TopSpin has returned after well over a decade since TopSpin 4 came out two console generations ago in 2011. Hangar 13 has been tapped for development, under the 2K publishing arm. While there aren’t really any competing games in this space, TopSpin carries a certain gravitas as the cream of the simulation crop. The time has finally come to see if this is the return serve tennis fans the world over have been pining for, or if there’s just one fault too many in our TopSpin 2K25.

Hit the Court Running

TopSpin 2K25 drops you directly into a professional match. There’s not even a tutorial, perhaps in an effort to illustrate how intuitive the control scheme is. It’s a sped-up match, where you’re put into key moments of the match. It actually reminded me of MLB The Show’s Road to the Show. Suffice it to say, it was an impressive start. All of today’s best players, along with many classic legends, are available to play as, with many of their mannerisms as well.

Indeed, presentation-wise, TopSpin 2K25 ticks most of the boxes you’d expect in a tennis simulator. Courts are accurately captured, with a variety of materials to choose from based on their real-life counterparts. Character models for professional players are pretty good, although they do tend to venture into Uncanny Valley territory. You know pretty quickly who you’re looking at, but you can tell it’s not quite a 1:1 lookalike. This isn’t anything unique to TopSpin, either, but certainly it does show improvement compared to the last TopSpin game.

All sports games feature professional players, and TopSpin 2K25 delivers in this regard. For instance, the legendary John McEnroe features front and center in TopSpin 2K25’s tutorial area known as TopSpin Academy. Here, things start out simply enough with learning how to move and return the ball, but the advanced lessons have you switching sides to perform inside-out hits when the situation calls for it, to even more advanced lessons which teach when and how to use various play styles. Not all lessons are easy, either, with precise timing required, though at least you have unlimited tries to finish a level as Mr. McEnroe enourages you whether you succeed or fail at passing an objective.

Intuitive Controls

Control-wise, as the tutorial makes clear, TopSpin 2K25 is easy to pick up and play, but as with any sports game worth its entry fee, difficult to master. The face buttons perform shot types from basic returns to slices and lobs, while R2 performs the tricky but useful drop shot. As the player approaches the ball with the left stick, once they are withing hitting range the stick shifts automatically into aiming mode, which invisibly helps you to position your shot to influence the tennis ball’s trajectory. A timing bar floats above your player’s head at this time, and your goal is to tap the shot button when a moving cursor is in the green zone for a perfectly-executed shot, or close for a good shot. If you instead hold the shot button as the ball approaches, you can perform a power version of the shot you’ve selected. These are high-risk, high-reward versions of the shot type, and timing them right is often the key to winning a point.

You can’t just spam shots either, at least not on Normal difficulty or higher. Just like I wrote about during my preview of the game before, any time I found myself behind in a match, I simply needed to regroup, focus on my timing, and wait for the right moment to launch the right shot type for a given situation. Hitting a lob or drop shot and watching as my opponent  helplessly scrambled to the other side of the court, or simply stopped dead in their tracks as they had chosen the wrong way to run, was incredibly pleasing to pull off, and made me feel as if I somewhat understood just what the hell I was doing out there on the court. Keeping the staples of good tennis strategy in mind, such as returning to the baseline as quickly as possible, and paying attention to where my opponent was and what type of a hit they managed to send back in my direction became paramount, and it is a good challenge at Normal or higher, which with practice becomes manageable even on Hard or higher. No surprises here given TopSpin’s pedigree.

Grunts and Squeaks Galore

What was surprising on the PS5 version of TopSpin 2K25 was the inclusion of the DualSense controller speaker. It’s used to great effect to play the sound effects of your player’s sneakers squeaking on the court, the ball hitting the ground, racquets and/or the net, as well as your character’s grunts, which is a staple of tennis games. The audio is otherwise standard for the sports genre, featuring inoffensive music ranging from hip-hop and chill-hop to ambient tunes. Each court has a well-voiced PA announcer, and you can have them say your name if it is on the pre-set list of voiceover recordings. Outisde of that, though, there is no commentary during matches. While this feels like a rather large feature to be lacking in a sports title these days, it can somewhat be forgiven considering how long it has been since the last TopSpin game. Assuming 2K25 sells well enough, there is hope that at least some dynamic commentary can be added in the future.

The create a character mode known as MyCAREER has some familiar 2K-style progression, with the player tasked with bringing their custom character from being an unknown footnote to a legend who makes tennis history. This is accomplished by starting at the bottom rungs of the professional tennis world, and slowly working your way up. By hiring coaches and participating in various tournaments and special events, XP and VC (in-game currencty) can be earned. Leveling up awards you with attribute points to improve your character’s stats, such as serving, power, stamina, and more. While it’s nothing we haven’t seen before in a 2K sports game, it is nice to see if fairly comprehensively included in this franchise’s first entry in over a decade. Balancing energy needs with the grind needed to improve your ranking is rewarding, and the in-game podcast, while a little cringy from time to time, overall adds to the immersion of living the dream of coming up larger than life in the world of tennis.

Customization-wise, there is a good set of sliders to play with, but also a decent selection of preset character models if you don’t want to spend the time to craft a truly unique character. There are hundreds of different clothing options for both sexes, along with the surprising and awesome inclusion of a selection of prosthetic arms and legs to choose from. While you can purchase in-game currency, much like Dragon’s Dogma 2, it’s only to purchase things you can otherwise earn in the game, for those of you who are maybe working professionals or otherwise too busy to dedicate the time to grind out the free currency needed for the strictly cosmetic upgrades. It’s never in your face, either, so while microtransactions on a full-priced game is still par for the course, it’s at least not needed to enjoy the rest of the game.

Online Play Kind of an Unknown

There are of course online options, invluding custom tournaments and ranked matches, but naturally as the game has not yet released, the population of the servers was sparse except during a review-period slot 2K had set up to help get a feel for online. This will probably be the most varied experience many players will have with the game, owing to the unknown nature of competing against other human players, combined with network fluctuations, so your mileage may vary. There are seasonal challenges, though, which offer a more constistent experience.

TopSpin 2K25 is an excellent restart of a tenured franchise. While the graphics occasionally dip into Uncanny Valley territory, overall the presentation feels like developer Hangar 13 has paid attention to what makes for a great career mode, while balancing difficulty and accessibility to boot. What it lacks in game modes, it makes up for in game feel and challenge. If this is the start of another multi-year entries, then this bodes well for tennis fans as the series will no doubt be even more impressive in future iterations. If you count yourself amongst tennis fans, you owe it to yourself to check out TopSpin 2K25.

Score: 8/10

Pros:

• A great return to a storied franchise
• TopSpin Academy starts easy, and quickly ramps up to teach you things you can use
• MyCAREER features a nice balance of challenge and fun

Cons:

• Character models can approach Uncanny Valley territory
• No audio commentary outside of an in-game podcast and each court’s PA system
• Not a whole lot of game modes to choose from

TopSpin 2K25 review code was provided by the publisher. You can read MP1st’s review and scoring policy right here.