Top Spin 4 Demo Available Now, Post Your Impressions Here (360, PS3)

06:34 AM - March 1, 2011 by Rdogg1026

The Top Spin 4 demo is available now. Add it to your download queue right here.

Please play a few games and post your impressions here.

*UPDATE: PS3 demo is available now.

Quote:


	"Feel the excitement and energy of the US Open as you play in a tie break match to 7 points using some of the world�s top pros complete with 2K's Signature Style. Featuring new TV broadcast style presentation & innovative controls that allow gamers of any skill level to dominate the court, Top Spin 4 puts you front and center of the professional tennis experience."

Game: Top Spin 4Reader Score: 8/10 - Vote Now
Platform: PS3 / Wii / Xbox 360Votes for game: 8 - View All

Top Spin 4 Videos

Member Comments

# 1 Dazraz @ 03/01/11 09:41 AM

Just had a couple of games on the demo. First impressions are just how good the game looks. Player models & Stadia are both well represented. There are some nice presentation elements to the game. Broadcast style screen swipes, Shot of the game replay at end of match, Pre match player walk ons, all had to the atmosphere. Sadly though during the actual match everything feels a little dull. Commentary would of added quite a bit to this game.

Gameplay is not a major change from TS3. It still appears that aces will be a rarity.

Looking at the menu pages I was impressed by how many courts are available in the full game as well as a good selection of pros.

My big gripe with this game is the lack of modes outside of the career mode. I enjoy Tennis games but not to the extent that I want to plough through a career mode. I much prefer the option to create one off tournaments where you can have a few mates around to play. There is no Offline multiplayer modes other than just one off matches. Probably not a major issue for most but for me it means I will likely leave this game alone. Initially it feels fun but I will likely get bored with it as a single player game.

# 2 shugknight @ 03/01/11 11:46 AM

Is there still no commentary during the match?!?!?!

WTH TS4!!!

# 3 Nexgenrulz @ 03/01/11 12:15 PM

Loved the demo. Can't wait to try it with PS Move.

# 4 cdawg44 @ 03/01/11 12:30 PM

This game is pretty darn good from I played this morning. I just never could get down the control scheme for Top Spin 3 and I feel Top Spin 4 is a happy medium. The player models are just out of this world and the Career mode looks extremely deep. The top two tour levels are in with 3 of the four grand slams repersented and all 11 of the Masters 1000 series tournaments are in, though only 5 are fully licensed.

# 5 rangerrick012 @ 03/01/11 01:39 PM

It took me a bit to get the shot timing down since it's different from TS3, but man is this game fun. Movement on clay is beautiful, to see guys actually sliding is great. I'm definitely sold on this game now.

# 6 bigball12 @ 03/01/11 01:50 PM

Wow! What can I say? I am extremely pleased with the game. The visuals are absolutely stunning. It actually feels as though you are watching the match on the television. The weakest point of the presentation has been the lack of commentary, as well as the 'drone' chair umpire at the U.S. Open. Let's hope that there is more of a variety of chair umpires in the full version. The animations are extremely fluid, and crisp. The control that you have over your player is unmatchable for any tennis game. Having come of the overlays (stamina, shot timing etc.) is nice, and noninvasive.

I was never 'on the fence' about this game, I was always going to get it being the extreme tennis fan that I am. But, I have never felt more confident about purchasing this game. I can hardly keep my hands off of this demo. It would have been nice if you could have just clicked 'rematch' after the natch, instead of having to back out to the main menu, but it is not that big of a deal.

Assuming that this is a very fair representation of the full version, I cannot wait to pick up my copy!

# 7 josef @ 03/01/11 03:05 PM

Yeah, I play a lot of real life tennis (lol) and this is easily the best tennis game I've played. Couple quick things.. loved the clay court sliding, ease of hitting drop shots, player assist devices for learning, true to life player animations, crowd getting a little more exciting during longer rallys.. Day one purchase for me.

# 8 tinpanalley @ 03/01/11 05:21 PM

I had very low hopes when I saw the screenshots. Having played a few games with the demo, I am thrilled. I think the graphics, gameplay, presentation, sound, and ambiance are the best I've ever seen in any tennis game for any platform. Matched only by ATP World Tour Tennis a few years ago on the PC. It is not an arcade tennis game for people who want a quick match in 6 games. This is clearly aimed at players who want a more true to life, properly paced game. Tennis is one of the most horribly executed sports games in history. When it's just arcade fun, it's fun but not realistic at all. And it seems that lately, the more realistic a game tries to be, the worse it comes out. But this is something different. If you watch a lot of tennis, there is a feel captured in this game that no other tennis game I've ever played has achieved.

2K has done what I think makes any sports game instantly realistic and true to life: it recreates the experience of watching the sport on television. Watching a sport live and watching on television are two entirely different experiences. And the ambiance of most sports games suffers because of a slip-up in this area. They use TV style presentation and audio with camera angles that no on-field camera person could ever attain and with overly dramatized moments that simply never occur on television. For most of us, it's TV that reminds us of how a sport feels. Top Spin 4 seems to understand that thoroughly and then built a solid title on top of that frame.

