Rockstar Games Presents Table Tennis [X360]

In a recent conversation, another games journalist mentioned that his one sentence review of Rockstar's Table Tennis would be, "it's freakin' Ping Pong!" After much deliberation, it's hard to disagree, though most of the games community seems to side with Rockstar and China in their qualitative analysis of the game. Despite much derision prior to release, Rockstar might have another (unlikely) hit.

So far, the conventional wisdom seems to follow this path: Pong launched video games, and is therefore great; Table Tennis is like a greatly expanded Pong; therefore, Table Tennis must also be great. Most of the people making the comparison probably haven't played Pong lately.

Indeed, Table Tennis is pretty good. But it's (obviously) also a lot more like Pong than the real sport: fun in five-minute intervals, but can't sustain itself over any real stretch of time. In that respect, the game isn't much different from any given Live Arcade title. So why are we paying forty bucks? Oh, right. The name: Rockstar.

From a functional perspective, this is a thin package. Offline, you've got a basic solo tournament ladder and single-screen multiplayer; online it's basically the same thing. There are mini tournaments and single exhibition games. There's a tiny bit of lag when serving online, but otherwise the experience is fundamentally the same in each arena.

The only difference between playing online and off is the human element. Rockstar has put together some respectable AI for the offline game, mostly avoiding coding a single glaring flaw into each opponent. But there's not much comparison between playing the AI and a real person, and online at least you'll find the variety and unpredictability that people sometimes bring to the table.

What differentiates Table Tennis from the godfather of video games is a certain control depth. The face buttons and right analog stick interchangeably serve to swat the ball, though the face buttons are slightly more responsive. The button pressed correlates to spin put on the ball. Tap for a little, hold for a lot. Holding for spin also charges a focus meter, which can be used to put even more energy behind a hit.

The left stick, meanwhile, moves both the player and the direction of the shot. Early on, the game's challenge involves keeping your avatar on the proper corner of the table while trying to swat the ball to the opposite corner. Since the humans in the game don't move with the grace of the ball, it's a bit more difficult than it sounds. It's easy to end up several feet away from the table (and the ball) while simply trying to place a shot.