A tennis champion weighs in on the latest tennis video game to hit consoles.
Let’s start this TopSpin 2K25 review out with a (humble?) brag: while the words for it are coming from yours truly (that’d be Steve), the sentiment behind them are straight from my hubby, an official Australian Open Glam Slam tennis champion (that’d be Matt). While I might appear in a tennis video game, he’s an actual, accomplished tennis player who also happens to enjoy video games. You want his opinions over mine, and that’s true in general.
A veteran of tennis games — recents like AO Tennis and Matchpoint included — TopSpin 4 has been Matt’s go-to for quite some time. A whopping 13 years have passed since the last entry in 2K’s tennis franchise; 2K25 isn’t just a sequel but a bit of a reinvention with a new developer behind its code: Mafia 3‘s Hangar 13.
With mere days to critique TopSpin ahead of its early access release — admittedly, that’s a number of days more than we usually get with 2K Sports titles — Matt decided to focus on MyCareer and MyPlayer functionality. He’s enjoying time spent and the minute-to-minute gameplay found as a result, but finds the overall experience “standard and not super enthralling”.
Before hitting the court, MyPlayer offers the chance to customise your own character. There are enough decent options to craft someone who will properly represent you as an in-game avatar, and there are plenty of gear options to purchase and unlock. This is also paired with the TopSpin Academy, a series of tutorials featuring legend John McEnroe that feature en pointe, polished missions that help both players new and familiar with the sport.
Once inside MyCareer proper, some of the cracks of a sport-as-video-game start to show. Ultimately, the repetition of match after match, and tournament after tournament is hampered by slow progression systems. Accruing XP or money is extremely slow, which in turn makes it difficult to build attributes and skills, earn and purchase buffs including houses, and acquire support staff to excel.
Playing — and being successful — on hard difficulty doesn’t seem to provide increased rewards to correct that gripe. In fact, that imbalanced risk-reward system is further spotlighted when considering a starting player’s weaker attributes. They seem to really impact play at a disproportional level, especially when compared to previous iterations of TopSpin. That, in turn, plays into new shot systems which provide more winners from perfect shots and more mistakes if you’re powering your shot too much or too little.
With that all in mind, TopSpin appears to further penalise a career player when it comes to training. Said missions require you to perform certain tasks, but they don’t account for doing things at a better standard than required. For example, completing a gold training mission doesn’t provide rewards for completing silver training missions.
The same type of system applies to winning tournaments, in a way forcing you to play down at lower tiers which, again, impacts progress. Coach’s targets are also impacted — playing shorter matches and, therefore, a tiebreak or a super tiebreak means you’ll have less time to reach targets, and in turn, fewer rewards if you’re unsuccessful.
In the short time we’ve had with MyCareer, we’ve also been impacted by several injuries, despite intentions to rest and keep our player healthy. Weaker starter characters fatigue a lot during tournaments and travel, that that leads to the requirement of months of down time while you heal. That, again, hampers progress and enjoyment.
These progression and reporting systems are coupled with features that seem unpolished. One feature, which tracks your in-game performance as a percentage, seems to be based on how many well-timed shots you play within the point. I found I was increasing my performance percentage by hitting a double fault with well-timed serves, which is completely contradictory.
While all the Grand Slams are included in-game alongside close to 50 venues, TopSpin 2K25‘s launch roster is lacking with a number of legacy tennis stars alongside a meagre list of current players. I understand there’s no organisation like the NHLPA to help with licensing problems, but a spotty roster is nonetheless the result.
In terms of overall presentation, 2K25‘s podcast has no chemistry and isn’t engaging. Its poor performances are even more apparent when comparing the offerings to those of McEnroe in the Academy; he’s truly a standout.
Joining me on my PS5 kick, Matt also enjoyed TopSpin‘s DualSense integration. While sounds like ball strikes, footsteps, and sneakers sliding across the court successfully add to the experience, grunting is obnoxious and strange. One shriek from a spectator between sets sounds eerily like our cat, causing much confusion.
“Overall I’m enjoying it,” says Matt directly. “But with sport games and, in particular, tennis games already being a bit repetitive, Hangar 13 needs to speed up progress on career mode to make it more enjoyable. There seem to be things I don’t have access to yet that will make my player better, and I don’t want to play for countless hours before I start seeing that happen.”
TopSpin 2K25 heads to Windows PC, Xbox One, Xbox Series S, Xbox Series X, PS4, and PS5 from 26 April. Both the Deluxe Edition and Grand Slam Edition will allow players to jump in early from 23 April.
TopSpin 2K25 was reviewed using a promotional code on PS5, as provided by the publisher. Online multiplayer modes were not tested. Click here to learn more about Stevivor’s scoring scale.
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TopSpin 2K2527 April 2024PC PS4 PS5 Xbox One Xbox Series S & X
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