TIEBREAK: Official game of the ATP and WTA Review

The craving for a modern, officially licensed, engaging tennis simulation has existed forever. While we see the release of sports simulations of the FIFA series (EA Sports FC), NBA 2K series, PGA Trous series, etc., every year, the quality of tennis games has been severely lacking for reasons completely unknown. It's not that the developers aren't trying, but the results have always been the display of subpar tennis simulations.

Topspin 2K25 from Hangar 13, Matchpoint - Tennis Championships from Torus Games, and a few others were all medicare compared to other sports simulations. Big Ant Studios is a known name for those who are into sports games, and their last tennis simulation, AO Tennis 2, showed decent promise. So, tennis enthusiasts considered that TIEBREAK: Official game of the ATP and WTA would fulfill the promise.

 

Regrettably, it didn't. While there are some notable improvements compared to AO Tennis 2, the gameplay in TIEBREAK is lacking in fundamental ways, and problems that originated in early access remain. Sprinting detracts from reality; the ball lacks physics, court surfaces are insignificant, shots are unbalanced, and any level of difficulty is too much for AI to handle. Additionally, there are an extensive number of problems with the gameplay that take the complete fun out of the game.

TIEBREAK: Official game of the ATP and WTA offers the standard fare of tennis games with modes including Career, Play Now, Online, Tournaments, and Djokovic Slam Challenge. The tutorials are impressively comprehensive, teaching you the fundamentals of the game and providing tips to correct your errors. While they may not drastically improve your playstyle, they ensure you are well-informed. In Tournaments mode, you can participate in the ATP 1000 and WTA 1000 at almost every venue, along with the ATP Finals and WTA Finals.

The license is the first truly remarkable part of TIEBREAK. There are over a hundred individuals in the game, starting from Carlos Alcaraz, Novak Djokovic, Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal, Jasmine Paolini, Aryna Sabalenka, Jannik Sinner, Daniil Medvedev, and almost everyone you'd want to play as while the majority of them appear very realistic. A great deal of work was obviously put into the players' facial animations, and except for a few exceptions, most of the player's faces were captured realistically. However, most players don't have generic animations, making them simply skins of other players.

The Career mode is usually the traditional feature we see in sports games, but TIEBREAK includes plenty of customization for building your character or playing as a famous player. There are several details, and after a nice opening sequence, you begin the World Tour, participating in several tournaments and climbing the ranks. TIEBREAK's Career mode has an interface that lets you spend in-game money on perks that fit your gameplay. You can also hire staff to care for your fatigue, fitness, etc. Though World Tour is generally well-designed, Career mode has a major issue that makes it unplayable.

 

You cannot enhance your player's babe stats in any form. Your character levels up after almost every tournament, but that doesn't impact their stats. Your character's base level stays at what you've started with, and it won't go up as you go through the game's career mode, which pretty much makes this mode pointless. I was frustrated after spending an hour trying to win the first tournament, leveling up to 3, and then finding out that I couldn't increase my player's stats. I was surprised that the developers forgot or didn't add this feature in Career mode, which is the primary requirement.

This is when I switched to the Djokovic Slam Challenge, which includes Re-Live Championships and Re-Write History, which you unlock after completing the first. This is similar to what we see in the WWE 2K series, and it's an entertaining single-player mode where you play a series of challenges starring Novak Djokovic. The debut of TIEBREAK brought a new, entertaining single-player mode—a series of challenges starring Novak Djokovic—to the series. In essence, you'll relive Novak's historical moments and play against the opposition he faced, starting in Melbourne in 2008.

While they are great additions, they do have some issues. The opposition AI plays mindlessly and can't even return a regular shot. The objectives are also sometimes glitchy, and the game will not always recognize whether you have completed them. Despite these issues, however, since I like Djokovic, playing his greatest moments was enjoyable.

Despite having well-modeled characters and accurate shot animations, TIEBREAK: Official game of the ATP and WTA falls short when it comes to gameplay. Every aspect of TIEBREAK's gameplay is flawed and is among the worst among all the tennis simulations I've played so far. A lot of the game's mechanics are buggy or completely broken.

