I know technically this isn’t the final version but I doubt much will be updated between this version and the final version so I’ll just assume this is close to it.
I’ve praised every update so far as being in the right direction and I think this is the first one that seems to be moving in the wrong direction. It isn’t a bad update, just not the update I had hoped for. For the first time since January, I have lost faith in Tiebreak becoming a solid tennis game.
-----ANIMATIONS-----
-Running-
The running has been sped up in this update for no apparent reason. It’s not something the community asked for, so I’m not sure what the thought process behind this change was, but it’s not good. Running speed in EA7 was already in a good place but now it feels like Virtua Tennis. Players just zip everywhere and it’s just not a realistic feeling. The running speed is perhaps the most important thing when talking about how clunky the animations are. A faster speed means faster transition times and that means players are moving in very cartoony manners.
-Slice-
The slice animations is just horrible. Perhaps the single most offensive shot animation is the slice. It doesn’t represent anything remotely close to what a professional would perform. I don’t expect all players to have their own slice animations, but please redo the animation to at least look like something resembling a slice.
-Reaching and Sliding-
The animations for reaching and sliding happen very often and so need more variety. Together they are perhaps the most performed shot, yet there is only two or three animation variety for them. Add in more variety. I’m hoping to eventually see four or five animations for both reaching shots and sliding shots.
-Point End-
When the point ends, the players kind of just hop in position for a bit and this looks silly. The first change that needs to happen is that the game needs to recognize when the point ends MUCH sooner. That high ball that is landing 5 feet out of bound should be recognized by the game immediately and the point end animations should trigger at that point. It’s silly to have players bouncing around waiting for the game to call out on such obvious calls. Furthermore, if a player is nowhere close to the ball, the game needs to recognize the impossibility to return a shot and the point end should trigger then. Instead, we get situations where a player is on one side of the court and the shot lands on the other side of the court and both players hop around waiting for the ball to do its second bounce. Just end the point when the ball is 5+ feet out of bounds and when the player is clearly incapable of reaching the ball.
-----BALL PHYSICS-----
-Ball Speed-
Ball speed was also sped up with the running speed. Again, I don’t know why. We are getting dangerously close to anime and Virtua Tennis speeds of gameplay right now. Slow them back down to EA7.
-Slice-
I’ve written about this for every update but I’ll reiterate. A slice is NOT always a defensive shot. Unfortunately, the game treats all slices as a defensive shot. The current ball trajectory in game is somewhere between a real slice and a drop shot. Slices though, are sharp and flat. They are meant to disrupt the other player’s movement and precision. That’s what a slice is. It is NOT a shot you perform to give your opponent a high and easy shot to fire back. What we have in game is similar to what a new player may perform for their slice.
-Slice Volley-
Slice volley should be the normal volley button. A volley is much closer to a slice than a flat shot or a top spin shot, so why is the slice button not the go-to button for performing volleys? Currently, a slice volley is registered as a drop volley, which is just silly because we already have a drop shot modifier. Treat slice volleys as regular volleys and allow the drop modifier (LB) to be used for drop volleys. It looks real silly performing a full swing at net because I am forced to use the top spin shot.
-Flat Shots-
Not sure what happened but Flat Shots are just broken now. They clear the net maybe 5% of the time.
-Second Serve-
Kick serves need more bounce. They aren’t awful and this shouldn’t be a priority, but kick serves right now just behave like a beginner hitting a slow shallow serve.
-----AI-----
-Net Game-
AI net game has been improved but they still perform really bad at the net. They need two changes to make them better.
First, when they are reaching for those drop shots, they need to just clear the net soft enough to land in bounds. Too many of their net shots either go into the net or go way out of bounds.
Second, they need to put pace on those slow lofty shots at the net. Those are the absolute easiest shots to hit winners in real tennis yet the AI only wins 1 in 10 because they hit gentle shots back or they hit out. If the ball is shoulder height and at the net, the following shot should be a winner 9 times out of 10.
-----INTERTIA-----
-Running-
Running still needs to be improved. Not only was it sped up unnecessarily, but the turning speed while sprinting still has not been improved upon since EA1. When running at full speed, players should not be able to make sudden jerky turns. If a sprinting player changes direction, it should follow more of a J shape than an L shape.
-Sudden Stops-
Players at full sprint still come to unrealistic stops. This problem was exasperated even more with the increased running speed. The same issue as the above J vs L, players just seem to have no intertia when coming to a stop.
-----RISK VS REWARD-----
Of all the critiques the community has provided, this is perhaps that one that lingers the hardest, because it will eventually be the soul of the game. Without a proper Risk vs Reward, the game’s animations and roster won’t matter very much.
-LT and RT Shots-
This risk of using LT and RT felt good EA7 but has unfortunately been reversed. Shots with LT and RT simply don’t go out anymore, which means LT and RT are now the default shots. Why would you ever not use them now? It’s the same critique from before EA7; if there is no risk to using LT and RT, then there is not reason to not use them. Reverting them back to EA7 would be a good start. From there we can work on adding more risk vs reward to ground strokes.
-Serve-
Probably the most unrewarding part of the game is the serve, even though the opposite is true in real tennis. Really only two things need to happen.
First, a full flat serve should be rewarded with aces. Not often, but enough so that it feels rewarding for landing them. The game needs to force aces here and there because if it’s left entirely up to the gamer’s ability, then it means that professional stats do not matter.
Second, full flat serves, when they don’t ace, should still feel rewarding with lofty returns. The reach animation is already in game but for some reason is not used for serve returns. If a full flat serve lands on the line, the returner should NOT be able to perform a full ground stroke without moving in that direction first. That’s just not realistic. If a player does not move towards the line where the serve is landing, they should be punished by performing a reaction shot. That’s the risk vs reward part. Move to the line and perform a solid return or stand still and perform a lofty return.
And of course this works for both the gamer and AI. There’s currently no reason to do anything as a gamer when returning a serve. I can stand still and perform full ground stroke returns no matter who is serving because the game recognizes my returns as perfect returns every single time.
Additionally, the AI should be acing more but also faulting more. Their first serve % should not be 90%. Realistically, pros only hit 60-80% accuracy and that’s what the game should be trying to achieve.
-----SMALL DETAILS-----
These are the smaller things that should not be priority.
-Racquet Grip Position-
All the players in the game hold the racquet too high up on the handle. The pinky should be on the very bottom of the handle, nearly hanging off. I can’t stand watching the replays because at a zoomed-in angle, it becomes real clear that everyone has an incorrect grip.
-Racquet Drop-
After winding up for a ground stroke, many animations don’t have the racquet drop that is normal for 90% of tennis ground strokes. As the racquet transitions from back swing to forward swing, the racquet head should drop down towards the knee or even calf. This is just basic tennis form. Some ground strokes are good, but others are just awful at this.
-Models-
Models for the majority of the pros look real solid. Some still need to be fixed. IMHO, Iga and Qinwen suffer from the most horrendous modelling, though I haven’t taken a close look at all the new player models yet.
-----CONCLUSION-----
I was under no illusion that this game would be completed by release, but this last update seems to have been a small step backwards, at least in terms of animations and risk. Please revert the running and ball speed and LT/RT shots back to EA7 so that we can provide further critique on how to move forward.