looks better to me then version 1

Ugh, Tennis games. There always seems to be luck involved when it comes to the quality of the king-of-the-rackets sport turned into video games. The financial backbone is nowhere near the likes of FIFA or NBA and game studios are trying to keep their financial risks to an absolute minimum. So, it's no wonder that this iteration is struggling with both light and shadow, but let me start from the top...


The Good

- Solid gameplay mechanics: the system with charging up a shot and releasing the button at the right time was basically taken from Top Spin 4. If you played TS4, you will feel at home with AOT2 pretty quickly. You feel the weight of your shots and the rallies can get really engaging and intense.
- Highly customizable difficulty: you can basically customize everything in this game. CPU level, auto-movement, ball speeds on different surfaces, stamina and several different other assisting systems. You can also set the length of every event from 1 game in 1 set to 6 games in up to 5 sets.
- Australian Open: the only licensed Grand Slam tournament in the game is presented beautifully. There's cutscenes, impressions from Melbourne and the Rod Laver arena is crafted with high detail. You shake your opponent's as well as the referee's hand at the end of a match and the whole ambience just hits the right spot. I love it.
- Highly customizable character: Hands down, this is the best character creator ever conceived in a tennis game. It may even be one of the most detailed CCs in any game. Body sliders for almost every body part, facial structures are deeply customizable, there's a myriad of different hair styles and for the first time, you can even adorn your player with jewelry like earrings or necklaces. The clothing system lets you freely choose what you're wearing, how it's colored and what logos you put on it. Also: don't be afraid to make a mistake during creation. You can alter your character afterwards at any time for free, including body sliders.
- Improved on-court immersion: BigAnt Studios implemented a few more things to improve the on-court experience. Players will ask for towels to wipe their sweat, there are more animations when you win, like falling onto your knees or the famous falling backwards on the ground, sending the racket flying. After points or mistakes from you or your opponent, you can now also give a positive or negative reactions which will influence how your player is received by the media and fans. It's your choice: will be famous or infamous?
- Press conferences: For the first time in any tennis game, we have press conferences! Yes, you read that correctly. Occasionally, but most of the times before and after tournament finals, your player will answer questions at conferences that will contribute to your aforementioned Famous or Infamous points. The questions are pretty shallow and repeat quite often, but it's a step towards bringing more immersion to the game.
- Management system: the whole organization system has seen a lot of improvement over the first AO Tennis. You now have a calendar where you can plan well in advance which tournaments, sponsorship events or trainings you will attend. There's plenty of training options to improve your stats and you can invest money to reduce tournament or travel fatigue or to impact several other parameters. Maximizing your stats will cost you a lot of money. I'm talking millions of $. Luckily, World 1000 and Grand Slam tournaments will earn you enough price money to cover for these expenses.
- Manager: you also have your own manager now. Whenever you earn a new trophy he will congratulate you in a short cutscene - nothing too special but it enhances the overall experience. He will also tell you when new sponsorship opportunities arise. Sponsorships basically earn you money by winning games or over certain time spans.
- Busy community: whenever you need to download a brand logo, certain players or venues, you can rely on the community creating it. Even just one day after release I found all the Adidas and Nike logos I needed to make the perfect outfits of my player.


The Bad

- Infallible computer: your opponents will hardly make any unforced errors. Over the span of more than a whole career mode year, I've counted only seven unforced errors. That is pretty much the amount I make in one match. You basically have to enforce a winner to make a point, you can not count on indirect points whatsoever from your opponents. The difficulty setting does not impact this either. They just don't make mistakes.
- Ball boys still don't move: two of them patiently sitting at the net and when a ball hits the net, they don't move. Why implement ball boys, when they don't fetch balls?
- Generic audience: whenever I see the audience up close, I ask myself what the programmers were thinking with this. They look like N64 characters with ultra-low polygons and super pixelated. They are missing limbs and their bodyparts are clipping badly into one another. You don't really see it from afar, but whenever the camera rests on the players sitting on the bench in the breaks, you see them. And it makes you wanna puke. Couldn't they render a high-q variant of the audience for this scene?
Also, the cheering always sounds the same. No matter if you're playing in a big stadium or a small country club, the crowd cheers will always sound like you're playing on a sold-out Philippe Chatrier.
- Inconsequent concepts: remember me mentioning sponsorships? When Nike comes to you offering a sponsorship, you will swell with pride. However, signing this deal will have no impact on your gear. Wouldn't it be cool and realistic if you had to wear Nike outfits from then on? But the game doesn't follow through with that because there is no license in a way that it can be shown in the actual gameplay on custom characters. The mentioned Famous or Infamous points also don't have any influence on your player really. Other than some emails regarding your perception in the media, there's no real consequence to how you behave.
- Career character not playable in Australian Open mode: that is a real stinker. You can't play your avatar in any other modes other than career. Why not?
- Weird, generic CPU players: in one tournament I've encountered a chinese-looking player from Croatia whose name was Kathleen Gordon. Lol! And the actual chinese players look anything but chinese. I know that there are several hundred players that need to be created generically, but it's just weird seeing these crazy combinations of names and ethnicities.


