Top Spin 2 (DS)

CNET editors' rating: 1.0 stars Terrible
Detailed editors' rating
Overall score: 2.9 (1.0 stars)
• Average user rating:
  Write your own review

Product summary

Gamespot editors' review

• Reviewed by: Frank Provo
• Reviewed on: 04/12/2006
• Released on: 03/29/2006

Top Spin 2 for the Nintendo DS would keep most tennis fans satisfied for weeks, if only the herky-jerky graphics didn't render the game completely unplayable. The game's better aspects, such as its diverse player roster and deep shot system, aren't enough to compensate for a jumpy frame rate that makes it impossible to see and follow the ball.

Top Spin 2 puts real tennis pros, like Roger Federer and Maria Sharapova, under your control.

Roger Federer and Maria Sharapova headline a roster that includes 16 actual male and female tennis pros. Ten different court locations are available, including a few real-world venues from tournaments such as Wimbledon, the US Open, and the Australian Open. Exhibition play can be waged against the CPU or you can compete against a friend wirelessly using two DS systems and two game cards. The other single-player modes are tournament and career. Career mode is set up like the similar modes found in other tennis games, where players create their own custom tennis phenom and gradually upgrade their skills by playing minigames and participating in tournaments.

Similar to the game's console counterparts, the controls and shot system in the DS version are easy to learn and layered with depth. The directional pad is used to control player movement, while the system buttons are used to input the various shot types. The touch screen is used only to navigate menus and rotate the world map in the career mode. Each of six different shot types is keyed to its own button on the unit. At the touch of a button, you can compel your onscreen persona to serve or return a flat, topspin, slice, lob, smash, or drop shot. In most cases, during the split-second that your player is winding up for his or her shot, you can hold the button longer to make a more powerful shot and use the D pad to target the shot toward a specific spot on the court. Whether a swing is a forehand or a backhand depends on which hand your player holds the racket in and which direction his or her body is facing relative to the ball. Righties, for example, will perform a forehand shot when the ball is to their right and a backhand shot when the ball is to their left. Control response is generally very quick, although you do have to make sure to let up on the button when you actually want your player to swing the racket. All in all, the shot system is easy to get the hang of and provides a great deal of control over the speed, arc, and placement of shots.

Four minigames in the career mode let you master the nuances of the shot system while upgrading your custom player's skills. Serve Sniper challenges you to hit targets on the opposite side of the net. Inflatable Carnage tests your ability to pop inflated targets with power shots. Shot Sequence is a Simon-style game where you have to hit sections on the other side of the net in the order shown. The last minigame, Tic Tac Toe, is a tennis-themed variation of the classic pen-and-paper game. Although other tennis video games typically offer a larger selection of minigames, the relative lack of selection here isn't a major shortfall because each game is conceptualized so well.

See more CNET content tagged:

net,

Nintendo DS,

career,

tournament,

Take-Two Interactive Software Inc.

User reviews

Write your own review Be the first one to review Top Spin 2 (DS) and share your experience with the CNET community!

Where to buy

store	price	in stock?	rating
Amazon.com Marketplace	$19.98	Yes
Office World	$57.99	No
TheNerds.net	$53.99	Yes
Amazon.com	$19.25	Yes

see prices from 4 stores

Where to buy Top Spin 2 (DS)

• store price in stock
• Amazon.com Marketplace $19.98 Yes
• Office World $57.99 Yes
• TheNerds.net $53.99 Yes
• Amazon.com $19.25 Yes
• See all stores