To be completely transparent with you, we have difficulty realizing this. And yet, that’s it, here we are! Top Spin 2K25 is coming very soon. Thirteen long years waiting for the return of the best tennis game in history, let’s not be afraid of words. 2K Games will finally bring back this license so requested by fans of the little yellow ball. And the icing on the cake, we won’t have to wait long since it’s on April 26 (the 23rd for early access) that the game will arrive on PC, PS5, Xbox Series, PS4 and Xbox One ! Yes, you are not dreaming: in just 1 month and 2 weeks, Top Spin 2K25 will be available. We are almost on a shadowdrop from 2K who gives us this nice surprise. Moreover, we had the opportunity to test the game for a whole afternoon during a European event which took place in Paris last week. The opportunity to rediscover sensations that Laurely and I thought were lost forever, but it only took a few exchanges of bullets to remind us that the king may be back!
April 26, 2024 is therefore the release date of Top Spin 2K25, just 4 months after its official announcement which took place mid-January. We could worry and wonder what pushes 2K Games to release its game so hastily, when it has been 13 years since the license was left for dead, but the reason is very simple. Not only are 2K Games and studio Hangar 13 eager to make up for the 13 years of waiting, but simply because Top Spin 2K25 is ready. The game is over. And yes ! There’s still some tweaking to be done here and there, but the version we played is a near-final build. And it’s not me who says it, but Remi Ercolani, the game director of the game, who is French and who worked on the games Top Spin 2, Top Spin 3 and of course Top Spin 4. Since the 2K studio Czech was swallowed up by Hangar 13 in 2017, the man settled in California where he worked on all of the studios’ projects, then inheriting the Top Spin 2K25 project 2 and a half years ago.
The development of the game started in mid-2021 with Rémi Ercolani as conductor and it couldn’t be any other way. Not only because he worked on the entire saga, but also because he is the last surviving member of the PAM studio, the original developers of Top Spin, from the time when they were still based in Vincennes, in the suburbs. Parisian. But let’s get back to the heart of Top Spin 2K25 and tackle its gameplay if you like, because that’s obviously the question everyone is asking at this very moment. Is it as thin and deep as that of Top Spin 4? Rest assured, Remi Ercolani and the Hangar 13 team deliver gameplay of incredible finesse and precision, in the same vein as that of Top Spin 4, but with changes and some improvements. And even before Laurely and I had the DualSense in our hands, just the fact of seeing the game running during the presentation of the game by Hangar 13 already allowed us to know that we were going to rediscover the sensations of yesteryear. And it was no mistake, as soon as we found ourselves on the field, in-game, we understood that we were dealing with the worthy successor to Top Spin 4. In any case, that was the goal of the developers: take the game system of Top Spin 4 by improving it, changing certain aspects to allow it to improve and go even further in the simulation.
THE ONE AND ONLY
It’s still crazy to think that 13 years after Top Spin 4, no one has been able to offer us a good tennis game, a really good simulation I mean. Tennis World Tour, AO Tennis, Matchpoint Tennis, just failed games, which failed to capture the very essence of what a tennis simulation should be. However, there are basic elements to integrate into a tennis simulation such as timing, player placement and force of the shot. If you haven’t understood that the gameplay of a tennis game is based on these three pillars, then there is little chance that it will be good. Well, unless we decide to go for an arcade game, something more crazy and which therefore has nothing to do with a simulation. In Top Spin 2K25, we will therefore find the balance between these 3 major axes in the gameplay, and as in the previous Top Spin 4, the player can choose to hit the ball either with a powerful blow, or with a precise blow which materializes on the screen for the latter with this target symbol which appears surreptitiously.
To perform this immediate shot, all you need to do is briefly press a button, whether it’s a slice, a lift or a lob, while powerful shots require you to hold a button and then release at the right time. The only difference with Top Spin 4 is that you now have to deal with a charge gauge which allows you to better control your strikes. Also, just before hitting the ball, you can see a bar appear above the player which you will have to manage. It is during this moment that you must hold your keystroke and release the button when the cursor reaches the small green zone, allowing you to achieve the perfect shot. Of course, the better the timing, the more powerful the blow will be, knowing that it must also be given the right angle to deceive the opponent. Obviously, as usual, purists can deactivate the visual aids for even more immersion. Otherwise, in order to give more authenticity to the exchanges, the developers have decided to integrate several factors which will make the game more realistic, by favoring both winning moves and errors which will also be more frequent. In this way, matches between two very good players of the same level will no longer drag on, as was the case in Top Spin 4, knowing that the fatigue gauge is still relevant and that depending on the athlete/player sport you choose, you will make more unforced errors than others.
