looking at their history, I doubt that will happen.
The rest of the game is made up of all the modes you would expect. Exhibition mode for some couch co-op fun (and it is fun), and online competitive modes. There are two online modes, one where players can take an established star from the extensive list of licenced players from past and present and compete against others against the world for leaderboard glory and the other which is basically the same thing but with your created player. This is where the true TopSpin guns will be found and if you fancy yourself as a pro, this is where your biggest test will be. There is also a Season pass because… well it is what games do these days. Thankfully none of the season pass rewards will create an unfair advantage, it is just cosmetics and career mode XP boosts.
After such a long time it was probably too much to hope that TopSpin 2K25 would be the perfect tennis game. The graphics are just bad, always online is a pain and the career mode lacks variety. All that said, the core tennis game is fantastic and it is easily the best bit of virtual ball whacking we have had since TopSpin 4. When running about the court, struggling to get through a massive rally and finally being able to rip a down-the-line forehand for a winner… well I challenge anyone not to give a little fist pump in celebration. TopSpin 2K25 is not the perfect tennis game, but it is the perfect building point for the future. Let’s hope 2K takes this solid foundation and pushes it towards greatness in future entries. As it is, Tennis fans are going to be more than satisfied, even if they are left a little wanting in some areas of the game.
TopSpin 2K254 was reviewed on the Xbox Series X with code kindly supplied by the publisher.
