I don’t know what to say. It seems that main issues weren’t adressed at all. @JNT_BA
In summary:
Drop shot is still overpowered and you can easily win on expert just by playing it again and again.
Serve remains totally ineffective - nothing has changed
there is still huge problem with shot animation lock which involves everything including serve effectiveness, easy return, playing drop shots without risk, easy half volleys and so on…
AI lacks variability in its play and couldn’t properly react to drop shots - every time just passes ball to us to play easy final ball.
Until these issues won’t be adressed in future updates then gameplay stays bad for me.
Tiebreak is getting better all the time for me as an offline player,AI improving all the time,i got 15 aces on Hard difficulty which i could not get before and the CPU aced me 6 times,movement feels more realistic since this update with scrambling not as fast. Great idea for all level players having power increased according to difficulty selected. Great work Devs i just cannot understand the complaints from the same players all the time,i am not saying the game is perfect but the improvement since launch is amazing as i did not think we would have the game this good by now,keep up the good work.
Hi, I will share here my video and you will see what I’m talking about. But maybe this game just isn’t for me as I’m regular player of Full Ace Tennis and I’m used to on realistic gameplay with good AI.
The cpu now is even doing dropshots and slicing more which is another change. Yes this is where we differ i hate the PC simulators,i bought Tennis Elbow 4 on xbox one and had the worst tennis game experience ever because i could not work it out and luckily i got a full refund saying i could not load the game. I own nearly every tennis game that has ever been released and at least enjoyed most of them. For me Tiebreak will be the most i have played any tennis game even more than Topspin 4 and AO2 which was my favourite but Tiebreak is easily better than AO2 now.
The game is definitely improving. This update hasn’t addressed what need improving the most but it has made the game much better.
The increase in power has made such a difference. No longer am I playing laboured and unrealistic 50 shot rallies, wishing my player could just find the strength to finally hit something hard enough that my opponent wouldn’t be able to easily reach and return it! Now, if my opponent opens up the court and I get my player in the right position for the return, it’s game over. It’s incredibly satisfying and that’s how it should be. Equally, changes to movement speed mean that I am no longer able to run from one side of the court to the other to return everything my opponent throws at me. Whilst this can feel frustrating right now, because we used to be able to do that, it’s much more realistic. For me the number of shots in a rally now much more closely reflect what you would see in a real match. There are still times where my player feels stuck in an animation when I’m desperately trying to move him to the ball. This is most noticeable after I’ve just served.
It seems there are some very contrasting comments here already with regards to serving. For me, serving is still totally ineffective. I played the game for several hours last night (on PS5), trying both expert and hard difficulty levels, and I didn’t hit a single ace! Maybe it’s user error but I feel I am good at this game and I felt like I tried absolutely everything. Perfect release, early release, later release, more direction, less direction – nothing. On top of that, my opponent was frequently hitting winners off my serve, even when I was maxing out power. This was partly due to the slow transition out of the service animation but also because no matter how well I hit the serve, it’s just no problem for the AI opponent - he can hit the most perfect winner to wherever he wants on the court. It just feels wrong. There is no advantage to serving at all. Sometimes my serves are tight to the lines and sometimes not, despite the input being the same, it just feels random and lacking control. On the flip side of this, I also want it to be rewarding when I break my opponents serve. It should be a real challenge to do this. I did feel like my opponent aced me more frequently than usual last night, which was a positive thing (if only I could do the same) but generally I still find it too easy to hit a powerful flat return that forces him into a slightly more defensive shot, giving me the upper hand in the rally. The balance of this just feels off. My return of serve should generally be the weaker shot, giving him the upper hand in the rally. This should be the same for my service games too. I think hitting a flat shot to return a serve should be too risky, unless the serve is slower or bounces a bit higher. You should still be able to hit a near perfect return every now and then but as a result of opponent error rather than by default.
To be clear, I am not complaining. I LOVE the game and it has improved no end since it first came out. All comments here are to share thoughts and experience in the hope that they will be considered for future patches/updates. It’s great that you guys are still refining the game, long may that continue. You’re onto something great here and the potential is massive, but there are of course adjustments that need to be made to better represent the sport we love and to further improve what is already a good game.
Its still too easy to win on expert. Still return is overpowered. Serve id not any factor. I play last game with mpetshi pericard and have 2 aces pericard play like some argentinian clay player. They need to add playstyle big server or serve and volley style.
Interesting. Out of curiosity, were you playing on expert difficulty? With high ranking opponents? And on PS5?
Every game I played last night was against players in top 10 rankings (in terms of stats). And I tried choosing different players to play with. It felt like it might happen with players with highest serve/power stats but never did. With great players but with lower serve/power stats it felt like there was no chance.
