At the peak of the genre of tennis simulation for video games, Top Spin and Virtua Tennis were the top players in the crowded room. However, in the time that has passed since the boom of the genre, the offers have decreased significantly, and both franchises have been without a new release for more than a decade. TopSpin 2K25 signals the resurgence of the critically acclaimed series, and although it’s been a while since it entered the square, it’s obvious that the franchise hasn’t lost the punch.
TopSpin 2K25 faithfully recreates the high-speed chess game of real tennis. Positioning, turning, timing and angle are crucial for your success. For those of you who are not familiar with these basic tenets of tennis, 2K25 does an excellent job of integrating players into the TopSpin Academy. It covers everything from where you should be standing to playing different styles. Even as someone who has played tennis for years in both real life and video games, I enjoyed going through the more advanced lessons to familiarize myself with the different strategies.
Once you are on the court, you will learn how important these tactics are. The margin of error is extremely low, since the difference between a baseline winner and a shot at the net on the new timepiece is usually a split second. This indicator ensures that you release the programmed stroke button when the ball is in the ideal stroke position relative to your player. Mastering this is important, because it will improve not only the accuracy of your shot, but also your strength.
TopSpin 2K25 is best when you are in persistent rallies against an equal opponent. If you pull out a strong serve to immediately put your opponent on the defensive, and then try to capitalize on his bad position while he struggles to get back to the point, this effectively captures the excitement of the real game. I also love how different each style of play feels in action; an rude baseline player like Serena Williams presents different challenges than a serve-and-volley like John McEnroe.
You can improve your skills in one-time exhibition games, but I spent most of my time in TopSpin 2K25 on MyCareer. Here you create your player, with whom you train and rise in rank. As you complete challenges and win games, you increase your status, which opens up new features such as upgradeable trainers, equipable skills, and purchasable houses to reduce endurance wear while traveling. Controlling your endurance by resting is sometimes important to maintain a game at a high level; if you try too hard, it may even cause your player to suffer injuries that will keep him out of action for months.
I loved most of the time at MyCareer, but some design decisions ruined the immersion. For example, I ignored parts of the professional goals that were needed to rank my player for hours, so while I was in the top 10 of the world ranking, I could not participate in a Grand Slam because I was still in a lower status than my ranking would normally confer. And since repetition is the path to the championship, it is not intuitive that repeated training mini-games provide less benefits, especially because the mode as a whole is a repetitive cycle of training, special events and tournaments. In addition, My career highlights the shallow pool of licensed players. Most of my matches were against created characters, even hours deep. 2K promised free licensed professionals in the post-launch phase, but at the moment the game is not found some key players.
I am pleasantly surprised at how discreet the use of VC is. In the NBA 2K series, venture capital that can be earned slowly or purchased with real money is used to directly improve your player. In TopSpin 2K25, it is mainly used for secondary upgrades, such as leveling up your trainer, moving your house, getting XP boosts, resetting the distribution of your attributes, or buying cosmetics. Although I’m still not a fan of microtransactions that affect the single player mode, especially since it’s almost certainly the reason why you need to be online to play My Career, it’s much tastier than its NBA contemporary.
If you prefer to play against real opponents, you can show off your skills (and the created character) in various online modes. With the World Tour, your created player will compete against other players around the world in various tournaments and ranked challenges, while the 2K Tour uses the list of licensed players with daily challenges. Apart from the little connection difficulties, I had a nice time to face the challenges of other online players. However, the structure of the world tour means that mismatches occur despite the best efforts of the game; it’s not fun to play against a character who is several levels higher than you. Fortunately, in my experience, these mismatches were the outliers.
TopSpin 2K25 aptly brings the popular franchise back to the center court and proves that not only the series still has legs, but also the sim tennis genre as a whole. Although the modes are somewhat repetitive and several top-class professionals are not found at the start, TopSpin 2K25 offers an attractive package for tennis fans.
