Score
Gameplay:	7
Graphics:	8
Sound:	9
FunFactor:	5
PlasmaFactor:	8
Overall:	7.4

Rockstar Presents Table Tennis Review
February 21, 2008 by Jeffery Collins
Rockstar Presents Table Tennis is a remake of the hit Xbox 360 title of the same name. This time Rockstar has decided to take advantage of the Wiimote and the further interaction that it provides for most its games. Rockstar was able to implement the Wiimote in an entertaining way and kept my attention throughout my game time. However, the overall amount of time it takes for you to unlock everything is severely lacking.

Gameplay

Table Tennis has a limited amount of extremely simple game modes. The only four selections on the basic menu are tournament mode, exhibition mode, training mode, and options. There is no career mode and no real character customization other than the choice of 5 shirt designs for each of the 11 characters. Such a simple sports game seems an odd creation for Rockstar, but the simplicity is the beauty here.

Training mode is very helpful for getting started. The controls in the game are a little complicated and training mode takes you through various tutorial exercises that allow you to get used to the game play. The training mode provides enough practice to ensure you aren't completely clueless going into your first real table tennis match.

Tournament mode is the key aspect of single player fun in Table Tennis. Tournament mode is essentially Rockstar's version of 'career mode', in the sense that it is the main single player attraction and provides the most hours of gameplay. In the beginning you have the 3 standard difficulties such as rookie, amateur and pro. However if you beat all three you can unlock All Star mode, but at that point the repetition of tournament mode begins to get boring. Because of the lack of variety in the AI the most enjoyable part of this game, as in many other Wii games, is the multiplayer.

Exhibition mode is the only form of multiplayer, since this title lacks any sort of online functionality despite the Xbox 360 version containing Xbox Live connectivity. Two players go at it in an intense match of table tennis. The best part about the multiplayer is that it is almost exactly the same as single player, except you aren't always on the bottom of the screen. Throughout the game you become accustomed to the view from the bottom of the screen; all of the techniques that you master are from that perspective. In multiplayer mode after every two serves, your view switches to the top screen. Suddenly, your gameplay habits are reversed, which can be difficult to adjust to. Despite this flaw, the multiplayer in Table Tennis is a great party aspect to the game.

The controls are intense and slightly confusing. As one would imagine, you hit the ball by swinging the Wii remote like a ping pong paddle. Before you swing, you can charge your swing. This allows you to put a powerful spin on your ball. By holding left or right on the D-pad and swinging, you can choose the style of spin you want to execute. Holding A will do a soft hit which will pop up the ball and occasionally cause the other player to miss. The B button is the kicker. When you press the B button you do a focus shot, which slows everything down and focuses the shot, allowing you to hit a powerful shot. If the other player gets lucky enough to hit it, it will pop up and you will be set up for a spike. However if you swing way too early it will just register the swing as if you did it on time. Therefore, timing is not an issue, which detracts from the otherwise realistic gameplay.

Characters

One of the amazing things about this game is the depth of the characters. Each character is from a different country. Lui Ping is from China, Haley from USA and Luc from France. The great thing about this is that the crowd responds to each character accordingly. If you play as Lui Ping, my personal favorite, as well as the best starting character in the game, a random guy in the crowd yells out something in Chinese, after which a girl shouts, "GET HIM LUI PING!" in response. I think that the incorporation of their respective languages into the crowd response is a nice touch and it adds a more personal feel to the characters.

Graphics

Rockstar has always been known for their amazing graphics and they've done it again. This time they implement dynamic lighting and intense shadowing , as well as excellently rendered characters. The graphics are definitely similar to past Rockstar games such as Grand Theft Auto 3, but at the same time, they take on a new look. It's great because when you put spin on a ball, the ball turns a different color and indicates the type of spin. Little additions such as that are simple, but very effective. This, along with the rest of the graphics, makes for an aesthetically pleasing game. Of course, it's no Crysis, but the graphics are still impressive.

Sound

One of my favorite parts of this game is the sound. As I mentioned before, the crowd is well implemented. When you almost miss the table, the crowd gasps, and when you hit the side of the table and get a cheap point, the crowd boos. When you're about to flawlessly beat someone, they chant your name. Depending on the quality of a shot, the crowd's level of cheering will change.

The music is a great addition to the game. The soundtrack is mostly composed of interesting, house-style music. As soon as I turned on the game for the first time and heard the music come up, it reminded me of Gran Turismo and I loved it. There isn't any in-game music as the sound effects would overpower and background. Hitting the ball makes a very realistic sound, but doing special shots has a nice synthetic flare on top of that. The sound effects, realistic and unrealistic, definitely enhance the experience.

Plasmafactor

This game's PlasmaFactor is the fact that there are 3 different methods of control. Others have criticized and condemned the unusual controls on the Wii version, but I beg to differ. The three types of control change the way you play completely and each one requires different skills. The standard control mode uses just the Wii remote, no nunchuk. The direction you swing is the direction the ball will travel and the AI controls the movement of your character. This is simple but very hard to master because if you tilt the remote slightly, the ball will go the opposite direction. The second control mode is called sharpshooter. The sharpshooter mode uses the nunchuk's control stick to direct the ball where you want it to go. This is the easiest mode to use in my opinion and my favorite. The third mode is called control freak. It works like the standard mode except the AI does not control the movement of the player. I found this mode relatively useless because the AI does a good job at controlling the limited movement of your character without your interference.

Conclusion

Overall the game is a good arcade game. The replay value is limited due to no online play and if you have the Xbox 360 version, you won't notice too many changes. The realism of the controls makes up for the lack of online play, but only to an extent. There is local multiplayer which is fun, but again, all of this is limited by how little replay value it has. This is a game that, once you beat the game, you grow tired of it. However looking past all of its shortcomings, Rockstar Presents Table Tennis is an excellent choice for the shelves of casual and hardcore gamers alike.