Family Table Tennis

Publisher: Aksys Games
Developer: ARC System Works
Genre: Sports
Release Date: May 27, 2008
Platform: Wii

Reviewer: Eric

Nintendo’s addition of Wii Ware has caused fans to rejoice. The general feel that Nintendo is trying to make up for the lack of online play is great. When Family Table Tennis came out I thought this was going to be a fun game for only 500 points. Guess what, it turns out this game is plain old bad!

The Wii Ware lineup is mediocre as of now. There are some neat games, but when compared to what Sony and Microsoft have there isn’t too much here. Family Table Tennis is not a game Nintendo should release right now. This game makes the Wii Ware look like a joke.

This game is a glorified version of Pong. There was another game just like this on Wii Play, which wasn’t even good on that disc. Pong was a classic game, ok we know that. Why would a company go ahead and make another version of Pong and, at the same time, not even test it out for bugs?

About ten minutes of playing this game I was ready to play another other than this. Wii Sports Tennis blows this game out of the water and that game was free!

The games graphics are pretty, then again aren’t all Wii games showing off some nice graphics? If you can get past these graphics you can pick between four characters, mom, dad, and two bratty kids (Billy and Sarah). After that you can play on any of the games four stages. Fantastic!

Use the Wii Mote to hit the ball back and fourth. That’s all you do in this game, there is no special shots you can do in this game. Pick up the Wii Mote and start hitting the ball. Hopefully you can do this though; there are enough problems with this game that might have you questioning your Wii Mote’s ability to function.

There are a ton of animation problems with this game. The ball will sometimes go straight through your character. Not only that you might have to swing your Wii Mote sooner than you think because your characters animations don’t always work right away.

Family Table Tennis does have some mini games, but trust me they are not worth mentioning. They are just as bad as the regular game.

I think I can find one good thing about this game. The two player mode is a nice addition and it can add some replay value to the game. Trying to find another player may be a problem, but let them know that it takes no skills to play this game.

Final Verdict
You can do so much better with 500 points. There are a boat load of Virtual Console games you can buy for that many points. Just because this is a cheap Wii Ware game doesn’t mean you have to buy it. Avoid this game.

Rating
1 out of 10

Family Table Tennis Trailer