Top Spin 2 has to be one of the most frustrating games ever created, but after giving it some time, there is some enjoym
At first, the AI seems almost unbeatable, and aiming your shots is extremely difficult. It takes many frustrating losses before you get a win, but once you start getting used to the feel of the game, there is a fair amount of enjoyment in it. Career Mode starts you off as an unknown Rookie, and you must train, hone your skills, and win tournaments in order to advance in the world rankings. Becuase you start out with a low ranking, very little money, and not much sponsor support, the beginning of the game is the most difficult part. After going through some interesting training mini-games, you are ready to compete.
While on the court, winning is mostly about getting in position and hitting the ball away from your oponent, and shot selection isn't very important. Each of the four face buttons performs a different type of shot, such as a "slice shot" or a "lob." The AI oponents are fairly predictable, and once you begin to understand how the gameplay work, it becomes extremely easy to win. A little too easy, actually. As painfully frustrating and difficult this game seems to a new player, after several hours of experience, all challenge in the game seems to disappear. This gives it a rather short lifespan, and saps some of the enjoyment out of it. After you complete your first career, which can be done in a matter of hours, the game becomes boring, and you find yourself constantly dominating the AI without even really trying. Online multiplayer helps this problem a bit, however.
Multiplayer is fairly basic, and pretty much the samw as single player, except your oponents online will be smarter than the computer-controlled player you meet in career mode. Another problem that is thankfully not a factor in multiplayer is the come-from-behind victories that are a very frustrating part of career mode. Just when you're one point away from victory, your AI oponent will suddenly turn into Superman, and catch up almost instantly. While this frustrating problem occurrs in many sports games, it is painfully frequent in Top Spin.
The only thing about this game that is blaintly horrible is the sound. Terrible voice-overs and cheesy announcers are so terrible that I had my TV muted most of the time while I was playing. Music selection is absolutely horrendous, as the same three of four awful songs play over and over in the menu screens. Graphics are good, but noting special. While the character models look pretty in the cutscenes, the "victory dances" that the players perform inbetween points are so incredible cheesy and annoying that words can hardly describe them.
All-in-all, Top Spin 2 has fairly good gameplay, but terrible sound and rather plain graphics/textures subtract quite a bit from this game. Top Spin 2 is good for tennis fans, but it won't do much for anyone else.