I am an offline player only using PS5 on Hard difficulty which to me is the best balanced and loving it way more than Topspin 2k25 which i traded in. I own all the previous Topspin games,AO Tennis 2 and most other tennis games over the last 25 years and i can honestly say Tiebreak as of now is the best tennis game i have played and i also hated Tennis Elbow 4 on XBOX which was the worst experience i ever had with a tennis game. Why i mentioned all this is i am not a novice tennis game player and i could win on highest difficulties in those games yet i find Tiebreak the most pleasing all round and i don’t care what the haters say.
I totally agree with you. I’m also an offline player and I have played them all and this is the best so far. The problem for me is that when a sports game reaches a certain level (as I believe this one now has), I can’t help but get both excited and frustrated about how good it could be, if it’s not quite there. This game, for me, has the potential to be brilliant. It could be incredibly satisfying in all facets of the game and an excellent representation of the sport. It’s not quite there yet unfortunately but it’s getting closer and I have faith in the direction it’s going.
I still don’t understand how many players mainly the ones on the Steam forum that are real haters and i am not sure if they are just trolling but if anyone starts a topic on there and says how much the game keeps improving and loving it this group with the names The French,Iceman,Pinball and a few others just make fun of and ridicule them as if they don’t know what they are talking about and only their negative comments are fact and true which is a lie. I think the devs are onto those guys because they just ignore their spiteful comments. I agree with you that Tiebreak can become something really special but as it is now i could not be happier.
Finally the higher difficulties timing is punishing,well done that’s how it should be . Anybody struggling just got to put the work in on the practice area and adjust. Highest difficulty are supposed to be very challenging after all … Ai seem to be playing more variety ie slice in rally’s etc , still the issue of ai not hitting out of the lines is present on expert at least. I understand it’s a delicate balance and hopefully it will be introduced when balanced. Please don’t listen to people saying it’s now to punishing,they can either practice or drop the difficulty until they improve. Once the ai line errors are addressed it’s will be very solid game . Already easily the best tennis game available very good post launch work …
All players have same playstyle in real gameplay when AI controls. All have good forhenad backhand , all run like prime Schwartzman , man this is not like this in real life. If you have bad backhand play more slice , if you attack offen send deep balls and go to the net. If you serve big , play serve and volley. No Ai players all have same style and same play and every game is the same haha I am not any hater i love tieberak and tennis games but man do something
Overall i have to say i like what they have done with this update! Especially the weighted movement and the fact that it’s easier to overpower and hit out with top spin. A lot of small little changes in animations etc too.
Feedback here in relation to Expert difficulty on both Tiebreak and World Tour Movement---->
Flat Shots:
looks like they got nerved a bit when it comes to precision and how far you are able to aim to the lines. No problem with that i think Flat shot is in a good state except the following(i don’t understand the mechanics decision there):
Looks like if you overpower a shot(red) sometimes its a well aimed shot to the lines/winner/go for it shot and sometimes it’s an Out. I don’t feel or see that player placement is a factor there. Looks like it’s pretty random so my question.
Wouldn’t it be better if the blue blinking/perfect timing shot is a well placed one and the Red Overpowered shot a Misshit/out all of the time? Plus wouldn’t it be better if bad positioning really impacts the shot quality there too?
Serve/Return:
They worked a little bit on the auto lock there when you are a returner…still not there IMO…still to easy to hit good long returns there even if the opponent serves with a 210 km/h serve. When you are the server it’s the same with AI returns plus…return bombs from the AI made a comeback with this update xD
Serve System is still not satisfying. Mike on the Tiebreak Discord said they won’t work on that system for now…IMO big mistake but we will see.
A lot of detail work is still to do down the line but yeah this game gets better and better!
-We also need more “punch” in the strokes sounddesign just wanted to add that again!
The ai not hitting out is a bigger issue than that as most people are going to police themselves and not abuse that flaw . Similar to ao 2 were you could just serve wide and easy winner open court,you knew it was possible but you just didn’t abuse it . The ai not hitting out effects every point in every mode . Obviously this needs addressing but it’s avoidable until it or if it is by simply not abusing/ using the tactic.
there was a new update today…a small one aprox 200mb. Have anyone noticed changes in the top spin shot again or am i going crazy? Feels like the timing is way to forgiving once again plus top spin feels totally overpowered right now!? Anybody has the same experience?
I too see this game as having real potential, which is why I keep coming back to this forum to see what has been fixed. I also thought AO tennis 2 had lots of potential. I think they are going in the right direction. Serve still needs a lot of work.
pericard play like some argentinian clay player. They need to add playstyle big server or serve and volley style.
I am not any hater i love tieberak and tennis games but man do something
just wanted to add that again!