Table Tennis
- September 24, 2007 00:00 AM PST
Get your paddles at the ready! Table Tennis is the its way to the Wii and will put a spin on what you thought this casual game could be.
There are very few things in life you can do with a drink in hand and feel like you're doing a better job because of it. Table Tennis on the Wii is one of the rare occasions where I felt like I was playing better by relaxing my focus.
When I stepped up to the table and picked up my Wii Remote I thought, no problem, I got this covered. Oh, what terrible mistakes we saw when we play too many casual games on the Wii (I'm blinking at you, Wii Sports.) Yes, I got my self-important butt served to me on a padded platter.
A whole new type of pong
There is so much depth and skill involved in Table Tennis on the Wii that this version stands up to any tennis game out on any system, period. The strength, angle and spin of hitting the ball are all influenced by the Wii Remote, and getting the ball over the net in just that right way to get the upper hand on your opponent takes skill.
That's not to say that it's too hard for the casual gamer to pick up. The controls are intuitive enough that you can pick up the paddle and get the ball flying back and forth over the net in no time -- you just need another casual gamer to play against. The true magic of playing Table Tennis is that the difficulty is set by the skill level of the player. Very few games out there capture the real-life experience of playing a game and translate it so fluidly to the screen.
As my evening with Table Tennis wore on, I progressively got better. I'm not sure if I was actually playing well of if my ample libations just gave me the memory of doing better than I actually did, but regardless I had a fun evening with my paddle. As to whether the game will feel as robust as its counterpart on the Xbox 360 remains to be seen, but it will be a welcome entry to the sports catalogue on the Wii.
