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RockStar Games shot to fame with titles such as Manhunt,
State Of Emergency and, of course, the Grand Theft Auto
series. Although they have clearly made the vast majority of their
fortune through pushing the boundaries of taste and decency within
the videogames industry, they have also been partial to designs of a
more niche nature. Transworld Surf, Smuggler’s Run:
Warzones and Major League Baseball Featuring Ken Griffey Jr.
being three recent examples of a more light-hearted approach to
videogaming, and RockStar Games Presents: Table Tennis only
further reinforces RockStar Games’ attempts to show that they too
can play nice.
Many may think it an unusual decision for RockStar Games to
enter into the world of Table Tennis; however, it’s clear that it
was a decision that was crafted through years of market analysis and
development panache. On a system as powerful as the Xbox360,
there’s seemingly very little in the way of the sport that would
cause concern throughout the development cycle, and with such a
lack-lustre line-up and most of the Xbox360’s Killer Apps. pushed
back till later in the year, the market is ripe for RockStar to make
a grand entrance.
RockStar Games Presents: Table Tennis follows many of
the traditions that we’ve come to expect from modern sports
releases. A Tournament Mode as well as Exhibition Matches are
offered, alongside online play through Microsoft’s XboxLIVE!
service. The Tournament Mode features three levels of difficulty
(Amateur Circuit, Rookie Circuit and Pro Circuit) to begin, with a
fourth Unlocked once you progress through the beginning Circuits.
Each has a varying pre-set amount of Matches and, as is the basic
procedure in Table Tennis, features ties won by being the first to
eleven points in each game, and first to two games in each Match.
Should both players reach ten points simultaneously, the game enters
a Deuce which follows the same rules as Tennis. For Exhibition
Matches and online play, these options can be altered to the
player’s preferences; first to seven points and win a single game,
first to three games, first to twenty-one points etc.
Each player Serves for two points before switching Serving
player. Performing a serve is immediately daunting, but within a few
Matches becomes a natural action: a Meter appears denoting both Spin
and Power with a press of any chosen Face Button. The Power is
measured by a black bar scrolling from top-to-bottom and a white
border rising from the bottom to the top of the Meter signifies the
level of Spin placed on the ball. Releasing your chosen Face Button
will execute the Serve with the designated Spin and Power, and each
playable professional features a drastically varied scale to their
Service Meter.
Basic play proceeds both inventively, but also in quite an
obvious fashion. The Face Buttons represent each of the possible
Spins you can place on the ball: X Button for Leftspin, B Button for
Rightspin, Y for Backspin and A Button for Topspin. While Leftspin
and Rightspin are quite obvious, Backspin slows the ball down and
causes it to bounce higher when hitting the opponents’ side of the
table and Topspin cause the ball to speed-up. Holding the button
early calls a more powerful shot and, as is the tradition,  aiming is
performed by holding a direction on the Left Analogue Stick whilst
pressing your designated Face Button. The Left Button comes into
play for Soft Shots – dropping the ball just behind the net –
and the Right Button executes Focus Shots – a shot which enters
the camera into slow-motion mode and allows for vastly more powerful
shots, should your Focus Meter have enough charge.
The graphical presentation of the title is often astounding.
While clearly not challenging the Xbox360 with the need to render
only two Character Models, a table and a few minor background
details, each of the Character Models is the closet interpretation
in a release game to EA’s Next-Generation: Target Visuals presentation
from 2004. The Real-Time Lighting is spot-on and comes into play
mostly when either a long Rally is established, or a player’s
Focus Meter charges.  A trail is placed on the ball with the colour
representing the Spin that has been placed on the ball by the
returning player – corresponding to the colour of the Face Button
pressed. The sound-quality is of a high-standard, however, once
again, there is little to challenge the most powerful console
currently available in the UK market.
RockStar Games Presents: Table Tennis offers a gritty,
realistic interpretation of the chosen sport and, while years of
Football, Rugby, American Football and Tennis games may have tainted
current interpretations to beyond the point-of-return, Table Tennis
remains fresh and RockStar have brought home a title that is
possible the most realistic interpretation of it’s sport that the
videogames industry has ever seen. The title may not appeal
immediately to everybody, but any Xbox360 owner looking for an
inviting challenge would be fooling themselves should they overlook RockStar
Games Presents: Table Tennis. With very little competition,
other than the hum-drum Top Spin 2, the title is really ahead
of its field and SEGA’s forthcoming Virtua Tennis 3 is
going to have to go all-out to make a dent in RockStar Games’
crown. RockStar Games Presents: Table Tennis may not flower
RockStar Games’ reputation in the way most expect, after all, bad
press travels much further than good press, however it clearly
emphasises that the company is more than a one-trick pony. Fun and
inventive, and no guns.
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