After the initial casual fun of Wii-Sports, casual gamers have been looking for a genuine follow up. They now finally seem to have a few games that should provide that casual sporting experience they crave. Decca Sports, and Rockstar Presents Table Tennis (the game in hand) both provide more than a nod to Nintendo’s long lasting sports game. Whilst we’ll leave Decca Sports for a future review, Table Tennis takes up the Wii racket sport mantle from Wii-Tennis. As we will go on to discuss it provides a similar experience to Wii-Tennis that is then enhanced and refined to allow much more nuanced play for experienced players.

Table Tennis from Rockstar started out life as a game for the 360, it was praised for both its intuitive controls, simplistic direct approach and realistic graphics complete with sweating players. The Wii being more famed for its controllers than its graphics, we were interested to see how this game would turn out. If ever there was a test to see if visuals would make or break a game, this was it.

The Wii version is essentially a direct port of that 360 game. The same modes and players are provided and the game structure is much the same. The thinking being, if it isn’t broke don’t fix it. This approach stands them in good stead as they are able to draw on all that good work from the previous version and concentrate on really implementing a good set of controls on the Wii.

It probably goes without saying that the graphics of the Wii version are considerably shy of its more powerful forebear on the 360. That said, they hold the same function and weight as on the other format and to all intents and purposes do everything that is asked of them. They certainly communicate both the precision and fine weighting of table tennis in a manner that is both direct and enjoyable. They have dropped a few of their signature features such as the player sweat deformation that made their clothes behave differently as the action got going and they started to perspire.

The controls of the game are obviously where Rockstar had the most to gain or loose. Any franchise coming to the Wii has pretty high expectations of integrating seamlessly into the unusual pairing of the Wii-mote and Nun-chuck. Largely Table Tennis delivers a scheme that is both believable and responsive. You swing the mote in different directions to specify where you want to direct the ball. You serve much like Wii-Tennis with a sharp upstroke to throw the ball up then a swing to launch it forward. However, whereas this being the limits of Wii-Sports, Table Tennis takes things a step further. Not only can you apply a varying degree of spin to the ball with the D-Pad, you can also choose to pull a drop shot with the A button or a special power move with the B trigger. If you don’t take the standard Wii-mote only controls you can try various other combinations that bring the Nun-chuck in to control the player’s movement, a much requested feature for the next Wii-Sports.

In terms of racket sports on the Wii, this is just what the doctor ordered. It takes the simplicity of Wii-Tennis and imbues it with added depth. Now you need to consider not only the direction of the shot, but also counteracting the opponents spin, all the time working to build up your special meter to enable you to pull a power shot out of the bag. This adds both depth and nuance to the play. Expert players can distinguish themselves by knowing the best way to work each play and the right moment to bring out the killer move.

The only downside is that Table Tennis has strayed from Wii-Tennis’s one-for-one mapping of your Wii-mote motion to player movement. You can now essentially ‘input’ your shot ready for the next hit. If you were hoping this would really be Wii-Tennis 2 then this will be a bit of a disappointment. However, this isn’t tennis its ping-pong and the control scheme that is provided works much better than an adapted tennis style. The fats past action and reaction shots required demand a bit more flexibility in the control scheme, and it is testament to Rockstar’s understanding of their own game that they took the decision to relax the link between controller movement and player response.

Overall, this is an excellent game and well worth your money. In fact, even if you have played the 360 version it really does stand of the merits of the new control scheme to warrant a second look. Whilst there is not the variety of wide-appeal of Wii-Sports, Rockstar Presents Table Tennis provides something for those of us who want to spend more time improving at our sports. This is a quality game through and through and finally puts to bed the old wives tale that you need super graphics for a great game.

Sweet
– Control scheme that really shows how sensitive the Wii-mote really is
– Simply pick-up and play style
– Pin-point touch of a real game of table tennis

Sticky
– Controls can take some time to learn
– Visuals are unimpressive
– Limited variety

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