IMPRESSIONS

[DMG100]

Analog serving sucks! I can time it well with Fed and Nadal, but not Serena or Ana.

[JJ_DUBZ_87]

Gee, that sucks... so pretty much button serving is obsolete in this game??? And you can't play well using the D-pad?



Imma need to practice a LOT

[Yappadappadu]

Did you still use the D pad in TS 3? I think the last game where I used it was TS 2, though I switched to analogue half way I think.

Anyways, as others already said, Federer looks a lot better here than in TS 3.
I like those extra stats, e.g. " the longest rally of the match so far" with the amount of strokes, that sometimes pop up in the lower right corner of the screen.

[Sherlock 117]

So at first I was like "meh", and then I was like "hmmmm", and then I looked at the time 2 hours later and I was like "Oh yeah"!

I am really looking forward to this.

Seems like the movement has been improved, the starting on the movement to the sharp angle balls can be clunky. I have a similar concern about the lack of unforced errors, though I was happy to see a lot of different forced errors.

Here's to hoping I can play S&V on the tour!

[djarvik]

My impressions after 1 hour of play:

- Lack of unforced errors
Right now, this is the biggest issue for me. No other issues even come close. The game otherwise moves and plays beautifully. Good pace and energy, time-killer! 1 hour flew by like 5 minutes!

- Ball placement
Too many short balls. The court almost seems "shorter" then normal. Especially on the flat shots.

- Slice
I see no problem with slices at all. Sure, some slices seem a bit too sharp, but I was able to run down a all of them and put something on the ball. And no matter how hard I tried to execute a short slice - it was coming back to me with interest. Sure, when you pushed the guy 20 feet of the court it works, but not cheesy. The controls are identical to TS3, so no time needed to make that determination. Slices are fine.

- Momentum
I think 1 tie break is simply not enough. I tried to stretch the tie break, on purpose, and when I did, somehow my shots got closer to lines. It almost seems like the set starts relatively safe, and then players start to "hit out" and come into their own. I hit a few nice on the line shots with Federer.

- Timing and position matter more
While it doesn't generate errors now, positioning and how long you charge makes a whole lot of difference of how close to the line your shots are. I think the key to release is:
1. For on the line shots - do not fill the meter to a red dot! fill it exactly half way. This gives you both benefits of a precise shot and pace. These are the easiest to miss too.
2. Fill in the circle for powerful shots, that are rather safe. not close to the line. Th earlier you fill the circle, the more power you will get and the less direction you will get. This concept gets canceled when you have a weak shot to put away.
3. Tap for precision. By taping AND flicking directions hard at the same time, you can generate a rather powerful precise shots. Taping and holding direction will result in a softer shot.


Overall - I Like the game a lot. If the full version have the UE, we got ourselves a winner!

I will test out the net game tomorrow. From a few times I have been there, it seems very natural and rather easy. Maybe too easy.

Serving was easy, but directing balls for aces was not. Serena was the only one that I played with and manged to string 3 aces in a raw, you can really feel the serve stat difference now.

AI on hard sucks After a few rather close sets, I was basically bageling him.

[Cro Morgan]

Dissect this game all you want - in comparing it to real tennis - but the fun-factor potential is off the charts. That's what excites me the most.

[Hawkeye Miihawk]

@ Sherlock 117

My expressions exactly. Once you get used to it, you really start to see the possiblities of what can happen between 2 good players of different styles.

@ djarvik

Vs human competition, you won't get that many unforced errors either, but you'll get a lot of forced. The amount of guess work, and action a human puts on the ball...it really makes it fun to play. You'll obviously make a lot more unforced errors with a human though. When your stamina gets low and they hit that funky ball even when your timing is perfect you'll just miss. Happened to me quite often even on federer's fh.

They purposely left didn't activate the rematch button, lol 2K.

Even with my short time with TS3 I too could tell the that timing, power, and placement mattered more in 4. I also noticed that the half power shots were closer to the line as well. I didn't know that flicking and tapping did that. I always tapped and held the button. Thanks I'll try that tomorrow.

lol, yeah i remember when Sinna?? said serena had the best serve in the demo. I was like, "impossible". I picked her and clearly noticed the difference in how fast her serves look (although they were slower than nadal/fed), accuracy, and precision that the others don't have. Big servers/s&vers are going to be scary .

@ Cro Morgan

That's the best part. Not only is it looking promising, it's also really fun. To think that my brother who hated TS3 actually enjoyed playing this with me and said "We should play again later", was actually quite shocking.



Also, is it just me or are federer's inside out forehands more precise than his regular forehands? It's so easy to hit the lines and dictate with them. I just noticed that he has the skill "Inside out Master", so I'm guessing that's why.

