It's been 84 years...

Finally all our messages under every other tennis video game video for the last 36 years paid off! Collective work!

Ah yes, Microtransaction 2k25: Tennis Edition!

My wife’s boyfriend calls it Forespin. Says it feels like playing Tennis with golf clubs.

My take is that I'm really happy to have a semi modern top spin style game for the first time in ages, so it's 100% worth it for me. Now, it’s great that it’s back, but they have work to do… Core gameplay is a blast and the best since Top Spin 4, there's no doubt about that. Sadly everything else sucks and stinks of zero passion or interest in making a quality tennis game for tennis fans.

My biggest problem is just how predatory it all feels. It’s like 2k knows how much fans have been craving a new topspin experience for over a decade and decided to abuse that desire by barely providing enough content for a full release. They know the true fans will buy it anyway because we just want to FEEL that topspin gameplay again, big roster or not, so to them it doesn’t matter if they release the game with all the features that maybe a topspin 5 in 2013 would’ve had cause they know they can just release all the rest as dlc and whatnot. This is 2K after all, the same publisher of NBA2k24, which is the most predatory sports game in recent memory. Your favorite players will be available, but you will have to not only spend money, but gamble and pray that you get lucky. Enjoy! Pisses me off.

I also don't agree with the online only career, the character models are laughably bad, there's a distinct lack of pros and the career itself is a bit of a grind but despite all of this I’ll admit I'm enjoying the gameplay easily enough to justify the purchase. It rubs an itch for me that nothing has in a long time and I'm really happy it's here. I just wish 2K didn't have its fingerprints all over it. That is to say, there's a lot of leeway I'm granting for nostalgia/not having had this experience in ages that doesn't really apply in an objective evaluation of the game. The frustration is that it could be a 10/10 sports game but the above issues, the lack of balance online and general push towards microtransactions knocks it down to a 7 or 8.

But all of this aside, I'll continue playing it anyway because I'm a middle-aged doomer with nothing in my life, and because I just love the fact they gave Serena an ABSOLUTE dumptruck.

7/10

"Hi, thanks for doing a free weekend! I'd like to try a few games of tennis, to see if your game's worth buying."

"OK, go ahead and download 30GB."

"Sure. [Some time later] Alright, done, let's play tennis!"

"OK, now just go to our website and create an account with us."

"Wait, what? I just want to try your game for a few hours. No need to create an account for that, surely! Just take me to my first match!"

"No, not until you create an account with us. Without that, we won't even let you reach the main menu, never mind hit a tennis ball."

"Dammit, I just want to try your game for an afternoon?! If I like it I'll buy it and be happy to give you all my contact details, but why would I do that for a trial I didn't like and never actually bought??"

"BEEP does not compute. Stare at this account creation screen all weekend, no tennis for you!!"

"F**k you, 2K."

Not Worth Downloading, Forcing you to make a 2K acount the first thing it does. Even if you just want to play offline you still need to make an acount on 2K.