It's been a long time since I played Rockstar Games Presents Table Tennis (and I refuse to refer to it as anything more than TT or Table Tennis from this point on!), but I popped it in last night to play with a friend who still had it. Neither of us had played the game in months, but we really enjoyed it when it was new and figured we'd go back to it for a match or two.
Well, it was late, so it only ended up being one match..... but it reminded us what we loved about the game and how awesome it was. It was a hard fought match between England (Mark) and France (Luc) (classic rivalry, eh?) but in the end, France, led by my friend prevailed and squeezed out a narrow victory after a struggling comeback.
The matched ended 13 to 11 in favor of Luc after I botched an attempt by me to drop a backspin serve just over the net. It was a disapointing way to lose, but I wasn't upset by it. We both fought hard, we both took risks. In the end, I lost, fair and square.
It reminded me what I loved about Table Tennis though. It's a simple game to pick up. The controls are very basic. Heck, you could really play it with just 1 button and the control stick if you wanted to. But there's so much depth to the play styles and there's a lot of strategy that develops over time as you volley the ball back and forth. It's such a great adverserial game.
The game doesn't need a sequel. It's by no means perfect.... but the things they could include in a sequel probably aren't worth the development effort for the audience. A better multiplayer lobby would be the first thing. Perhaps a better career mode (as it is, its just a series of longer tournaments on higher difficulties with no real "career"), though the focus of the game was never really on its single player. It was a budget title when it was released.... a way for Rockstar to show off their game engine, but its a game that will always have a place in my collection.
I strongly recommend that anyone who hasn't played this game try it out. It's old, sure... but its age has not affected its fun. There are some definite nuances to it and the controls while simple, could stand to be a little tighter. It's not for everyone, but if you like intense 1 vs 1 adverserial games, you'd probably get a kick out of this (note that it is only intense once you have mastered the basic concepts and can keep a volley going for more than a couple hits!).