[dahltennis]

I'm just curious as to why everyone seems to think a game where people miss a realistic amount would be fun?! Pros are crazy good obviously, but if I played a video game with that many unforced errors...would be no fun at all. I absolutely LOVE this game. Volleys are perfect, and can finally be used to end points! Movement is great, though I'm still skeptical about wrong-footing opponents. I've tried many times and they always seem to just stay there and easily anticipate it. The serve is a slight issue for me but I know for sure the ts4 school will fix that in no time My new favorite thing is easily though how important stamina can be, especially on clay (which is significantly different that hard court woohoo) I was playing Serena on clay with Ivanovic and we had a very long rally where she was at the net and I ran down probably 4 lunging shots back, then finally lobbed her, but she couldn't catch up to the ball due to her fatigue, and at that moment, I fell in love <3 haha can't wait for the 15th!!! Only thing I'm worried about is playing, using Serena, it seems power playing is very dominant again... :/ though I'm still hopeful the serve volleyers offer a challenge

[Mack2300]

One thing I've really been liking is how the movement seems to work now. It does feel quite heavy at first compared to the "floating on air" movement of ts3, but speed is a stat and so it should be a little difficult depending on the speed rating you have of course. Anticipation is really key now as if you get wrongfooted, it is incredibly difficult to recover. Always thought ts3 was a little too forgiving on the movement front with allowing you to change direction very easily, even with a low speed stat.

[AndyMurray ITST]

i love this game already. The 3 things for me that have improved so much are
1. the wrong footing shot. Ive been wrong footed by the computer in the demo, so it shows how important movement is. I play tennis 4 times a week and know how difficult points can be if your feet are planted correctly and your anticipation is off. This is the first tennis game where i constantly feel the need to return to the centre of the court after each shot. This is exactly what you should do.

2. The other great thing is the heaviness and weight of shot. On ts3 it I never really felt connected to the floor or ball. Now 2k have really improved the game in this area. shots feel weighty and the momentum is great allowing for really unpredictable rallies

3. The ability to turn a rally around. In ts3 if a player hit a good shot in a rally, I always found it was the beginning of the end of the rally. They would most likely win it after 4 or 5 more shots. This meant that it was harder to turn defense into attack. Now i feel in ts4 that even if you are in a poor position you can get out of it, only if you hit that perfect shot at the right time, and you are back in the point, and can try to dictate. this allows for dictating to switch from player to player. This s why i believe the online will be brutal!
Cant wait to start the tour!

[o Sinna o]

I bet there is something wrong with AI from the german Version of the Demo.

I mean you Guys speaking as it would be the easiest thing to beat Nadal on hard with Fed but I already played Tennisgames as some of you still shitted in their Nappies and I lose more than I win.
The AI acts smarter than some humans in my Demo Version.

[tenjintenkai]

I bet there is something wrong with AI from the german Version of the Demo.

I mean you Guys speaking as it would be the easiest thing to beat Nadal on hard with Fed but I already played Tennisgames as some of you still shitted in their Nappies and I lose more than I win.
The AI acts smarter than some humans in my Demo Version.

yeah i guess that the game felt he was facing the most extraordinary opponent and then decided to play the best any artificial intelligence could play, borrowing the cpu brain of "Deep blue" (the cpu who defeated Kasparov at chess in late '90s) via network. I think you should be quite special.

jokes aside, do not worry. You just have to train hard and get used to the controls and if you got what it takes you'll be able to challenge the best here.

[o Sinna o]

I bet there is something wrong with AI from the german Version of the Demo.

I mean you Guys speaking as it would be the easiest thing to beat Nadal on hard with Fed but I already played Tennisgames as some of you still shitted in their Nappies and I lose more than I win.
The AI acts smarter than some humans in my Demo Version.

yeah i guess that the game felt he was facing the most extraordinary opponent and then decided to play the best any artificial intelligence could play, borrowing the cpu brain of "Deep blue" (the cpu who defeated Kasparov at chess in late '90s) via network. I think you should be quite special.

jokes aside, do not worry. You just have to train hard and get used to the controls and if you got what it takes you'll be able to challenge the best here.

Ok Wise Guy, you know what you could do? First of all telling me with which Tactic you beat Nadal on hard when you play with Fed.

And the second and best would be Video how you defeat Nadal with a offensive Baselinestyle.

Seriously do you think I am dumb? This Game is all about charging your hits and hit it to the Side you want. You don't have thousand Possibilities in a simple Rally.

I don't know which kind of AI you have in your Demversions but if I say Nadal is hard to beat on hard dif. then this is a Fact.

[tenjintenkai]

ah man don't take it too seriously i was just making fun.

On the other hand you just have to realise that here you have the best top spin players of the WORLD. So you can still be pretty good playing tennis but don't look down on the best of the best. That's all.

Before joining ITST i also thought i was the real deal, and i am barely close to the top 15 in sim.
It is exactly like tennis in reality: there's always people stronger than you. Thats a fact and your ego should accept it.
Just train harder

[o Sinna o]

ah man don't take it too seriously i was just making fun.

On the other hand you just have to realise that here you have the best top spin players of the WORLD. So you can still be pretty good playing tennis but don't look down on the best of the best. That's all.

Before joining ITST i also thought i was the real deal, and i am barely close to the top 15 in sim.
It is exactly like tennis in reality: there's always people stronger than you. Thats a fact and your ego should accept it.
Just train harder

2K Sports gave me a special AI to anger me. *lol*

Yeah I know what you mean. But seriously. Ofcourse I know thath these Guys here are the best Top Spin Players in the world and that you can compare Top Spin to real Tennis in a mental Aspect.

But the main Difference is that we all would have different Physics in real Tennis. But this Point doesn't exist when you play Tennis on a Console and use the Possibilities which are given to you because in the end you just using a Controller like me and that atuomaticly means that I can do everything what you can do.

But I agree that I really have to train hard in TS4 to be competitive in the ITST. Everybody from us has to.