Top Spin 2

Three sad numbers: 11, 46 and 58. These are the current world rankings of the currently best German tennis players Tommy Haas, Nicolas Kiefer and Philip Kohlschreiber. Black times for white sport, if it weren't for a new brilliant talent who has the best chance of conquering the top position in the world rankings as the third German after Steffi Graf and Boris Becker: you!

Because the tennis simulation Top Spin 2 has a powerful player editor with which you can create a virtual image of yourself in no time at all. On the other hand, the motivating career mode is guaranteed not to let you rest until you have replaced Roger Federer as the best tennis player in the world.

Tennis roleplaying game

At the beginning of your career, your male or female self-made player is still far from being able to compete with Federer. Because while the exceptional Swiss competitor is contesting the Australian Open, you earn your first world ranking points in an insignificant regional tournament. After all, you are only in 200th place in the ranking and only the 60 best players in the world are allowed to qualify for a Grand Slam tournament. To get there, you need one thing above all: exercise. In funny mini-games you tear down cardboard walls, drive bowling balls against pins or place serves in given corners of the playing field. As a reward, there are talent stars, which you distribute to eleven character values such as forehand, power, precision and reflexes like in a role-playing game. With all the training enthusiasm, however, you can never maximize all values, which constantly confronts you with tricky and exciting decisions: Should I invest in speed and endurance and cultivate a baseline runabout like that? Or do I mainly improve my serve and reflexes and commit myself to an uncompromising "serve & volley" game?

What does the world cost?

You earn money for the training units on the one hand with good tournament results, on the other hand with advertising contracts. Sponsors such as Adidas, Nike or Lacoste not only provide you with clothes, but also lure you with special bonuses if you perform certain tennis tasks, for example defeating a contractual partner of the rival company.

So motivated you work your way up the world rankings bit by bit. At first you play against fantasy opponents in backyards, soon travel to major tournaments in Rome and Dallas and finally stand on the faithfully recreated Center Courts of the four Grand Slam tournaments in Melbourne, Paris, Wimbledon and New York. And then at the latest you will also meet the 24 licensed tennis stars from Top Spin 2: Roger Federer, Maria Sharapova and colleagues not only resemble their real role model in an astonishingly clear manner, but also in the way they play. While Andy Roddick prefers to storm the net after serving, Leyton Hewitt relies entirely on the tough returns of his strong two-handed backhand.

Pro evolution tennis

It's good that Top Spin 2 has the right punch answer ready for every action of the clever AI opponents: The repertoire includes every little tennis subtleties from drop praise to longline passing to volleyball stopball. The position of your player, the time for the stroke and a good dose of timing determine whether the ball lands in the field, net or out. An enormous number of sources of error and thus also sources of frustration for tennis newbies, especially since you are not allowed to select the helpful stroke tutorials separately. Instead, in career mode, you have to wait until your coach is comfortable to help you.

Tennis fans and connoisseurs of the predecessor, on the other hand, are happy about the amazingly credible rallies and the realistic effects of the floor covering. The felt ball jumps much higher on sand than it does on grass and tends to roll over the edge of the net even after a crashed stop ball. Despite such luck factors, thanks to the precise controls, you always have the feeling that skill and tactics alone decide - provided you have a good gamepad. Because Top Spin 2 also enables player control via mouse and keyboard, the extremely sensitive mouse query makes placed hits almost impossible.

Two, one, risk

Successful strokes in Top Spin 2 not only increase your feeling of happiness, but also your playing opportunities. Successful actions increase a momentum bar display, and when this reaches a certain value, you can fall back on the new "advanced strokes": The counter hit saves you from hard first serves or hit balls and costs little momentum, while the topspin passing ball almost the entire one Empties the bar, but almost certainly gets the point if the timing is right. Clever motivational trick: You can learn the advanced strokes in career mode from the tennis stars - but only if you have been able to defeat them in a training match beforehand. (HK)

You can read the complete test in GameStar issue 02/2007.