Review: Top Spin 3

2K Sports is fond of the Top Spin series. Fond enough that they seemed to scrap it and and develop it all over again and did a really nice job with it making it a lot of fun. No, not the most realistic piece of work we've ever seen but still a load of fun.

Now you can't just jump in and play the game without some preparation first. This is not like most other tennis titles...no...this is Top Spin 3. You have to start out Top Spin 3 with practice. And more practice. But trust me when I say that Top Spin 3 will like you more for the practice you start out with. You will learn about the timing and positioning that is so important in this title.

You seen the better you are positioned, and the better your timing is, the more power you will have on the ball and the better your angle will be on your play. So as the ball comes toward you, you will need to hold down the groundstroke button and move toward the ball and then release the button timing your swing as the ball just starts rising up. The longer that you hold the button down, the more power you have. But keep practicing because it takes time to get it just right.

It's similar with the serving system. You will need to time your serve well by releasing the button as the ball reaches its apex and then you use the right stick to give the ball a little action. This will allow you place the ball more to the right or left as you wish, or maybe you want to take a little off the serve. The longer that you hold the direction, the further the ball will go in that direction so don't hold it too long or you'll hear that all too familiar, "OUT!"

The basic game play is played by using the buttons and with the Wii, combined with the swing. Again timing is the key and keep moving with the ball. We seemed to get some really nice volleys going only to forget to move in on the ball because someone was paying attention to the beauty of the arena rather than moving the stick.

And that leads me to the visuals which we thought were quite impressive. There are a number of different stadiums and a variety of surfaces to play on. The physics of each of the surfaces seemed to act completely different for that surface. With excellent player models and great animations, robust player creation, it really brought a nice dimension to the game.

There are also some pretty decent game modes in Top Spin 3. You seem to get the most game for your buck in Tournament Mode playing one of the pros. Though playing one of your own player through Career Mode is also a lot of fun. But playing your player through the early stages of Career Mode can be a little laborious as you work to build his or her stats and help them make the jump from that early amateur career into a pro. Later in your career, your player has a great deal more punch in their shots, and the difference in play is like night and day. You even move differently later in your career versus in your early career. But it doesn't take too very long to level up your player.

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The online game play is a great add on, and doesn't feel like a last minute afterthought as some online play does. The World Tour Mode is quite a challenge that does a great job of matching players up. Every 15 days, a new champion is crowned based on a tournament system. It seems to be a very cool system, at least the concept works well.

For the most part, Top Spin 3 is a very refreshing tennis game that we found to be a great deal of fun. It is not the most realistic tennis simulation on the market, but I think we found the fun in this title. Out of all of the published versions, We did find the Wii version the most fun mostly because of the action involved but the PS3 looked mostly the best though most on the staff especially Capt. Maverick would say that the 360 version looked just as good. Even the DS version was a lot of fun if you want to take your tennis with you. Overall we have to recommend Top Spin 3 to anyone who enjoys a good round of tennis, or just enjoys a game where love is involved.

Score: 8.0 (out of 10)

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