Tiebreak: Official Game of the ATP and WTA Review (PS5) – Gee, what a mouthful of a title! While Top Spin is the kingpin tennis franchise, various contenders in the sport of racket and ball have shown up over the years to try their fare in hopes of out-pointing 2K’s juggernaut.
Two Tennis World Tour and two AO Tennis outings have swung on by in recent years, though they’ve failed to eclipse the king.
Now it’s time for Big Ant Studio’s Tiebreak to serve up a smashing tennis game straight out of early access to show that Top Spin isn’t the only tennis game in town, but does it have the tennis balls to square up to this almighty challenge?
Tiebreak: Official Game of the ATP and WTA Review (PS5) – All Tied Up
Out of Deuce
Based around the ATP and WTA tennis associations, Tiebreak brings together over 120 professional tennis pros spanning the globe, including tennis legends such as Novak Djokovic, Rafael Nadal, Roger Federer, Maria Sharapova and many others.
The roster is very impressive and varied, meaning you can play in the trainers of a plethora of tennis stars without breaking a sweat and worrying about shoe blisters.
The attraction of such a substantial roster gives Tiebreak good momentum to please seasoned racketeers, making it an easy choice for those who want to play together and choose from a whose who of standouts and veterans.
There’s no faulting a roster this size, and Tiebreak gets off to a good start by serving up a pleasing showcase of talent for us to play as across Tiebreak’s suite of game modes.
If you’ve played tennis games in the past, Tiebreak’s game mode options will seem run of the mill. You’ve got a career where you take your create-a-player prospect and try to turn him or her into the next tennis all-star, you’ve got 90 tennis tournaments to participate in and conquer, and if you need your skills sharpened or to learn the ropes, there’s a handy tutorial for you to get to grips with the basics, and advanced fundamentals if you so choose.
The lightweight nature of the modes on offer here is a bit disappointing, and they won’t convince you that Tiebreak is trying to do anything drastically different from other tennis games.
But there’s still a satisfactory amount of content to sift through if you aren’t too demanding about the lack of flare in what’s available here.
What The Thwack?
On the court is where things become tricky and frustrating. Like every sports game and their Dalmation Terrier, Tiebreaker strives for realism by creating the most authentic and precise experience as it can in videogame for, but Tiebreaker’s attempts end up rather spotty….like the Dalmation Terrier.
The problem is that the simple act of serving up an opening shot is made more cumbersome as you have to be on-point when your button presses are timed in-conjunction with the in-game reticule.
Often times you’ll hit the net and need to restart your serve until you’ve figured out the timing, and that’ll take patience and mastering.
The question is will you have the patience to figure out when to hit a shot, or will you find it easier to just hop back into Top Spin?
Sometimes you’ll find Tiebreak difficult to distinguish from the king of all tennis titles because they’re both presented with the same amount of panache, but at least Top Spin is more accessible to brand new and amateur players.
On the court, dashing across to hit the ball feels slow. Holding down a trigger will make your player sprint faster, but this doesn’t mean you’ll have too much luck with getting to the ball before it bounces off-court.
You’ll need to move into the center of the court in order to have a good enough chance of starting a rally, though Tiebreak doesn’t feel as immediate as other tennis games on the market. An arcade-like approach would’ve worked better, but being the stubborn sim that it is, Tiebreak wants to immerse you, but too often its tennis roster is too busy hitting the net-the ideal way to describe this outing.
Hitting basic shots takes the right amount of timing and precision as well, such as bog-standard top spin or ground stroke.
The “realistic” physics get in the way of the accessibility, and that’s a big problem that Tiebreaker continuously wrestles with and can’t help but be caught in a sleeper hold by.
For all the spiel relating to realism, it would’ve been quite corking if more time was dedicated to making Tiebreak fun to play, and providing more ways for it to stand out from the crowd.
If you’re a sim-loving tennis fans though, there’s a satisfying ebb and flow to the action that gives you a decent feeling of hitting shots, providing a level of immersion which can embroil players in the sensation that they’re going tit-for-tat in a nail-biting game that could go either way.
The level challenge is steep, so if you’re up for facing tough competition, then Tiebreak is certainly a contender that’ll offer you the visceral essence you crave.
Tiebreak may not do much for those who want arcade-style tennis, or more innovation within this sporting niche, but at least the target sim-adoring market will be well looked after and catered for, which is what really matters – even though in this case, it comes off as bland.
A Tennis Simulation Frustration
Tiebreaker appears to be the kind of tennis game that encourages you to learn and hone your technique, much in the same way professional athletes do, but by trying to be some kind of all-authentic simulation, it stops playing like an actual video game.
Unfortunately, this means that Tiebreaker is by-the-numbers, failing to relinquish itself from wanting and needing to be the most impressive-looking mutt at the doggy talent show.
The bad news for Tiebreaker is that it takes more than content, pinpoint precise physics and great graphics to get by, it also has to entertain and show players what makes it sing, but the closest Tiebreaker comes is by loading up its roster with over 100 players.
In motion, Tiebreak is impressive with the physics and player movements looking sleek and tidily presented. The way games start with a coin flip to determine which player starts the game serving the ball is a nice touch, and the courts look sleek, with a pleasant TV-style presentation that hammers home Tiebreak’s dedication to authenticity. It’s just a shame all these ravishing looks do their utmost to veil the frustrating gameplay undercurrent.
On the outside, Tiebreak looks impressive with its plentiful roster blossoming with talent, a dedication towards providing the most authentic tennis game experience, and a presentation that wraps you up into the star-studded allure of a tennis icon.
However, it all starts to unravel when you actually play it with its frustrating physics, its lack of non-generic modes, and the overall feeling it’s just another me-too tennis game.
Forget a tie-break, this one couldn’t tie Novac Djokovic’s ASIC’s, which isn’t the kind of impression that a new tennis game contender would want to make, yet Tiebreak sadly fails to be anything more than just another pretender to Top Spin’s crown.
Tiebreak: Official Game of the ATP and WTA is now available on PS5 and PS4.
Review code generously provided by the publisher.