Xbox 360 Table Tennis Review

The first budget title has arrived on Xbox 360 and is from the folks that have been bringing us the Grand Theft Auto series. Straying away from the GTA series, this Xbox 360 game surprised people when it was announced...a Table Tennis videogame. Upon seeing the words Table Tennis, I assumed it would be an Xbox Live Arcade game. Is $40 still too high for what would seem to be a fairly basic title?

As soon as you enter your first match you'll realize that this really looks too good to be considered an XBLA game. Rockstar put a lot of effort into making the character models look their best since they are pretty much the only things you will see in the game that can be made to look great. Other than the players, the ball and table are the only other main graphics in the game. There are different stadiums/arenas where you can play in but it's not like you will be moving away from that table. I must point out the judges, refs or whatever they would be called that are standing on the sidelines. If the ball goes out and you are shown a side view camera angle, you can see that they are fully 3D and animated. Rockstar didn't just put together some players with a table and a ball but you can see that they took time to make a table tennis game look realistic.

Before getting into the game, you'll notice that there aren't many modes to check out. But why complain about that since this is table tennis and you shouldn't be expecting a big list of modes. It comes down to Tournament, Exhibition and Training. This may only be table tennis but it is a very good idea to go through the training first. To make sure this isn't some simple game, Rockstar made the game a bit more advanced than what you might expect. I read, on probably IGN and OXM , that the game is lacking a career mode. Really the Tournament mode is a career for Table Tennis. The only thing I would see for a career mode that is different from the current tournament mode is to add a player creator where you can increase your stats as you advance through the tournament. Otherwise, the game really has all you need for a table tennis game, including online play. Online you can play a single exhibition match, go through a timed tournament or watch other people play.

Gameplay wise, Table Tennis is not a simple/basic game. Harder matches will require you to know the more advanced controls that they game utilizes other than hitting the ball. For instance, it is good play to charge up your hit by pressing an holding in your hit button while the ball is making its way towards you. Because of this charging, however, there is a bit of challenge taken away. You are not in control of actually hitting the ball but only of positioning your player. All you have to do is hold in your chosen hit button and right after your player hits the ball, you release and quickly hold that button back down. Missing the ball will only be because you were not near the ball's location. And if you were wondering, there are different types of hits that correspond to each of the face buttons. And if you prefer, you can use the right thumbstick to swing instead of the buttons. So pressing up on it would be the same as pressing 'Y.' Pressing right on the thumbstick is like pressing 'B' and so on. You are also in control of which side of the table you want to hit the ball to. The game really gets interesting when you get a good rally going as they have a 'Rally Counter' in the corner of the screen and the music starts to pick up.

For a Table Tennis videogame, Rockstar did a great job and they didn't just make a 3D type pong with people. With slightly more advanced gameplay than one might expect, it should appropriately be considered a tennis game in a confined area. Everything really works out well and looks very nice. The only problem is that not matter what they do, the game is going to be a bit basic. After playing it for a little while, most probably won't play it consistently. It's a game that you will probably play every once in a while for something different. This makes even the discounted $40 slightly high though not too bad. Other than this, Table Tennis is a surprise hit for 2006.

SCORE: 8.5/10