That announcement came out of nowhere. The revival of Top Spin, easily the greatest tennis franchise in gaming history, if you don’t count those titles starring Mario. Well, to be fair, Mario Tennis has had more bad games than good ones, so screw it, Top Spin is the best tennis franchise of all time. And it’s back, courtesy of 2K Sports this time around. This is when I started to worry a bit as well.

On one hand, I was starting to worry that all tennis games were going to be limited to a AA, low-budget environment. I liked Matchpoint Tennis Championships and Tennis World Tour, but they suffered from a lack of depth and scope. It was clear the developers had to limit their projects’ size due to a low budget. With Take-Two Interactive backing you up, that wouldn’t be an issue. Without a doubt, Top Spin 2K25 is the most content-filled tennis simulator I have played in many, many years. The amount of players, licensed tournaments, sponsors, licensed music… hell, they even got the legendary John McEnroe to narrate the entire tutorial mode, which was a brilliant decision.

But then there was the main worry: 2K itself. I was worried Top Spin 2K25 would be turned into a money-hungry machine like NBA 2K. I really like playing 2K’s NBA titles, but I’d be lying if I told you I don’t get frustrated at the sheer amount of monetization and product placement splattered in all of those yearly releases. I didn’t want for a tennis game to become just like that, a means to spend money on timesaving microtransactions. Sadly, Top Spin 2K25 has them. They are less egregious than the ones in the NBA 2K games, but it’s worth pointing out regardless.

Let’s talk about the career mode. It’s straightforward in concept. Start off as a fresh prodigy, with limited skills, reputation, and tournament availability. You need to constantly decide if you’re going to partake on the next local tournament, and plan your training. This is the best way to level up and garner extra points to be spent on your character’s many skills. I was able to invest on serving and volleying, which was the way I used to play tennis in real life, for instance. The more events you partake on in sequence, however, the more tired and prone to injuries you will become, so you need to plan that in advance. If you play a cup, you can grab points, rank up, and earn money, but you might get injured. If you rest for a month, you’ll be in top shape for the next event, at the cost of rank points. Plan ahead!

In order to level up, you need experience points. You will need to grind. A lot. Dear god there’s so much grinding involved. Training sessions allow you to grab some quick experience right off the bat, but playing in tournaments doesn’t earn you that many points. Unless you use boosters, of course. I’ll give 2K some kind of credit and admit that the experience boosters, sure, need to be purchased with premium currency, but you do earn a bit of it after completing a match or a training session. You can constantly acquire small boosters, which already help a lot, by simply playing the game. The only thing is that you will be playing it for a long, long time. It is arduous. Thankully, the gameplay is freaking excellent, so spending a lot of time playing Top Spin 2K25 isn’t a hassle.

These controls are fantastic. You have access to all kinds of shots, autorun isn’t huge, and, as previously mentioned, you can transport your real-life game philosophy to this virtual environment with ease. If you time your shot correctly, you will place the ball exactly where you want it to go. The key word here is “timing”. Every shot in Top Spin 2K25 features a timing meter: reach to the ball in time, and hold down the specific shot button you want for the correct amount of time, and it’ll work like magic. You’ll hear the sound of a perfectly executed shot coming out of the Dualsense’s speakers. I am not a big fan of the timing meter, but I eventually got used to it.

There are a few other issues worth pointing out, however. The first one is the fact that the graphics, well, they aren’t bad per se, but I expected a bit more from a game backed by the same people behind the ultra-realistic NBA 2K and WWE series. It’s still better than Matchpoint Tennis Championships and Tennis World Tour, sure, but those games had a low budget as an excuse for the limited visuals. Thankfully, there are no bugs or framerate issues to speak of. The other slight issue is the lack of modes, though. You have the career mode, a tutorial, and an exhibition option for offline play. I get that tennis isn’t the kind of sport that can offer you that many kinds of modes, but they could have given the option for an offline cup, for instance.

Top Spin 2K25 is a return to form for the legendary franchise, but it does feature a few issues. Of course, there’s the everlasting conundrum regarding 2K’s monetization practices, but this game did not feel as grindy or egregious as its basketball counterparts. If you are not into online play, you won’t have a lot of options; you will most likely spending many hours grinding for experience points to upgrade your avatar. Thankfully, the gameplay is downright impeccable. Grinding won’t be a hassle, as playing matches or completing additional events is fun and intuitive. More than anything else, it set a foundation for even better sequels. It might not be an ace, but it’s still a winner.

Graphics: 7.0 It looks better than any other tennis simulator out there, but it’s clearly less impressive than pretty much any other sports simulator published by 2K. It runs well, though, and that’s what really matters.	Gameplay: 9.0 Impeccable gameplay. You have access to all kinds of shots, autorun isn’t huge, and you can transport your real-life game philosophy to this virtual environment with ease. I am not a big fan of the timing meter, but I eventually got used to it.
Sound: 7.5 It’s actually quite good. The in-court sounds are mostly emmitted via the controller, and menus feature some decent licensed music. Not to mention the fact the tutorial is voiced by John McEnroe himself.	Fun Factor: 7.5 The foundation is set. The gameplay is sublime. As usual, however, the game is bogged down by a slight lack of modes and a sheer insane amount of grind, intentionally inserted into the game in order to convince you to spend some extra bucks on timesavers. It’s nowhere near as bad as NBA 2K, but it’s still worth mentioning.
Final Verdict: 8.0

Top Spin 2K25 is available now on PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series S/X and PC.

Reviewed on PS5.

A copy of Top Spin 2K25 was provided by the publisher.