In this day and age of endless sequels and rehashes, why would the gaming press and public snicker and point when a company like Rockstar tries something different? Granted Rockstar presents Table Tennis is a weird choice, but I already have enough tennis games and when it's on your 360, how can tennis be serious and ping pong not be? It's all just pong. Back and forth.

Graphics

This is a true "next-gen" title in my eyes. It's obvious now we're still not close to the photorealistic graphics we were promised, but Rockstar did an amazing job getting this game to look great. The only other game that looks this good is EA's Fight Night, also on the 360. It's becoming clear that these graphics are really only possible when there's not much going on on-screen. In Rockstar presents Table Tennis you have a table, a ball, and 2 players. That's it. So they had all the time in the world perfecting the players. So yea, the graphics look good.

Audio

Sadly, audio is a different story. Granted there's not much you can do in the way of sound here, but there's not much crowd noise, only the occasional sounds from the player, and the sound of the ball against the paddle and table. The only inspired use of music is when you have a rally that goes past 10 hits some low driving music kicks in. It's a really great effect and works really well. It's a shame it's such a small part of the overall package.

Gameplay

Of course graphics and audio affect the overall experience of a game, but push comes to shove it's all about gameplay, and while it shows flashes of brilliance, Rockstar presents Table Tennis comes up lacking. What works so well with Rockstar presents Table Tennis is the smallness of the play area. Instead of having this huge court to run around in, like in tennis, you're both essentially stuck staring each other in the face, and the game becomes much more about finesse and shot selection.

This is where the game succeeds and fails. There are 2 control choices. In both you use the Left Analog stick to move your player and decide where to place your shot. The spin of the ball can be done with either the right analog or the buttons. Pushing the right analog stick to the right will have the same outcome as hitting the B button, putting spin on the ball.

Using the two analog sticks to determine shot placement and spin on the ball works great, and it feels really intuitive. But I ran into a problem, every time I tried to use it I got my ass handed to me. It only take a split second to push the analog stick in a direction to swing, but it's longer than it takes to hit the button. And it makes a HUGE difference. Maybe I just need more time with it, but I used nothing but the analog controls for the first few hours, and when I switched to using the buttons, my game instantly improved.

The other thing worth mentioning is a sublime use of the vibration control. You see the longer you push your shot placement to the end of the table, the more the controller vibrates, letting you know how close to the edge of the table you're hitting the ball. It's a perfect use of the vibration in the controller. It's subtle feedback that you can process without taking your eyes off the action, and it works brilliantly.

While all this is done well, the gameplay doesn't seem quite there. There's no way to take a small step left or right, if you tap the control stick, your character take a HUGE step, so fine tuning your stance is a non-issue, it can't happen. It's a little disconcerting, because there's no good reason for it to be like that. I'm playing at a small table, I should be able to make small movements.

Conclusion

The game is above average, but not my much. There's so single player campaign, no stat buildup/rise to fame game here. Either you play in tournaments, or you play online. There's a small amount of stuff to unlock, but it's all the usual stuff. New courts, clothes, and characters. The game doesn't really feel like a complete game, it's like I'm playing a demo or something.

When the game is on, it's really on. Getting into a 50+ hit rally is a great time. It gets so tense with the music playing and the back and forth. Spinning the ball left or right trying to squeeze it past your opponent. Since every rally ends with a score, you can never let your guard down.

It's fun, but rent it first to see if you can get into it long term. If you're limited on the number of games you can play, then I'd look elsewhere. It's good, but only as a diversion.

6 out of 10

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