Wii Fanboy Review: Family Table Tennis
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Aksys provides us with an incredibly accessible WiiWare title in Family Table Tennis. Costing 500 Wii Points, we figured we'd take the plunge and whip up a review (along with a tasty video, which is past the break) of the title for you all. What did we think of the game? You know the drill. Read on and find out!
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There isn't that much to Family Table Tennis. You've got a strong gameplay component, along with some casual minigames and a brisk single-player campaign. For 500 Wii Points, the game really does a good job for validating its worth, despite its lack of depth. It's a pretty good title, but that's not to say the game is perfect, though.
For one, it lacks the variety of control options you'd expect in a Table Tennis game. There's three different ways you can hit the ball: fast, normal and slow. With other titles, such as Rockstar's Table Tennis, you're allowed more freedom with your shots (top spin, backspin and combinations thereof). But, here, with the watered-down controls, you get less variety with your shots. but it helps the game to be a lot less complicated and thus, more accessible.
Aside from that, the controls are surprisingly accurate. Hitting balls where you want them to go on the table is often handled with ease, allowing you to play pretty effectively. The game's saving grace really is its gameplay, which is remarkably easy to get into and have a blast. It's like Wii Sports tennis, with more control over where your shot is headed.
Visually, the game is a treat. The stages are designed well, with bright visuals and a great cel-shaded presentation on the character models. It would've been nice to have more locales and players to enjoy, but the 4 different characters you can select from, as well as the 3 different venues, are satisfactory.
In the end, the title's lack of depth really doesn't deter from just how accessible and fun the title is to pick up and play. After you've played for an hour and finished every mode in the game, you'll still want more because the act of just slapping around that ping pong ball is so fun. This is where the multiplayer is going to be vital to your continued success with the game. As fun as the gameplay is, you can only play the computer so much.
Final Score: 7.5/10
With the recent launch of WiiWare, we've been busy getting our time in with some of the titles available for download. Be sure to check out our reviews of
Toki Tori, Critter Round-Up, Dr. Mario, Defend Your Castle, Star Soldier R, Pop, LostWinds, and TV Show King, as well as our early impressions of My Life as a King and its review here. Keep up to date with WiiWare by checking out our WiiWare category.
