Top Spin 3 Comments by Kristan Reed

@infoxicated - Either you saw the Wii version running in HMV or you have unusually high standards for visuals in games because to my eyes Top Spin 3 on both the 360 and PS3 looks, at the least, very good. The crowd might look basic but I'd rather have a game that plays well than one packed with high-detailed spectators that needlessly drags the framerate down. Virtua Tennis 3 didn't look much better in this regard either, let's be honest, in fact it looked worst IMO.Also while Top Spin 3's players might not look entirely convincing (there's definitely a tendency for the fictitious ones to look like Down's Syndrome victims), their animation is absolutely superb and flows beautifully with no obvious jarring transitions and from the ingame views this looks almost real. There are also some terrific looking courts among the 25+ included in the game. Perhaps it doesn't have player models that look as good as those in Virtua Tennis 3, it nevertheless makes up for it with better animations and more variety in the courts and settings.

Incidentally, according to Major Nelson, there's a 360 demo of Top Spin 3 out for anyone wanting to try the game out.

One of the best modes on VT3 360 is the doubles over LIVE with four different 360s. I don't think TS3 has this, only 1vs1 over LIVE (i.e 1 360 vs 1 360).

its still basically PONG though.

Proper 1080p then?

@Darren - fair enough, then. I only watched for a minute or two as some work-dodging student failed miserably to hit the ball, but since it was during my lunch hour I didn't stick around long. It's possible that the clay court didn't show it off at its best, too - the orangey stuff never tends to look as realistic/good as grass in tennis games.

Hopefully there'll be a PS3 demo to try out soon, then, 'cos I'm itching for a new tennis game. 'Course, there's probably ointment for that. ;o)

360 is getting a free Nadal update from July 2nd. Apparently.