Recession Gamer
Top Spin 2 (on Direct2Drive for $9.99)
vs.
Virtua Tennis 2009 (same site for $29.99)
Is the new Virtua Tennis 2009 really $20 better than Top Spin 2?
There’s a recession on, in case you’re lucky enough not to have noticed. Lots of us have had to cut back in some of the more superfluous areas of our budgets. While we would love to be able to go out and get the newest and most expensive games, sometimes picking up an older title can be just as satisfying, if not more. In this first installment of Recession Gamer, I will look at two tennis games for the PC, Top Spin 2 by Aspyr and Virtua Tennis 2009 by Sega.
Both games offers campaign-like Career Mode, but the character progression in Top Spin 2 plays more like a classic RPG than a sports game. Your highly customizable avatar will increase each of their eleven skills through training with your coach of choice, or through placing well in tournaments. It must be said that Virtua Tennis does this, and did this first. But the Virtua Tennis franchise, with its roots in the arcade, does not have the depth of character advancement that Top Spin 2 boasts. The training in both games is done through mini-games (another Virtua Tennis original). Virtua Tennis gets the advantage when it comes to the mini-games, which have always been the strength of the series. Both games feature events on a schedule that pit you against real tennis pros, and all the superstars you would expect.
What sets Top Spin 2 apart is the most important part of any sports game – the actual gameplay. Top Spin 2 just seems to get a greater variety of shots out of the same controller, with shots ranging from a simple return that is guaranteed to fall inbounds, to slightly riskier top spin, lob, and cross-court returns, to high-risk power shots. These high-risk shots require the player not only to get their character in position to hit the ball, but also to max out the PC sports game’s ever-present friend, the power bar. Improve your focus skill to make these shots easier to pull off in a game. Particularly at the beginning of the game, these are best avoided, but if you level your character up with a concentration on focus and accuracy, you will find more places to mix in one of these devastating shots.
Virtua Tennis 2009′s controls still feel like you are playing an arcade game – not as much depth or sense of danger around tricky shots. In the early games I felt like I was only scoring when my opponent would fall down inexplicably. The controls are also much more forgiving, which adds to the casual arcade style. Top Spin 2 allows you to overrun (and even run into) the ball very easily, making you wish that the game would do what you want it to do as oppposed to what you actually told it to do. I made my character similar to how I play tennis in real life. I gained as many points as seemed reasonable in footspeed, ignoring some of the more important skills, say, backhand and power. I figured that having a lot of speed would be a good way to cover up some other parts of my play, but I found myself overrunning or running into my opponents’ returns.
Another important distinction is the length of a match. You can finish a tournament in Virtua Tennis 2009 in about the time it might take you to finish a single game in Top Spin 2. Rallies last longer in Top Spin 2 while you try to read your opponent and time your riskier shots for best effect, while I felt like I could do no wrong in Virtua Tennis, which killed the inherent tension in tennis. The depth comes in a console/arcade system of unlockable trophies that you can add to your collection upon completing various tasks in-game.
When it comes to graphics, Virtua Tennis 2009 wins hands-down. The visuals are beautiful, the courts are very well detailed, and the graphical presentation mirrors a television broadcast. Top Spin, however, features graphics that are more immersive. You start as a fledgeling tennis player and play on courts with animals running across them, or with a Mariachi band serenading you as you play a minor tournament at a Mexican resort.
One of the curious decisions in the graphical development of Top Spin 2 is that instead of replaying the previous point, the camera will instead focus in on one of the characters and gives the player an opportunity to either gloat after a winning point or fume after a missed shot. This is fun for about a game and a half, and replays would have been more welcome. Also, Virtua Tennis 2009 keeps the view behind your character, whereas Top Spin 2 seems to have no problem exiling you to the top of the screen where it can be more difficult to judge shots with the perspective changed. It also offers an over-the-shoulder camera option which is quickly dizzying. An option to always keep the iosmetric camera behind you would be a welcome addition to the next version.
While preparing for this review, I found myself being pulled to play Top Spin 2 much more often than Virtua Tennis 2009. Part of it is the gaming concept I like to call “missing time”. I would play Virtua Tennis 2009 until I felt like I was done with it, but after a session of Top Spin 2, I had no idea where so much time went. It seems like this would be a matter of preferences. Virtua Tennis cannot be beaten when it comes to button-mashing arcade action if you are looking to fill an hour of gameplay, but if you are a fan of strategic tennis where every decision you make impacts the match, save twenty dollars and pick up Top Spin 2.
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