Sad that people simply don't watch anything but the US Open with any level of interest in this country. And even then, only when an American is still in the tournament. I suspect this game will sell better in Europe.

# 9 Smallberries @ 03/01/11 06:29 PM

Time to go check out the demo.

My worry is that the the single player career mode will get really stale, just like in the previous versions. Those games were way too easy, even on the hardest skill difficulty, and after mastering the controls, I'd consistently beat Federer 0 and 0. Not fun nor realistic. TS3 lasted me about a week and I was done. If the dev doesn't up the difficulty and find ways to improve the drama of career mode, no thanks.

Also, the music in TS3 was some of the worst I've ever heard in a game. That was almost enough for me to trade it off right there. Ugh!

Sad to hear that there's no commentary.

Would have been nice to hear some quips from the cheesy Brad Gilbert and the witty Mary Curillo along with court analysis from the likes of Mac or Drysdale.

# 10 breakitdown @ 03/01/11 06:43 PM

Impressive! Can't wait to buy

# 11 Araxen @ 03/01/11 07:01 PM

Game is nice, but I question some of the roster choices. James Blake is included but guys/gals like Del Potro and Kim Clijsters are left off? Plus no commentary once again? /sigh

I'm unsure if I'm going to buy the game. I was really pumped for it but it's missing key players from the Tours.

# 12 42 @ 03/01/11 07:34 PM

PS3 Demo is now live.

# 13 tinpanalley @ 03/01/11 07:43 PM

Does the PS3 demo have Move capabilities?

# 14 nolesfan69 @ 03/01/11 07:49 PM

I loveeee the demo, played over and hour and although it was very short,
I saw enough to make this a day one buy. The ball physics are very
realistic, the graphics and presentation are also amazing. Tennis
anyone!!

# 15 DJ @ 03/01/11 07:58 PM

I enjoyed the Demo. The control scheme is a lot better than TS3, which I didn't like. I didn't like having to "pre-load" my groundstrokes, so it's nice to have it more timing-based and just press the button once.

Player models look really good and the crowd is lively, which adds to the atmosphere.

# 16 Tengo Juego @ 03/01/11 08:43 PM

Anyone have the soundtrack list? I got excited when I heard "Da Funk" when I booted up the demo.

# 17 jb1 @ 03/01/11 09:10 PM

Firstly I love tennis and have been looking forward to trying this game out hoping it would be the tennis game i've been waiting for but i'm just a bit concerned that once again the AI will not put up enough of a challenge to make this a game i'll play long term.

There are things I liked about the demo:
- Ball Physics (for the most part)
- Graphics
- Presentation
- Crowd atmosphere
- Controls (love serving with the right stick)
- The Nadal fist pump!!

My concerns:
- Game Difficulty (i'll get into that further down)
- Lack of Aces
- Not one missed return of serve
- Not enough unforced errors

My biggest concern is the difficulty of playing vs the AI. Normal difficulty looks a washout, I barely timed a ball properly and was hardly losing a point. Hard proved more of a challenge, the games were competitive but again it just felt a bit too easy when I had the timing right. I was getting punished for some badly timed shots which was good but once I was getting the timing right I was winning the majority of the points.

Of course we are playing with Fed and Rafa in the demo but my fear is that the Career mode will be too easy once I get the timing right and my player improves. The biggest factor in it being too easy for me is that it is too easy to return serve, I want to see my player sometimes return into the net, leave an easy mid court put-away, hit it way long and even the occasional frame into the crowd. I guess the developers feel that most gamers won't want to spend their time watching serves fly past them or have their well timed returns/shots still not always finding the court but it would really up the difficulty and add more longevity to the game (for me at least).

Another thing I find too easy is net play, I felt that all I had to do was hit the net and hit a button and my player would always find the court. I wouldn't always win the point but not once did I hit into the net or hit it wide or long.

Maybe stamina can play a part in this and as the game goes longer unforced errors will creep in but we will have to wait for the full game to find that out.

In saying all that it still feels like the best tennis game I've ever played and there are some things I really like from the demo (and the reports i've read) but on a personal level i'm not sure this game will be difficult enough to keep me interested long term.

As of right now, I think i'll probably wait for the reviews to come in from other gamers and although I will pick this game up at some point I'll probably wait for the price drop.

# 18 shaikio @ 03/01/11 10:16 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by tinpanalley


	Does the PS3 demo have Move capabilities?

Yes it does. It has a text and picture tutorial to teach you the basics of using the move. I played one game using it and it seems pretty fun so far.

# 19 at23steelers @ 03/01/11 11:04 PM

I love the presentation, the graphics, and the game play is phenomenal. It took me awhile to beat Federer on hard, but just defeated him 7-1. To make the game harder, just deactivate all the helps, when you press start during the match. Only thing I dislike about the demo, is their is no replay button, right after the match!!

# 20 ChaseB @ 03/02/11 12:16 AM

Hey jb1, on the bright side there are two more difficulty levels I believe -- a very hard level, and then a super hard level or whatever that unlocks if you meet certain requirements. When I played the game at a preview event, the developer on the game seemed to like the "very hard" level.

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