PACE & FLUID
In any case, we have to face the facts, as was the case in 2011, not all players are equal in Top Spin 2K25 and we have experienced this with players like Federer, Alcaraz or again Serena Williams, who can seem cheated, especially compared to the other players on the circuit. But hey, it’s all a question of learning and it’s not because a player hits harder from the baseline that we will emerge victorious from all the exchanges. The fact remains that players have personalized statistics and abilities, which vary according to their performance and their style of play. Moreover, when selecting players, it is possible to have an overview of the attributes of each sporty/sporty. Typically, Frances Tiafoe will benefit from increasingly effective topspin shots as he advances in a rally, while Federer can perform more precise passing shots when the opponent goes to the net. Likewise, Alcaraz can gain the ability to make more effective drop shots, just as McEnroe is considered a volley artist. And obviously, these kinds of abilities that distinguish each player will obviously be implemented in MyCareer mode and therefore in the avatar that we will create and evolve.
As I anticipated in my January video, 2K Games has adopted the principle of the single-player mode from its other sports games, and in particular that of NBA 2K. We are going to create our own tennis player or women and have him perform on the ATP circuit. It is also strongly recommended to launch the Top Spin Academy mode, which allows you to learn the basics and subtleties of the gameplay, whether you are a complete novice or a regular at Top Spin 4, because there are real changes in certain aspects, notably the service which has been completely redesigned. With the help of John McEnroe as coach, we will therefore take a series of lessons to understand positioning, timing, baseline play, getting to the net, etc. etc. There are a total of 31 lessons and I highly recommend doing it to start with a good foundation.
2nd SERVICE
Concerning the service and the changes made, know that if it is still done with precision or power, it is above all its aim which has been reworked in Top Spin 2K25. Now it is necessary to gauge the direction by holding the left stick in the precise direction to be sure to throw the ball into the desired part of the square. With this game change in the service, we noticed that the D-Pad has been disabled in the game, which means that all the people who used to play with the D-Pad instead of the analog stick may be disrupted . This was my case, I reported it to Rémi Ercolani who told me that he was going to talk about it with the development team to find out if they were going to reinstate the option. But given that the service cannot be done solely via the analog stick, nothing is gained.
I can continue to detail the gameplay and its subtleties, but we will still wait until the game is released next April to go further in the analysis. All I can assure you is that this Top Spin 2K25 does not disappoint, its gameplay is so fluid, natural and deep that it already promises months and months of incessant play. You will be transported, even galvanized by these incredible exchanges where only the mind game can take over once you know the game inside out. An afternoon on the game and already the emotions were strong, whether you are on the field with controller in hand or a simple spectator, it’s a blessing, especially since visually, the game has become more refined. Well, we’re not on a next gen rendering in terms of graphics yet though. The game is very nice as a whole, the different courts are very beautiful, with the addition of the choice of three times during the day which can change the atmosphere of a match, and it is in the modeling where this Top Spin 2K25 gives the feeling of being a previous generation game.
GRAPHICALLY NOT NEXT GEN’
The public is much more convincing than 13 years ago and fortunately, but the room for improvement remains significant. Just like the modeling of sportsmen and women which is quite uneven. As much as Federer, Serena Williams, Agassi and Alcaraz, it’s very correct, as much for Tiafo, Raducanu or McEnroe, it’s still a little offensive. But hey, that was the price to pay to bring Top Spin back in 2024, to avoid spending too much so as not to take too many financial risks. I’ve already said it, but making a tennis game is very expensive, especially when you have to pay for the stars of the little yellow ball, not to mention the official licenses as well. Hangar 13 told us that Federer came to them to do motion capture to benefit from all these clean movements, and from this point of view, we will also find all the signature moves of every sportsman and sportswoman. So not everyone did motion capture like Federer, but Hangar 13 called on semi-pro players to imitate each movement to make it as realistic as possible in the game.
We don’t yet know the full roster, but of the players who were available during our demo, there was Roger Federer, Venus Williams, the two will also be on the cover of the game, Carlos Alcaraz, Ira Swiatek, Frances Tiafo, Emma Raducanu, Coco Gauff and among the legends there were McEnroe, Agassi and Steffi Graff. Will Nadal and Djoko be in the game? At this stage I don’t know. I asked the question, 2K Games like Hangar 13 kicked in, also to be able to reveal the roster as the campaign progresses between now and the release of the game. Likewise, in terms of terrain, we know that there will be 48 in total, and we can confirm Roland Garros, Wimbledon, Australian Open, US Open, Indian Wells and many others that I don’t have the right to reveal yourself at this stage.
