Customer Reviews

Rockstar Presents Table Tennis

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(6)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

The reviews that claim that you can win simply by waving actually are TRUE, For the early (easy opponents), my 4 year old can put up a good fight, because you dont necessarily need to time your swing. The game is much deeper than that, and that is wherre some may get confused. As your opponents improve, it is important that you have learned the skills of "charging up", "gaining focus" and creating spin, like real ping pong, the game is more about proper anticipation and movement as you progress.

This game is incredibly fun, but one has to get past the learning and baby steps opponents.

I got the chance to play an unfinished build of Rockstar's Table Tennis for the Wii at PAX.
The control setting I played on was very nuanced, almost to a fault. I say this because at first the controls appeared to be broken; it was only after some time with them that the true depth became apparent.
Serving was tricky at first - you swing your arm while pressing "A" to initiate the serve and then you must swing again in time with a meter to complete the serve. Nothing in the build told me about the second swing though, so I dropped a lot of balls before I figured it out on my own.
Once the ball is actually in play the game becomes much more accessible. I tried the different control schemes and, of the three, the most enjoyable actually seemed to be the beginner controls. This control scheme oversimplifies the game a little too-much for single-player play, but for multi-player it turned the game into a much more fun version of the Wii Play table tennis game.
As I mentioned before, after some time the controls began to make sense and things that were seemingly impossible at first, like serving, became easy and intuitive. Characters swung in the same direction we did and with an appropriate amount of power and better movement than Wii Sports: Tennis or Wii Play: Table Tennis. I was able to sustain quite a few fun volleys and become comfortable enough with the game to start introducing trash talk into the mix. Since this is the measure of any decent sports title, I think this game succeeds where it needs to, with the time needed to adjust to the controls well worth it.

Bought the game with a lot of excitement since I am an avid fan of table tennis.. only to be hugely disappointed... the game doesn't have any option to select left hand as the racket holding hand. This completely ruins everything because if you play with the remote in your left hand, none of your moves/motion are "copied" correctly, not even close.
Come on Rockstar - even Wii Sports have left/right hand option - this is one of the most basic options that should have been included.

This game didn't quite meet my expectations. The developers should have tried to make it more realistic. The game is really only fun for me when I'm playing with one of my friends. It's really boring to just play the computer. There are three basic paddle movements: up and to the right, straight up or down and to the left. The ball will spin according to which direction you are pushing on the D-pad and the paddle movements I mentioned only control which part of the table the ball will hit.

It's an ok game but if they had made it more like Wii Sports Tennis it would have been an improvement.

The presentation makes the game play seem more than it is. The play of the players is slow and control is archaic by today's standards. On the Wii, one would expect to be able to throw spin by paddle motion. This is not the case. Spin is done the "old fashioned" way by pressing the arrows and buttons in combination to get different effects. The game is a let down. The closest play to real paddle control comes from the Wii Sports Resort game. Now...if they'd allow you to control your character back to the middle of the table...I'd be in heaven.

As a table tennis enthusiast, I was primarily interested in how well the wii controller captures your movements. It turns out the controls are quite responsive and once you get used to the sharp-shooter or control-freak setup (using the nun-chuck for additional controls) you can produce breathtaking rallies.

However, it has very little to do with actual table tennis swings. I was a bit disappointed that you don't control spin with the motion but the directional pad. I would think the wiimote would be ideal for detecting topspin or backspin motions. Likewise for ball-placement: to place a ball short you have to swing downwards (unless you use the sharp-shooter setup where you can achieve that with the nun-chuck), which is very counter-intuitive for somebody who actually plays table tennis.

I understand that they have to make a game that is accessible to people who don't necessarily know how to play table tennis, but it would have been great to include that option as a separate profile for those who do.

It's still a very fun game, just don't expect it to be a simulation.

I had a chance to play this game and being a fan of table tennis, I thought it could do no wrong. Boy was I mistaken. If you want real time controls, you're better off playing Pong. I'm serious. What's the point of a table tennis game where you flick your wrist 2 seconds before the character swings the paddle. The fact that it's not 1 to 1 motion is a huge disappointment. I really feel like table tennis can only be played via first person because it's just awkward controlling another person from a third person perspective. It's about as fun as you would expect trying to play table tennis with a puppet would be. Not very.

The graphics are muddy and dark... the game feels unfinished. The first time I jumped into a tournament I laughed... the stadium is totally empty yet they have a large audience in the soundtrack... which is kind of ironic, considering the game is a lot like the stadium. Empty but trying to be loud. I couldn't play this monstrosity for more than 5 minutes. After getting my butt handed to me over and over by the very first opponent, I knew this game was not for me. The controls are frustrating to say the least. The game pretty much forces you to be in the right place and predict where your opponent will serve, or else you just won't get there in time. It doesn't work at all like real table tennis, where you'd expect to stay near the center of the table and then move to where the ball goes... nope, you need to be there already. Then there is the camera which is just awful... the character takes up most of the table view, so if the ball is hit directly to you, good luck seeing the bounce to hit it back. This is why I said that table tennis games need to be first person.

If you're looking for a close-to-the-real-thing simulation... look somewhere else. I'd suggest even just buying a paddle and some balls and using the dining room table or something.... because it would be a lot more fun than this. If you're looking to play through some type of career mode and build up your character and such... think again, there's merely a tournament and exhibition mode. You don't get to really customize your character from what I can see, other than changing the shirt.

Honestly, it feels like the guys at Rockstar just enjoy playing table tennis on break and figured "why not make a game" but the result is just a mess and it seems like they are merely trying to sell this game by the Rockstar name alone. Total failure in my opinion. Avoid at all costs.

Being a keen table tennis player, I find that this game is the best simulation of table tennis currently available across all gaming consoles. It would have been much better had it been enhanced to use MotionPlus.

RockStar Table Tennis has, to say the least,
a huge learning curve ! I may like it if I can
ever figure out how to play it !!!
I thought a person could create his/her own
player/character/avatar...if the process is in
there, I have not found it yet, or it has not
been unlocked. Unlike EA Sports Grand Slam Tennis
which is hard, but, terrific...RockStar is difficult.
I will not give up as I want that extra challenge
and difference of play from Sports Resort table tennis.
Buy with caution and get a good deal so you will not
regret your purchase. I got a good deal I can live with.

This game is impossible to play and is very difficult to use. I bought the paddles and it was a waste of money. I am going to trade in the game for Wii sports resort or Mario Kart. DO NOT BUY THIS GAME, if you do you will be extremely disappointed and confused on how to play it.