The Glitchy

- Certain ball throw animations look they move in slow-motion. For example the animations from Marketa Vondrousova or Belinda Bencic.
- Occasionally after replays, there are graphic glitches flashing across the screen for a fraction of a second.
- The net is in the way of the camera on certain viewing angles.
- Weird lighting, especially outdoors with hard shadows making the character look ugly.
- Player movement restricted when serving. This bug was transfered AOT1 to AOT2. At least once per match, you won't be able to move your player sideways as far as you want to change serving position. Doesn't seem to follow any rules.

So, these are my observations. Do I recommend it? Yes. Because it's pretty much the only Tennis game right now? Kinda. But at the same time, AOT2 does hold its own. The inconsequent new concepts and technical deficits are somewhat annoying but not really game-breaking. There are some welcome additions in terms of improved immersion and player management, the controls (with a gamepad) are good and the gameplay is fun. Give it a run if you're a tennis fan!

This is really a good tennis game but it has some issues that could be addressed with a patch. My biggest gripe is that low level computer players NEVER EVER MISSES. Ever. No really. They never miss. If you want to play career mode you and your low 3.0 powered character will have to serve and volley or else you will have no chance. You also better stick your volley for a winner because if the computer gets to it will be either a perfect lob or a perfect banana hook winner into the corner (which they never miss). It seems that there needs to be a control stat of some sort because real players who go into futures (ex college players) make TONS of errors. It's a little ridiculous. I can play an entire match and the computer will have 2-3 unforced errors.

Other than that sometimes your character won't "auto run" for a ball which is frustrating. Gripes aside it's a decent tennis game and should be checked out if you are a tennis fan.

~ DIFFICULTY ~

🔲 My 90 year old grandma could play it
🔲 Easy
🔲 Normal (can vary depending on which difficulty you play on as well as how good you are at video games) (And to clarify, i played on normal difficulty)
✅ Hard
🔲 Dark Souls
🔲 Understanding Dark Souls' story

~ GRAPHICS ~

🔲 MS Paint
🔲 Bad
🔲 Meh
🔲 Graphics don't matter in this game
✅ Good (nothing special)
🔲 Beautiful
🔲 Masterpiece

~ MUSIC ~

🔲 Bad
✅ Not special
🔲 Good
🔲 Beautiful

~ Audience ~

🔲 Kids
✅ Teens
✅ Adults

~ STORY ~

🔲 Bad
🔲 Text or Audio floating around
🔲 Average
🔲 Good
🔲 Lovely

~ PRICE ~

🔲 Free
Cheap
🔲 Acceptable price
✅ Could be cheaper
🔲 Overpriced
🔲 Complete waste of money

~ REQUIREMENTS ~

🔲 You can run it on a microwave
✅ Average
🔲 High end
🔲 NASA computer

~ LENGTH ~

🔲 Very Short (0 - 4 hours)
🔲 Short (4 - 10 hours)
🔲 Average (10-30 hours)
🔲 Long (30-50 hours) (if you go for everything in the game)
🔲 Extremely long (50-100+ hours)
✅ No ending

~ FUN ~

🔲 I'd rather watch paint dry
🔲 Hard to enjoy
🔲 Repetitive
✅ Actually pretty amusing
🔲 The kind of fun you'll remember
🔲 Ride of your life

~ REPLAYABILITY ~

🔲 It's a one-time experience
🔲 Only for achievements
✅ If you wait a few months/years
🔲 Definitely
🔲 Infinitely replayable

~ Bugs ~
🔲 Never heard of
✅ Minor bugs
🔲 Can get annoying
🔲 ARK: Survival Evolved
🔲 The game itself is a big terrarium for bugs

~ WORTH BUYING ~

🔲 No
✅ Wait for sale
🔲 Yes

Let's be honest -- I'm looking for the next Top Spin 4. Is this game it? I'm not sure yet. 3.5 hours in on the first day, and there's some pros and cons. Side note: I play tennis IRL, and being this is more of a simulator, I think that helps the critique a bit.

Pros:
-Even at lower difficulties, shot mechanics are important, which I'm finding is a good way to train up on this game.
-Lots and lots of configuration, especially gameplay modifiers, helped me to enjoy this more.
-Character creator has insane amount of detail.
-So far, the career mode extras are a nice touch (press conferences, tweets, etc.)
-Doubles matches are pretty great.

