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I am going to start off by saying that this is my first tennis game. That means I will not have anything to compare it to, and that you should take this review with a grain of salt.
With that said, I think Top Spin 2 is a solid game. It utilizes the controller very well, with multiple amounts of hits you are able to do. There are quite a few modes, including Career, Tournament, Single Match, Online, and Party Games. The online portion works very well, with no lag noticeable. The animations are solid, with many different variations of hits and smacks. The sound is another story. You hear the same grunts a lot, and the music is rather repetitious.
If you are looking for a rental for the achievements, be ready to invest some time into them. They include winning 25 ranked online matches, playing 50, reaching the top in career, beating everybody in exhibition, and a few others. While you can easily go through the online ones with a friend, the Career mode ones will take you awhile. I have already invested about 10 hours into a career for two achievements, and I am only about ½ - 1/3 of the way done.
Some of the controls you have include hitting defensive, offensive, safely, and a lob. Even though all these options are available, you really only need to use the offensive shot. You can also make “Risk Shots” by holding down the Right Trigger, but these really don’t have that much of an impact to be using them, especially since the reward may not always be what you wanted.
Overall, if you have to have tennis next-gen… this seems to fill the gap. But it doesn’t seem to warrant a buy unless you are extremely passionate about these games. I would suggest Rockstar’s Table Tennis if you are a more casual player.