 

Serving is clearly the first problem, and it's far from ideal. You only have to rely on pure timing when serving, and there are no indications or meters when to hit the ball. It is very challenging to execute the aggressive serve. The serving mechanic is poorly designed, and the deceptive serving time interface is another reason newcomers will find it frustrating.

There's a safe serve option, but it won't reach anywhere other than the center of the serving area. You can do three types of serve, Flat, Kick Serve Slice, and the AI opposition automatically changes position once you select a type, which makes it really unrealistic. And if you can pull a perfect service, it's almost always a free point since they'll miss most of those services.

Just like the service, the return is also flawed. To return the serve, just hit the button; the game will put you in an animation lock and guide you to the ball's trajectory. Even if it doesn't always happen, your player will get stuck in a silly state due to the animation lock while trying to return and move.

The player's movement, tactics, and ability in this game severely lack realism. You can't employ any skill or precision while moving in TIEBREAK; instead, you have to hit the left and right triggers continuously to activate the sprint. The inclusion of such a feature by the creators is puzzling. Since there is no stamina loss, you can always hold the sprint buttons. You may run endlessly, as stamina is useless in this game and recharges after each point.

Despite pressing the shot button while sprinting in the same direction as the ball, your character is still locked into animation. This causes the player to turn in a single second and run at full speed to return and hit the ball, causing an unrealistic play. The inconsistent nature of these animation locks is the worst part.

 

Additionally, shot balance feels largely off in TIEBREAK: Official game of the ATP and WTA, as shots aren't as difficult or satisfying since you can't decide when to release your shot or aim precisely. The match flow is disrupted, and the game seems generic due to the abundance of basic sprinting forehands or lunges. Pressing the shot's direction, turning it up to the right level, and getting somewhat near to the ball will activate the animation lock, allowing you to make a really nice shot. This method requires a minimal level of ability and subtlety.

There are even shot variations, with topspin always seeming to be the best choice. Slices also feel incredibly strange because the ball mechanics are so off in this game. Drop shots are somewhat okay, but you won't be using it much either since the AI's returns to your shot types won't matter. Besides, matches won't feel different, no matter what kind of surface you're playing on since there's no court physics in TIEBREAK either.

You can't also ignore TIEBREAK's difficulty—or more, rather, its complete absence. I started the game on Medium difficulty, something that I do with most sports simulations, and then gradually increased the difficulty. But I increased the difficulty immediately after the first match and found that it is pretty much the same, no matter which level of AI I'm playing against. A player with a rating of 70 can hit the ball as accurately as one with a 90.

At the same time, there is no correlation between a player's statistics and their ability to execute different shots. Higher-rated players have higher stats than lower-rated ones, but during the gameplay, it doesn't really matter. Also, stamina doesn't seem to have any effect in this game. Your stamina bar will decrease during the rally but will always refill to full when the point ends. So, there's no point in weakening your opponent by playing strategically. It would seem that throughout gaming, precision, spin, and endurance are completely irrelevant. So, much work is needed on the players' stats in TIEBREAK: Official game of the ATP and WTA.

 

It's a shame that the gameplay isn't as close to how the game appears visually. Because TIEBREAK: Official game of the ATP and WTA is great visually. Unlike most tennis games, player characters are realistic and have nice animation. The sound design is fine, with the voices of several different star players added to the game to create new player layers. Despite being disjoined with the gameplay, the shot aminations look very realistic. Sliding also looks natural, although they look the same on different surface types. Sadly, there is no option for different camera angles, which the developers should consider for a tennis game.

Ultimately, it's tough to recommend TIEBREAK to anyone due to its flawed career mode, poor AI, and gameplay issues. It's only visually appealing, but that doesn't make it worthwhile. There was never a pleasant, rewarding, or difficult moment in any of the matches. Perhaps Big Ant Studios has a planned roadman where they will improve the gameplay mechanics in the future release. There's no doubt that TIEBREAK: Official game of the ATP and WTA has tons of potential, but in its current state, the game can't be recommended to tennis enthusiasts.

 

Azfar Rayan (@AzfarRayan)
Senior Editor, NoobFeed