VR Ping Pong Review (PlayStation VR) – Realistic and Frustrating

When I first got the chance to go hands-on (or eye-on) with PlayStation VR, I immedietly knew that I wanted either a Table Tennis game or Tennis game. It seems crazy that it’s taken this long, but finally we haven’t VR Ping Pong, which is as the name suggests is a Table Tennis simulation game.

I want to preface this review by saying that the game is challenging, in a good way. At first, I was trying to smash the ball straight onto the other side of the table, but it wasn’t working. You actually have to move your head around and make sure that the paddle connects with the ball, which sounds simple, but it’s actually unnatural to undertake whilst playing a video game. TABLE-TENNIS-1

It’s also worth noting that there were times that I’d simply miss the ball or lose my sense of place just because the PlayStation Move would track incorrectly or jump across the screen. This is more of an issue of the PlayStation Move than the actual game though.

The weird “Move shakes” that you would have experienced in other games is definitely prominent here. You’re able to use either one or two Move controllers. I’d recommend one unless you’re really particular on throwing up the ball to serve using that second Move controller.

Table-Tennis-3Unfortunately, the game has no form of multiplayer in terms of local play or online play. It’s a weird decision, but I can understand why the game would have been just too finicky to play in a multiplayer capacity. It can be challenging enough from a technical perspective playing by yourself.

 

The game places you against a robot opponent in one of three modes.  The game’s Tournament mode will take you a while to get through. You have to go through six rounds of opponents in a best of 3 sets match. If you lose at any stage, you’ll have to go back to the start again. You’re also able to play a single match against an opponent of the Easy/Medium/Hard difficulties.

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The six mini games are fun, but you’ll tire of them fairly quickly. They consists of games such as hitting a ball into a goal and being able to keep a consistent rally going. The usual suspects that you’d find in these types of games.

I’ll give the game some extra credit for its amount of customisation options. You’re able to set the height and depth based on how you want your player to stand in relation to the Table Tennis table. It allows you to create an environment which works for you which is therefore, more realistic.

CONCLUSION

VR Ping Pong is a game that I’ve already sunk a huge number of hours into. It can be incredibly frustrating at times, but it’s also scarily realistic. At times, I would literally go to rest my arm on the Ping Pong table to realise that it obviously wasn’t there. The game can be let down by the PlayStation Move Controller tracking which can lead to you losing a crucial point at times. All-in-all, for $22, it’s not bad if you’re hugely into Table Tennis and have nobody to play with in real life.

The PlayStation VR version of this game was played for the purpose of this review. You can read our review policy HERE.

THE VERDICT
Challenging, But Satisfying
Realistic Table Tennis
Tracking Lets It Down
Lack of Multiplayer
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