Although its relationship with video games goes all the way back to Pong, tennis has seemingly always been a tricky sport to properly nail in digital form.
While there have clearly been successes over the years – the Virtua Tennis and Mario Tennis series being the obvious examples – the history of the medium is littered with attempts that struggled to recreate the feel of playing tennis.
One series that pulled it off with aplomb was 2K’s TopSpin. While its last entry—2011’s Xbox 360 and PS3 title TopSpin 4—was met with widespread critical acclaim, it was the last we’d see of the franchise. That finally changes now, because after a 13-year gap, TopSpin is back. While it has a few performance and progression issues, when it comes to the actual gameplay on the court, it’s a spectacular return to form.