Unlike the Maddens, NBA 2Ks, NHLs, and FIFAs (or Football Clubs) of the industry, the sport of tennis isn’t represented with a major, annual release. Sadly, it’s sometimes many years between notable tennis releases, which is baffling considering that tennis is reportedly one of the top five most-watched sports in the world. While Super Tennis, Virtua Tennis, and the original Top Spins carried the legacy as much as they could, fans of the sport have been waiting a long time for a truly competent representation. With Top Spin 2K25, the development team at Hangar 13 Czech and publisher 2K are hoping to do just that.
They’ve brought the classic Top Spin IP back to life after 13 years and, with it, licensed players, events, locations, brands, and career and online modes. So have they hit a down-the-line winner, or merely a misplaced volley?
Respecting the Sport
Tennis, on the surface, is a straight-forward sport. Two (or four) participants hit a ball back-and-forth over a net and try to ensure the other can’t return it. Simple, right? But, of course, anyone who knows tennis knows the devil is in the details, and the details are vast. Getting those details correct, and enabling players to engage with them effectively on-screen, is imperative for any serious gaming entry.
Fortunately, Top Spin 2K25 does just that. Upon first loading into the game, you’re greeted by the legendary John McEnroe who begins taking you through training. It becomes apparent rather quickly that there’s a lot of depth to the systems you’ll be learning.
As with other titles in the past, the face buttons represent different shot types, with the right trigger also adding the ability to drop shot. These combine with timing and power meters to determine how well you hit the ball on every swing. Your swing is further affected by your positioning, movement, and angle to the ball. And those can also be utilized to hit inside-out shots, should you choose. It’s an excellent system accompanied by superb animations, and most importantly, it’s deep and engaging.
Not only does the combination more accurately recreate the sport and, thus, allow sensational rallies, but it also makes every shot a mini-game in itself. Nailing a perfectly timed shot down the line with full power or dropping a ball just over the net is exhilarating. And, more importantly, it’s fully representative of the mental game you play with opponents in the real sport. This foundation was clearly tuned extensively, and it was no doubt the right decision. Without that foundation all the features in the world couldn’t make up for lackluster tennis gameplay.
Fortunately, Hangar 13 also honed in on the A.I. competition. Top Spin offers five difficulty levels out of the gate but enables you to unlock two more, labeled Expert and Legendary. Ramping up the difficulty makes matches extremely challenging, with the A.I. reacting in ways and hitting shots that are far less predictable than in most tennis games I’ve played. Having this option is critical to keeping the game interesting, particularly if you prefer to play the single-player modes.
Introducing the Next World Champion
As most will tend to do after learning the ropes, I went about creating my soon-to-be, digital, world champion. The player creator suite is extensive and affords a great deal of variety at your disposal. For once, I attempted to create myself and did a somewhat admirable job. Though, there’s a hollowness behind the eyes at times that’s either a very minor shortcoming of the game, or more representative of myself than I’d like to admit. Could be a little of both, if I’m honest. Regardless, it’s definitely one of the better player creators I’ve used recently.
That extends even further to animation styles and your character’s personality as well, all the way down to how often you grunt when hitting specific shots. These may seem like trivial additions to some, but the attention to detail is appreciated. It makes your character feel more personal while on the court.
As you set out in the career mode, you begin at a low, global rank, playing TS250 tournaments. As you travel the world month-by-month, complete trainings and skill tests, and do well in tournaments, you will level up, increasing your attributes and expanding your skill-set. It’s a rather straightforward, by the numbers, career mode with a few additional wrinkles.
The monthly schedule is a good format for the sport as it coincides with seasonal surfaces and tournaments, which I appreciate. Every month you’re able to do one training, special event, and tournament. Each of these provides experience which you use to level up and raise your attributes. And, as time goes on, you’ll increase your player ranking and be able to take on tougher competition and larger tournaments. In particular, the game focusing in on the seasons around clay, grass, and hard court tournaments is fun, and each of the court types is well-represented in gameplay, too.
As Top Spin 2K25 is officially licensed, this means eventually getting to play in Grand Slams to face the best players in the world (at least the ones that are actually licensed – but more on that shortly). There’s an energy to playing in the biggest tournaments and arenas, and Top Spin does an admirable job representing those moments. Notable are the excellent crowd reactions and corresponding displays of player emotion. Making an incredible shot that leaves the other player dumbfounded will often result in an audible gasp from onlookers, while winning a long rally can often end in thunderous applause. Naturally, this grows as the venue does, a feeling that further brings the moments to life as your player visibly celebrates in their unique way.
