Tiebreak: Official Game Of The ATP And WTA review – not quite love-Nick Gillett-Entertainment – Metro

Tiebreak – Novak Djokovic is a big part of the game (Nacon)

Tennis season is not over when it comes to video games, as the successor to AO Tennis takes to centre court against TopSpin 2K25.

Australian developer Big Ant Studios may not have quite the profile of Capcom or Bungie, but they’ve carved out a sizable niche for themselves in sports simulations, with a back catalogue that includes rugby, cricket, and Aussie rules football games, along with a growing list of tennis titles. While none of them has hit classic status, there was a gentle uplift in review scores between AO International Tennis and AO Tennis 2, making the arrival of the catchily named Tiebreak: Official Game Of The ATP And WTA a moment for cautious optimism.

Like April’s TopSpin 2K25, it’s not named after any particular tournament or player. However, Tiebreak does benefit from the two governing bodies listed in its name, meaning you get more than 120 named players from the circuit, from Alcaraz and del Potro, to Andy Murray, whose recent retirement from the sport is roundly ignored.

Its cover star is Novak Djokovic and say what you like about his wearying views on Covid vaccines, belief that female players should earn less, and inflammatory stance on Kosovan independence, he’s still an exceptionally good player. His past glories are the focus of an entire game mode in Tiebreak, which lets you replay some of his landmark encounters, many of which are against Federer, Nadal, and Murray.

Alongside online multiplayer that takes in both singles and doubles, the game’s real meat and potatoes remains career mode, where you choose either a named star or your own blank slate made-up player, whose name you can choose, along with their nationality, voice, and even the frequency with which they grunt when hitting the ball. You can also set their over-arching play style, which admittedly has only a subtle effect, and can be changed at any time during their career if you change your mind.

As you progress through the ATP circuit, if your player’s male, or the WTA if they’re female you earn XP and reputation, the latter based not only on your performance, but also on your reactions between points and the answers you select in post-match press conferences. That influences the sponsorship offers you get, but weirdly XP doesn’t seem to do anything at all – it doesn’t even buff your player’s stats.

The actual tennis is also something of a mixed bag, even if Tiebreak is far more instantly accessible than TopSpin 2K25. They both absolutely require you to play through their tutorials, but Tiebreak’s interface is simpler and more intuitive, making its default and most reliable shot, the topspin return, easy and satisfying to pull off, even if other shots, and the tactics around using them, don’t feel as fully formed as its competitor’s.

The unfortunate side effect of this is gameplay that lacks some of the subtlety that inspires long term appeal. Court surfaces make little difference, with grass feeling all but indistinguishable from clay, and the ball’s speed and bounce varying so minimally that the biggest differentiation between tournaments is visual rather than strategic. That’s certainly not the case in the real sport, where Nadal’s prowess on grass, and Djokovic’s dominance on hard courts, change the course of whole tournaments.

There’s a similar double edge to the official ATP and WTA licences. On one hand, you get accurately modelled real players, who do genuinely look like their real-life counterparts, even if they don’t really move with any of their signature style. It gives the game a sense of recognition and grounding in the sport itself. The downside is that you get the impression so much of the game’s development budget was spent on the IP that its mechanics haven’t had the polish they need.

That means venues have flat, texture-free walls and seating, and on-court animations often look stilted and robotic, with players either lurching towards the ball or weirdly aborting an animation halfway through. It can be pretty distracting, and along with lacklustre opponent AI, in which even topflight players make repeated and uncharacteristic unforced errors, there’s a general absence of finesse, and a pervasive sense of rough edges.

Tiebreak’s huge and recognisable list of official players is an impressive feat, and for tennis fans gives matches an unmistakeable gravitas that no-name players lack. It also plays a solid game, even if its mechanics lack the slightly harder-to-learn nuance of TopSpin 2K25, its nearest and most recent rival.

While far from a complete washout, Tiebreak’s comparative lack of refinement, both graphically and in its gameplay, make it less interesting to play, even if its immediacy and mechanical simplicity make it more straightforward to pick up and play. The chances are this will appeal to a somewhat different set of players, but it’s not a game for everyone.

Tiebreak – not quite championship material (Nacon)

Formats: PlayStation 5 (reviewed), Xbox One, PlayStation 4, Xbox Series X/S, and PC
Price: £49.99
Publisher: Nacon
Developer: Big Ant Studios
Release Date: 22nd August 2024
Age Rating: 3

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