bapenguin
04-03-2006, 04:27 AM
Table Tennis or Ping-Pong. Whatever you call the game it is mostly familiar to everyone. At sometime in your life, whether it was gym class growing up or down in a buddy’s basement, you played Table Tennis. Rockstar, the creators of such controversial titles as Grand Theft Auto and State of Emergency of unveiled their first next-gen title, Table Tennis.
As soon as the announcement hit the net waves of Rockstar fans were shocked. They were in disbelief. Many thought it was some evil prank by those crazy developers. Even up until Saturday April 1st, the day I was invited to a hands on tournament with their product, many including myself weren't sure if it was a prank. The game is indeed real, and in fact it's quite a bit of fun.
So what is Rockstar's Table Tennis? The game is Rockstar's exclusive $39.99 price point title for the Xbox 360 console. The goal of the game was simple, Rockstar wanted to focus on game that was simple for anyone to play, but also featured depth and scope for the hardcore gamer. Rockstar describes the game like this - Table Tennis has the intensity and speed of a fighting game, wrapped in a tight gameplay mechanic that offers a highly unique experience.
The game features 11 playable characters, 4 women and 7 men, from various Nations. Each character has a unique playing style and attitude. There are strengths and weaknesses of each. There is no create a player feature which is a bit disappointing, but the characters they created really do make the game have a fighting game aura around it. Many times during the tournament I had heard things like, “Your Liu Ping is strong” and “His Mark is greater.” The characters even trash talk and taunt other players. There is going to be over 19 venues complete with crazy ping pong crowds that like to heckle opponents.
Graphically the game is very impressive sporting over 30,000 polygons per character with real cloth physics and swanky reflections. Table Tennis utilizes R.A.G.E., the Rockstar Advanced Game Engine. Of course, it wouldn’t be a next-gen game without sweat simulation, something the game does very well. The game is right up there with Fight Night in looks. Animations are smooth, and there's a good variety of reactions depending on the incoming shot and where you hit the ball.
Each player has four attributes, Spin, Accuracy, Speed and Power. There are also 4 shot types, top spin, back spin, left spin and right spin. These are mapped to the buttons or the analog stick. They are all pressure sensitive so the harder and longer you hold it the harder your shot, but less accurate. The controller will begin to vibrate if you try to put too much power on a shot to let you know you may go off the table. You'll also notice a glow around the ball as it is hit, this is the type of spin on the ball. This adds a strategy element to the game. Certain spin shots should be returned with other spin shots. For instance, if a left spin shot comes in to your player, you can return with a right spin shot to really get the ball spinning even more.
The single player portion of the game features exhibition and career modes. Honestly, this game doesn't seem like it would be tailored towards the single player experience. The game is all about competition. Xbox Live and Local multiplayer is where it's at.
Audio wise Rockstar nailed the ping-pong sound. I swear I can still here ping pong balls being hit back and forth in my head. On top of that there’s some nice ambient sounds in the arenas with crowds cheering great shots as well as people heckling a bit. The music is mostly techno and electronic, so there seems to be little variety.
The gameplay is fast and furious. There's even a little rally counter in the bottom right. The problem is the rallys occur so fast you don't even have time to see what the counter is at. The other problem with the fast paced game is the slow motion camera that pops up as players begin to get in the “focus” zone. Focus Zone is a bar at the top of the screen that builds up as you rally and hit shots tailored to your player’s strengths. When the meter is green you'll be able to unleash focus shots by pressing the right bumper and doing a shot. Also, if your meter builds all the way your player becomes in a sort of permanent focus mode where every shot you hit is a focus shot. If both players get in the focus mode the lights dim around the outside of the table and a spot light focuses on the table. It’s a pretty neat effect and adds to the setting of the game. Again though, with the fast paced rallys the slow motion shot camera breaks things up and makes it difficult to keep the flow. Rockstar said it would be possible to turn it off, and it is still being worked on and tweaked. Another nice touch to the rallys is as the rallys heat up and go up in count you get some thumpin’ club beats that build and build as the rally builds and builds.
The tournament itself was a blast to play in. It was double elimination style with best of 3 games. Matches are played to 11 points, and you must win by 2. The great thing is the matches can be finished fairly quickly. Rockstar mentioned that the game is used quite abit around the offices to settle disputes, pick who’s buying lunch, and to see who has to go to Fed-Ex. I went 3-0 until I faced a player from UGO (http://www.ugo.com). I then lost the play in to the finals match, but I swear my controller was glitched. Eventually the UGO player won the tourney, with second place going to Xbox Exclusive (http://www.xboxexclusive).
All in all the game was a lot more fun then I expected. By the end of the tournament I enjoyed just sitting down and watching two players duke it out. The game was in a fairly polished state and only had a few minor glitches to be worked out. Rockstar's Table Tennis should hit stores on May 23rd with a MSRP of $39.99. Rockstar is still considering working on a Live demo, but no word yet.
