Hi
First of all, as a big fan of the tennis games developed by BigAnt, I would like to thank you for the great work done as the impressions of Tiebreak are excellent and it promises to be the best tennis game of all time.
With the aim of providing feedback that turns it into a video game that exceeds all expectations, I have broken down the different sections that I consider could be improved. I will give my opinion as critical as possible to provide ideas for improvement and not as something negative.
-PLAYER MOVEMENTS-
One of the main points of improvement is the player’s movements that specifically run towards the ball. A complete overhaul is needed. Here’s why:
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Movements without LT/RT are a bit slow, so using LT/RT is a must when the ball is far away, but the animation looks robotic and is not fluid; sometimes when running (LT+RT), the player doesn’t even try to hit the ball even if the ball is close.
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Sometimes the transition from running to hitting is not realistic or fluid. When the player is running and you press the button to hit the ball, the player makes a strange and very unnatural movement.
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On lower difficulties (medium and low), it happens too often that the AI does not run at all and moves sideways while watching the ball pass.
I think the player movements in other competing games like TopSpin or even TWT2 were better and improving this aspect of the game will solve many other problems.
-EFFECTIVENESS OF SHOTS AND PHYSICS IN CERTAIN TYPES OF SHOTS-
Charged cross shots are too effective and should not be as effective as cross shots using LT/RT. Cross-court shots aimed at the bottom corner should be even more difficult to perform because the angle is so tight. Making these shots more difficult by increasing the amount of wide ball and making aiming more responsive, as well as improving player movement, would solve this problem.
Slow shots that land in the bottom corners are too difficult for the AI to return. Either the bounce is too low and the AI can’t get to the ball in time, or they hit the net or a wide ball. This problem also makes drop shots overly effective. When the ball is slow and has a high bounce, the AI should be able to perform a powerful volley or drop shot. However, the animation where the player slides into the net is realistic and fluid, but it rarely happens.
The slides are too weak and need a refresh because we don’t have enough time to charge enough energy, so it creates a slow floating ball, almost the same as a drop shot where the AI has a lot of trouble coming back, which is related to the previous problem. .
The volleys are broken, it is impossible to perform a deep volley even if aiming correctly because we do not have enough time to charge the power bar while being close to the net and they are too weak in general. It should simply be: slice button = delicate volley, flat button = fast and risky volley, topspin button = safe but slower volley.
-SERVE AND RETURN-
It is too difficult to beat your opponent using a flat serve or a kick serve, especially on the higher difficulties (Hard and Expert). The effectiveness of the ace cuts is fine. Perfectly timed serves should lead to more aces.
First serve percentage is too high (particularly for AI in Med, Hard, and Exp). The AI got almost 100% right on the first serve when it should be about 65% for men and about 60% for women on average. So the AI needs to take more risks on the first serve to reduce that percentage and also get more aces. And the service percentage should NOT depend on difficulty, unlike the percentage of points won on the first serve.
Returning fast service is too easy and overwhelming. At the moment, the one who returns has a greater advantage than the one who serves, when it should be the opposite. It is mainly because crosscourt shots and quick serves are too easy to return. Fast serves (130 mph and above) should lead to very poor bouncing balls or a foul (wide or net) by the returner or an ace, unless the server aims poorly.
The AI attempts too many underarm serves. They should try it only when we go back a lot and rarely enough to be surprising. There should also be a serve slider on the players profile because there are only a few players who attempt one from time to time.
We should be able to disable zoom in services.
-UNFORCE ERROR and ATTRIBUTE BALANCE-
The unforced errors made by the AI are very unbalanced on all difficulties. The AI doesn’t make enough mistakes on its baseline (especially wide, long balls) and makes too many as it gets closer to the net.
The impact of player attributes is too high, leading to higher-rated players not making enough mistakes and often 0 aces for less powerful players.
-COLORS AND TEXTURES-
Some elements such as the net or the benches need to have greater texture and realism and not generate so much of a geometric sensation of straight lines. In addition, the physics of the net needs to be improved, it is too rigid, it does not move enough on powerful shots and too many points are won with a favorable bounce on the net.
The courts and complex need more texture and realism. For example, in Madrid, the flowers on the stands do not look real. The same thing happens with some parts of the enclosures as in the previous point, sometimes it gives the sensation of geometric figures, straight lines and not as much realism and texture as there may be in the TopSpin2K25 video game.
Shadows and lighting. Using the example of Madrid again, sometimes it gives the sensation of having a spotlight on the track instead of sunlight, especially when the time of day is in the afternoon. When a game is during dusk, the light is dimmer and has a more reddish tone, for example. This point is achieved very well by TopSpin2K25. There are other tracks that need to redo the shadows in the sunset such as Miami, Monte Carlo, Madrid and Rome since the shadows do not correspond to those in real life.
Clay courts should seem more dirty and with more texture. The court names
There is a lack of liveliness in the colors. Sometimes it seems that the colors have low saturation as if everything had a gray filter.
There are light reflections that don’t feel real on players’ hair, skin, or clothing, as if the fabric of the player’s clothing, hair, or skin were glass or a reflective material. Instead, a sweat texture could be put on the players’ skin.
The appearance and mobility of public NPCs must be improved. Sometimes they feel like they are robots with their movements. Additionally, they sometimes react at times they shouldn’t, which in real life would be a frustrating distraction for tennis players.
-OTHER SUGGESTIONS-
The maximum possible number of player and tournament licenses should be achieved. The community is especially waiting for the licenses of the 4 Grand Slams.
The menus could be remodeled to be more colorful and contain animations. The different menus you navigate through sometimes seem too dark. Video animations of the different courts or venues could be included in the background so as not to give the impression of a cold menu.