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Name: Rockstar Games Presents Table Tennis
Genre: Sports
Platform: Xbox 360 

Nearly every game to ever come out of Rockstar has sparked protests. Robberies were blamed on Grand Theft Auto, murders blamed on Manhunt, and homosexual sex acts blamed on Bully. Because of its past most people believed Rockstar’s first shot into the next generation of gaming would surely keep their controversial streak.

Table Tennis is one of the few games ever released that was actually kept a secret as intended until mere months before its launch. It was virtually a tech demo, with Rockstar wanting to test out its new game engine and needing a practical way to do it. They decided to finish the game and release it with a low price tag.

This test of their engine resulted in one of the best and most realistic sports games ever made. Table Tennis had amazing graphics, sound, gameplay, and controls. It takes deep strategy onto the ping pong table with a very polished control scheme.

The gameplay is much more like a fighting game than a sports game. Each button does a different swing which affects the ball in a different way. Your opponent needs to obviously hit it back, but the spin he puts in it in relation to the spin you put on it can affect the outcome dramatically. Think of it like a counter system in a fighting game.

The game also features some sick multiplayer action both online and regular. It is an intense game that will leave you and a friend in more of a sweat than you may be playing the real thing. Online play is also good, matching you to people with similar skill levels and having very low lag.

Some aspects could be better, however. A customizable character would be nice – as the game is fairly small as is and it would do nothing but add to the experience. There is very little customization in the game so being able to design your own paddles or characters would enhance the game by a lot. There is also no doubles option. I am not sure if doubles is a common practice in the world of competitive Table Tennis but it would have been a nice addition to an already solid game. It is a fairly inexpensive game, weighing in at $39.99 new (and used copies will likely be half of that) so I do suggest you grab your paddle and...

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