Audio
That lovely sound of a ball being thwacked is spot on, while all of the groans and screams of exertion are present and correct. Crowd noises and umpire chatter is great, too, while John McEnroe's contribution in the TopSpin Academy is very good indeed, and the soundtrack is suitably energetic.
Visuals
TopSpin 2K25 is by no means a bad-looking game, but some of its player likenesses aren't that great. For every good likeness, like Federer, Agassi, or Serena Williams, there's a dodgy one, like Murray, McEnroe, and Maria Sharapova. Courts look nice, though.
Playability
It's been thirteen years since Top Spin 4, but TopSpin 2K25 delivers a similarly superb game of tennis. Developer Hangar 13 choosing to keep the 2011 entry as a starting point to work from has worked out well – there's very little to baulk at here, where gameplay is concerned.
Delivery
Simple Exhibition matches will be enough for some players, but anyone hoping for a compelling MyCareer or a few bonuses, like mini-games and such, might feel a little shortchanged. There are plenty of online options, however, although you'll have to wait to play online with friends - that's coming via a post-launch update.
Achievements
A perfectly solid list that spans every one of TopSpin 2K25's modes. A lot of achievements cover MyCareer milestones, while others have you spending VC in the Pro Shop. Thankfully, there are plenty of ways to earn VC in-game.
April 22, 2024
Top Spin 4 was a fine tennis game. Perhaps one of the best ever made. TopSpin 2K25 developer Hangar 13 knows this, so has, for the first entry in the series since 2011, decided to take that game as a starting point. It makes a lot of sense – Top Spin 4 was the series' most welcoming and refined rendition of tennis, so why not take that particular fuzzy little yellow ball and run with it? It perhaps goes without saying, then, that TopSpin 2K25 gives a good game of tennis, delivering intuitive on-court action with oodles of depth and more than ample scope to hone your burgeoning skills. And tennis legend John McEnroe is also on hand to help. What more could you ask for?
Well, some better player likenesses, for one. TopSpin 2K25 opens with a match between Roger Federer and Andy Murray – the former is immediately recognisable, but the latter is not. You play as Federer, and I wasn't entirely sure who I was playing until the names appeared on the scoreboard. Criminally, McEnroe, despite lending his voice to the game's tutorials, is another player given short shrift when it comes to an authentic digital likeness. He looks like a dodgy custom player with a headband, big hair, and short shorts. Some likenesses are good enough, while others just don't cut it. Of course, when you're on the court and playing a match, this doesn't matter all that much, but you'd have thought that thirteen years on from Top Spin 4, we'd be getting pixel-perfect faces.
Poor old McEnroe deserves a better likeness, given how much energy he injects into the lessons provided in the TopSpin Academy. Sensible players would do well to visit the tutorials and listen to the sage advice of the racket-chucking tennis great – there's a lot more to TopSpin than meets the eye, although the presence of timing and power meters helps in getting to grips with how a rally plays out. The basic idea is to execute ground shot returns just as the ball meets the strings of your racket, while volleys require different timing, demanding a tap of the button while the ball is still in the air. Initially, TopSpin's rhythm can be tricky to master, but the Academy is an invaluable tool in nailing it down.
Basic ground 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.
Outside of MyCareer, there's the standard local Exhibition matches, supporting solo play against AI (or with AI, if you're playing doubles), but the rest is online fare, covering World Tour matches with your MyPlayer, or the 2K Tour with licensed players. Bizarrely, the ability to play an online match against friends hasn't made it at launch, but will be added in a post-release patch. Why such a fundamental feature isn't present in the game on day one, is beyond us. Players like Novak Djokovic are also absent among the roster of 25 pros, though he may be among the players set to be added for free at a later date. Still, there's plenty here to be getting on with until then, and there's little to criticise when it comes to the key elements of TopSpin 2K25 – the nuts and bolts that make for a consistently entertaining game of tennis.