Topspin Xbox

[Nickie Koskinen]

Basicground and power strokes are simple enough, but then there are slices, lobs, and topspin shots to consider, as well, and positioning proves utterly crucial. You can also pivot your body around a ball to deliver a backhand, or rush the net to shut down your opponent. Fail to hit the right timing, however, and your return will sail past the baseline or veer out of the sides. That new timing gauge has you covered, though, telling you when you're hitting the ball 'Too Soon', 'Too Late', 'Good', or 'Perfect'. Handy. Still, even having all that information is no guarantee you'll get it right every time, so the best thing to do is to get a feel for TopSpin's timing, then turn those gauges off.

Like any 2K Sports game, MyCareer mode also offers a proving ground for your custom MyPlayer, putting you through your paces with optional training objectives, brief Special Events, and a series of tournaments to tackle, as you attempt to rise through the ranks. Career mode is entirely adequate, but it doesn't really do anything new. You're essentially doing the same thing again and again, only in different venues against different, made-up players, on your way to Grand Slam showdowns (Wimbledon, Roland-Garros, the US Open, and Australian Open are all present), against actual licensed pros. You'll earn points for levelling up your MyPlayer's attributes, and you can hire a coach to give you objectives to complete for XP towards levelling up.

You can restring your racket, get new grips, and so on, providing buffs to your abilities, too. There are other aspects to take into consideration, like making sure you rest up to avoid incurring an injury, while managing your 'Rally Energy - belting a few too many power shots across the court will eat into your player's stamina. Once your Rally Energy has been whittled down, player fatigue means sluggish movement, weaker return shots, and reduced accuracy. This can also lead to a nasty injury. I managed to do my player's back in, which meant losing three months to rest and recovery.

The MyCareer tour mode in TopSpin 2K25 is fun, allowing you to train and play sponsor activities and tournaments alike, but the lack of licenced pros on release makes for interesting rankings. Having a bunch of not-real pros inside the top 10 can be immersion-breaking. Hopefully, as they update their roster of playable players they will not have to rely on fill-in players as much. The training events are just an extension of the topspin academy, asking you to complete certain objectives such as hitting certain spots on the court in consecutive shots. The sponsor activities build on this by giving you an opponent to beat while completing objectives.

Online has much the same game modes as offline, offering a ranked tour, exhibition matches and tournaments. Trying to find games was a bit of a chore and then once in them I often found myself outclassed by those who took to the game quicker than me. Finding a season pass and microtransactions available with the in-game shop was a surprise, as the game already gives you plenty of premium currency just by playing. There are items available in the shop for free, but including trophies for making your first purchase using the currency, and another for spending over 3000 of it, sends a shadier message.

But there is no other mode to play, which in a sports game in 2024 is rare. Testing yourself against greats like John McEnroe and Andre Agassi is strangely locked behind MyCareer when it could be a mode all in itself. To the credit of Hangar 13 and 2K, there is not a lot you can do with tennis to flesh out the game, it is not like they can add a MyGM mode like in NBA2K or MLB The Show. Perhaps a dedicated doubles career mode would add something else to the game, but they are limited in what they can do compared to a team sport.

Hangar 13 did not try to fix TopSpin with this latest entry, but perhaps they should have. With less-than-desirable graphics, a lacking on-release pro player pool, and hard-to-tune difficulty settings which made picking up the game harder than it needed to be, the game is left with much to be desired. Despite that, the bones of TopSpin 2K25 are good, and hopefully, they will be built upon in future games.

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