Cons:
-Out! Out! Out! Out! Me: 16 unforced errors. Amateur-ranked opponent: one. While I like how mechanics are reinforced, they incur some heavy penalties. I feel like every other shot I make is out, and AI very rarely misses, even on Semi-Pro difficulty.
And since timing is everything, it might be helpful to provide more user feedback. I'm not even sure how to hit a well-timed shot, which is why so many go out.
-To help with the above, the visual could be a little nicer when it comes to the shot power meter and the target of where my ball is going. I'm either looking at one or the other -- it's nearly impossible to focus on both.
-I feel like volleys in doubles go a little fast, even with the 'game speed' option slowed down to 50. And the animations seem a bit off, too. If a player reaches up for a backhand above their head, I doubt it goes 100MPH like it seems to here.
-UX is a little rough around the edges. While it's nice to have options, seeing all of them at once is a bit much. And I wish I could use my controller d-pad for everything in menus :(


I recommend this one. I haven't played TS4 in years, and some of the clunkiness in AOT2 brings me back to those days, but it's got something a lot of games don't these days: I takes a bit of skill. Sure, I could be Nadal every match and just play on "Rookie," but if I want more of a challenge, it seems like AOT2 is going to make me work for it. Thanks Australia!

Probably the best tennis game on the market at the moment. I'd say it's a good game, there are still quite a few quilbbles, but it's a lot of fun.

I just tried TopSpin 2k25 on PS5 and ohff it sux!
So much we have here is missing!
Barely pros and no option to download any.
Pay real money for clothes.
No complaining to the ref and the gameplay is mehh.

This game is the way to go.
I very rarely find a Sports game i spend more than 20 hours.
And here i spent almost 50 so far i think.
And im not the biggest tennis fan.
This game is fire!!!

Overall, AO Tennis 2 has stood the test of time and remained the best tennis sim/game on the market. With new releases coming out relatively often these days, they all fail to meet the standard of depth that AO Tennis 2 has achieved. While there are still some clunky animations and player movements, AO Tennis 2 has the most accurate shot & serve animations. Additionally, the visuals of different venues within the game, the player models, the gear available to players, and the individual court surfaces all exceed any of the other Tennis titles that have been released. Although the official list of licensed players within the game is slightly limited, the ability to create and download players allows us to compile a complete and playable roster of the top 100 players in the world if we so choose. This, in my opinion, is what makes this game so great. Until a new tennis game that exceeds the caliber of this game is released, I will continue to avidly play AO Tennis 2, and I highly suggest you all do as well.

+ Finally a modern substitute for Virtua Tennis 4, fantastic.
+ Physics feels really accurate with IRL play.
+ Player Progression and Style Unlockables system in Career mode feels great
+ Make sure you download all the stars with a in-game option inside academy (Federer, Djokovic, Tsitsipas...) and Stadiums since the game raw itself only has non-interesting options.
+ Player reactions add some cool spice :D
+ Once you learn and add difficulty, expect thrilling battles:)

- Multiplayer feels kinda dead, but it's a hell of a game anyway.
- Voice sounds, unfortunately you will not hear some players accurately but hey, details.
- Few glitches, not that often as bad reviews describe
- That Half-Life 2 in minimum graphics
- I think there will be never a game with a career mode more fun then Mario Tennis: Power Tour (Maybe because the academy environment, here you deal only with menus before the game)
- Training skills will feel repetitive an non-creative. You will add skills with money from games anyway.

STILL a brute 9, ignore excessively bad reviews lmao

I don't get why it has mixed reviews, it's the best "casual" tennis game. And when i say casual it's not to say it's easy, i play on one of the hardest difficulties and it's pretty challenging, i say casual cause it's not simulation, and as a real tennis player i'm really ok with it, if i want tennis simulation, i go do it in real life, it's pretty accessible sport, i have a tennis club next to my house and every summer we take a court for 2 hours with 3 friends times to times and we have to pay 20 euros for 2 hours, so 5 euros each, and they give you rackets with it if you need some. I tried Tennis Elbow 4 and it's pretty awful compare to AOTennis 2 as a game. AOTennis 2 is understanable, carriere mode is clear, fun, looks great, the game teaches you very well how to play correctly in it and to be better you have to get stronger on reflexes and game strategy. Tennis Elbow 4 is a mess and is unwelcoming to new players, looks awful, sounds awful and UI is disgusting. So if you want to have fun in a tennis game this is the one. And if you want to play Tennis Elbow 4 to make you feel you are part of the real tennis community, that plays sims, and trying to achieve greatness in a "VIDEO GAME", go for it, but its a complete lie, i would rather suggest you to take time to learn tennis IRL, again it's accessible for all the middle class and i'm more close to the poor class but i can still play it. AOTennis 2 is really enjoyable as a game, it is not pretending to be the most accurate simulation cause it is not forgetting it's a game.