Attending the TopSpin 2K25 preview event in Sydney last week was a bag of mixed emotions. On one hand, as soon as anyone says ‘sports’ I immediately want to hyperventilate and sit in the corner and draw.
On the other hand, it is a video game, and those are fun. I went into the preview event cautious and came out optimistic.
TopSpin 2K25 was fun, albeit lacking a few key features.
From Hangar 13, the same developers that brought you Mafia (yes, that Mafia, it’s weird I know) comes the reboot to the franchise you may remember from your childhood.
NBA 2K, WWE 2K, PGA 2K — 2K sports titles are something we’ve all grown familiar with. So as seasoned publishers of these hits and fan-favourites, 2K is in a good position to bring us something with quality.
But have they hit the mark with TopSpin 2K25?
Game, Set, Match
The game begins with a tutorial mode called TopSpin Academy. Tennis icon John McEnroe instructs you how to play through each lesson (yes, that’s him narrating!). The tutorial will walk you through the basics of how to serve, return, aim, and perform power shots — it’s all very easy to understand.
Despite its simplicity, it took me quite a bit of practice to get the hang of it. If you’re unfamiliar with these kinds of games, I would strongly recommend beginning with this mode before embarking on the career or exhibition modes.
See You On The Court
I got to preview five playable courts, including the Arthur Ashe Stadium, Indian Wells Tennis Garden, Court Philippe Chatrier, Centre Court, and Australia’s iconic Rod Laver Arena.
Different courts will have different types of surfaces, defined as grass, clay, or hard. The time of day can also be toggled between day, evening, and night.
Playing on the PlayStation 5 with DualSense controllers, I was able to experience intricate court details. Depending on the court’s surface, the DualSense’s haptic feedback responded in a slightly different way. It wasn’t mind-blowing, but it was a nice touch.
One more thing regarding controllers, if I’d known I’d be playing on PS5 I would’ve loved to test it out on the PlayStation Access controllers! I’ll follow this up closer to launch.
READ MORE: Review | The PlayStation Access Controller
Sandbagger or Champion?
I managed to get hands-on with 10 virtual tennis champions, including box-cover icons Roger Federer and Serena Williams. Though there are currently no Aussie players in the game, the 2K team did express that more characters were planned to be added (though not specifying if they would be Australian), and that organising licensing and players was a tricky process.
Given Aussies are synonymous with sport, you’d hope there are plans to bring legends like Pat Rafter and Ash Barty (like, seriously, of ALL people) to the game.
READ MORE: Where’s the Love? Aussie Icons Absent in TopSpin 2K25 Player Roster
Ace or Fault? Accessibility
If you are looking for accessibility in TopSpin 2K25, you best prepare for disappointment. Though the preview build lacks, discussions about the game’s plans for accessibility features were a little lean.
Each of the various game modes will have settings to toggle on or off timing meters, timing feedback, power indicators, and the like. These were not available in the demo build, so only time will tell if these truly make the game more accessible for disabled gamers.
The only true accessibility setting I could find in the demo build was to turn subtitles on or off, and even then you couldn’t change the font’s size. When asked if there would be more subtitle variations, it was stated that these may be added later but will not be available at launch.
One saving grace for TopSpin 2K25 that will be included at launch is the addition of prosthetics to the game’s career mode: MyPLAYER. When building your own custom tennis champion, you will have the ability to add prosthetic limbs. It was noted that this inclusion was important to the developers, which is a big step in the right direction.
Discussing this with the array of journalists who attended the event, the same sentiment was shared: some semblance of representation is better than none, we suppose.
An Open Letter
If this article is an open letter to 2K and Hangar 13 then allow me to pose a question: what about wheelchair tennis?
I get that it’s probably a whole other hassle to program and design, don’t get me wrong, but can you really build a modern game about tennis without it?
The tennis community has such a prevalent disability stream, so why is there no acknowledgment? I’d love to kick butt on the court as Dylan Alcott.
TopSpin 2K25, while lacking, has the potential to be wonderful. Don’t get me wrong, it’s a good game. The play is fun, the mood is fun, the learning curve is fantastic and really easy to pick up, but there is still a lot that appears to be missing from launch.
I hope they haven’t rushed this one.
Let it cook; give us Aussie players and accessibility options. Though it may be a little late for this now, I hope to see updates in the future that will address these concerns.
TopSpin 2K25 is coming to Xbox, PlayStation and PC on April 27.
Quest Daily went hands-on with TopSpin 2K25 with thanks to 2K ANZ.
