Review: World Cup Ping Pong
by Staff Writer
July 4, 2009
Overview
Skyworks brings another sports title to the App Store with World Cup Ping Pong. This is a full on 3D ping pong experience which seems to provide a more realistic playing surface. Since this is World cup, 8 countries are included: U.S., U.K., Canada, Sweden, Finland, Germany, Russian and China. In Ping pong the first one to 11 points with the match, unless both are tied at 11, then you have to win by 2 (13-11). In this title there is only one set instead of multiple sets to determine the match like regulation table tennis. In this game you have to use your finger to move the paddle to hit the ball back to the other side. The ball has to bounce once on your side, and then once on your opponents. The first to miss loses the point to the other person.
Features
There are three gameplay modes: Tournament, head to head, and arcade. In Tournament mode you play the World Cup beginning with the 8 countries with you controlling one. The tournament goes 8-4-2-1 when the champion is crowned. In head to head you play against a friend on the same device. The screen is a top down look on a ping pong table where one player has the left side of the screen and the other the right.
Arcade mode is playing on a table where the opposite half is up so you hit the ball against it, and it is automatically returned to you. While playing arcade mode, you score points based on how many times you successfully return the ball. During the game red, green, and yellow circles pop up worth 25, 50, and 100 respectively. You have to hit the ball in the circle to score the points, and you have three lives to maximize your score.
The controls are simple and intuitive for anyone to pick up and play. To control the paddle you simply touch somewhere around the paddle, hold your finger down, and slide it towards the ball. To hit the ball you move the paddle towards the ball, and the direction and speed you use is what is registered in the game.
To apply spin, you simply move the paddle quickly when hitting the ball in the direction you want to apply the spin. There are three paddles to choose from: one that is balanced, one with high spin but low power, and one with high power, but low spin.
The Good
The 3D ping pong table is outstanding, which provides a perspective making it feel like an actual table. There is wood floor in the foreground, and black in the background adding to the illusion of the size of the table. The ball bounces seems to apply to physics and take into account the force and spin you use. The ball’s shadow follows it perfectly, and shows the direction of the ball.
The sounds are typical with the smack of the paddle and bouncing of the ball. Included are two different techno beats that you can switch in the menu. The game picks up right where it left off, on the exact score and serve you were on.
The controls are super simple, as it provides you the ability to treat your finger as the paddle, and play accordingly. The ping pong gameplay is fun, but doesn’t provide anything unique. The arcade mode may be the most played because the challenge is definitely there, and it feels so much like Forrest Gump.
The Bad
The game doesn’t have much to it. If you want to play ping pong on your iPhone, than this is the game, but that’s about it. The gameplay gets tired fast, and once you complete a tournament there’s no reason to play again, with no varying difficulty levels.
There are online high scores for tournament and arcade, but I didn’t find the addiction of some other titles that make online high scores so appealing. The head to head is pretty weak limiting to only play on the same device with a top down perspective. It would be great if you could play on the 3D table over wifi or bluetooth. Replayability is a huge question mark for this game, and I don't think many people will go back to it after the first few tries.