Don't forget to check out our screenshots posted Here (http://www.evilavatar.com/forums/showthread.php?t=11253).
As soon as the announcement hit the net waves of Rockstar fans were shocked. They were in disbelief. Many thought it was some evil prank by those crazy developers. Even up until Saturday April 1st, the day I was invited to a hands on tournament with their product, many including myself weren't sure if it was a prank. The game is indeed real, and in fact it's quite a bit of fun.
So what is Rockstar's Table Tennis? The game is Rockstar's exclusive $39.99 price point title for the Xbox 360 console. The goal of the game was simple, Rockstar wanted to focus on game that was simple for anyone to play, but also featured depth and scope for the hardcore gamer. Rockstar describes the game like this - Table Tennis has the intensity and speed of a fighting game, wrapped in a tight gameplay mechanic that offers a highly unique experience.
The game features 11 playable characters, 4 women and 7 men, from various Nations. Each character has a unique playing style and attitude. There are strengths and weaknesses of each. There is no create a player feature which is a bit disappointing, but the characters they created really do make the game have a fighting game aura around it. Many times during the tournament I had heard things like, “Your Liu Ping is strong” and “His Mark is greater.” The characters even trash talk and taunt other players. There is going to be over 19 venues complete with crazy ping pong crowds that like to heckle opponents.
Graphically the game is very impressive sporting over 30,000 polygons per character with real cloth physics and swanky reflections. Table Tennis utilizes R.A.G.E., the Rockstar Advanced Game Engine. Of course, it wouldn’t be a next-gen game without sweat simulation, something the game does very well. The game is right up there with Fight Night in looks. Animations are smooth, and there's a good variety of reactions depending on the incoming shot and where you hit the ball.
Each player has four attributes, Spin, Accuracy, Speed and Power. There are also 4 shot types, top spin, back spin, left spin and right spin. These are mapped to the buttons or the analog stick. They are all pressure sensitive so the harder and longer you hold it the harder your shot, but less accurate. The controller will begin to vibrate if you try to put too much power on a shot to let you know you may go off the table. You'll also notice a glow around the ball as it is hit, this is the type of spin on the ball. This adds a strategy element to the game. Certain spin shots should be returned with other spin shots. For instance, if a left spin shot comes in to your player, you can return with a right spin shot to really get the ball spinning even more.
The single player portion of the game features exhibition and career modes. Honestly, this game doesn't seem like it would be tailored towards the single player experience. The game is all about competition. Xbox Live and Local multiplayer is where it's at.
Audio wise Rockstar nailed the ping-pong sound. I swear I can still here ping pong balls being hit back and forth in my head. On top of that there’s some nice ambient sounds in the arenas with crowds cheering great shots as well as people heckling a bit. The music is mostly techno and electronic, so there seems to be little variety.
The gameplay is fast and furious. There's even a little rally counter in the bottom right. The problem is the rallys occur so fast you don't even have time to see what the counter is at. The other problem with the fast paced game is the slow motion camera that pops up as players begin to get in the “focus” zone. Focus Zone is a bar at the top of the screen that builds up as you rally and hit shots tailored to your player’s strengths. When the meter is green you'll be able to unleash focus shots by pressing the right bumper and doing a shot. Also, if your meter builds all the way your player becomes in a sort of permanent focus mode where every shot you hit is a focus shot. If both players get in the focus mode the lights dim around the outside of the table and a spot light focuses on the table. It’s a pretty neat effect and adds to the setting of the game. Again though, with the fast paced rallys the slow motion shot camera breaks things up and makes it difficult to keep the flow. Rockstar said it would be possible to turn it off, and it is still being worked on and tweaked. Another nice touch to the rallys is as the rallys heat up and go up in count you get some thumpin’ club beats that build and build as the rally builds and builds.
The tournament itself was a blast to play in. It was double elimination style with best of 3 games. Matches are played to 11 points, and you must win by 2. The great thing is the matches can be finished fairly quickly. Rockstar mentioned that the game is used quite abit around the offices to settle disputes, pick who’s buying lunch, and to see who has to go to Fed-Ex. I went 3-0 until I faced a player from UGO (http://www.ugo.com). I then lost the play in to the finals match, but I swear my controller was glitched. Eventually the UGO player won the tourney, with second place going to Xbox Exclusive (http://www.xboxexclusive).
All in all the game was a lot more fun then I expected. By the end of the tournament I enjoyed just sitting down and watching two players duke it out. The game was in a fairly polished state and only had a few minor glitches to be worked out. Rockstar's Table Tennis should hit stores on May 23rd with a MSRP of $39.99. Rockstar is still considering working on a Live demo, but no word yet.
Don't forget to check out our screenshots posted Here (http://www.evilavatar.com/forums/showthread.php?t=11253).