As you rank up, more options become available to you as a player. Each level provides six attribute points that you can assign to your skills, thus allowing you to specialize in particular aspects of your play. You’ll also eventually unlock upgrades to your racket and individual skills that can give you an advantage in tight matches. Beyond that, you can also hire and upgrade coaches over time. By completing specific tasks in matches, your coaches will progress with you and provide additional bonuses to you. Depending on the type of player you want to be, leveling your coach can be game-changing by providing substantial benefits.
This is also true of your staff as you progress even further. Hiring four different staff positions aids you with injuries, rest, and even brand sponsorships and currency earnings. You’re also able to buy homes around the world, which further help in your player retaining some of their energy month over month. Play too much, and you risk injury, and injuries will degrade your abilities or hinder you from playing entirely. In the scope of sports games, it’s management-lite, but it’s also representative of the non-team aspect as well.
Overlaying all of this is a “podcast” that will often discuss your progression and rise up the world ranks. While it’s nothing groundbreaking by any stretch, it is a nice addition, and it provides at least a little life to what is otherwise a rather straight-forward mode. Should 2K plan to continue with a regular cadence of Top Spin entries along the lines of other sports, they will absolutely need to develop ways for broader engagement within the career mode.
Take on the World
Alongside the career mode are a few online offerings for those who prefer real-life competition. As a competitive player, I was excited to dive into these modes. The World Tour mode allows you to take your custom player online and compete with others around the globe in tournaments. While in the 2K Tour mode, you select from the licensed professional players to compete against others in individual matches to earn 2K points and climb the global leaderboards.
Top Spin 2K25 features a range of current and retired professional players, such as Roger Federer, Serena Williams, Pete Sampras, Andre Agassi, and Steffi Graf, to name a few. However, there are notable omissions. According to 2K, they are planning continual expansions to the roster post-launch, with all additions being free to players. But, as of this moment, it’s definitely a shortcoming of the game.
The online modes are a very welcome addition and have a strong foundation to keep players returning. If 2K expects players to engage with the game long-term, I believe this is where a lot of the focus needs to be. When it works as intended, the matches can be some of the most intense and enjoyable I’ve played in a tennis game. Utilizing the right shot at the right moment or out-thinking your opponent to score a game winner is thrilling, and it highlights the excitement of the sport.
Sadly, there are some very critical drawbacks in the current state of the game. First, World Tour doesn’t seem to have any skill or level matching, as far as I can tell. I played a couple of matches that were somewhat even, but also played a couple where the other player clearly had a very high-level player with skills I was nowhere close to unlocking. This made it next to impossible to play competitively. But, even worse, nearly every match I played online had a poor connection status in the corner. This meant a noticeable amount of latency on every hit, and, in a game that requires extremely precise timing, it simply doesn’t work.
Lastly, and perhaps most bizarrely, there is no option to play friends at launch. As I noted, matchmaking is available in multiple modes, but there are no private or custom game options to hop online with friends today. However, we have been informed by 2K that the option will be added before the end of May. So, hopefully, it should be arriving in the next couple of weeks.
Going Five Sets
Being a modern sports game, player customization with cosmetics is widely present, as is a “Battle Pass,” titled the “Centre Court Pass.” Daily and weekly challenges are available to earn points towards the pass, which provides a range of cosmetics, player customization options, and boosts. There’s also in-game currency you earn for completing tasks as well as simply playing the game. Upon first seeing the Centre Court Pass, I was concerned it was going to be another way to monetize in-game items, which would leave playing the game feeling like an unfulfilling grind.
However, to 2K’s credit in this instance, in-game currency is the same as paid currency. So, while you can absolutely spend extra money if you choose, you can also earn enough to buy anything you want from the Pro Shop by simply playing the game. And 2K’s licensing efforts result in a very wide-range of outfits and cosmetics from many name brands that support tennis in real life. All-in-all, it’s a system that works well and brings much of the “play and earn” addiction in modern games to Top Spin.
Further adding to this is a wide-range of unlocks for real-life locations, upgrades to your racket, and specialized skills relating to different play-styles. Top Spin features all four of the Grand Slam venues, all nine ATP Masters 1000 venues, and a variety of original locations developed by Hangar 13, with all having multiple time-of-day options as well.
Top Spin 2K25 is a well-placed serve and a powerful return for the classic IP. But, more than that, it’s a very capable representation of the sport of tennis itself. And, as someone who has appreciated the competitiveness and subtle complexities of the sport since I was cheering on McEnroe in real-life, it makes me happy to be enjoying it digitally once again. While the overall package has some shortcomings and rough edges, particularly online, it’s a sturdy foundation that gets far more right than wrong. With additional tuning and expansion, I see no reason why we shouldn’t see regular Top Spin entries moving forward, which seems logical given the popularity of the sport.
Advantage 2K.
Thank you to 2K and their partners for providing a code for review! You can find Seasoned Gaming’s review policy here.
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