Game Review: Table Tennis for the XBOX 360

Cool game. It's an attempt to create a game based on the professional style table tennis game. My girlfriend doesn't like it because she likes to gently hit the ball back and forth for enjoyment. She doesn't like slamming or "spiking" the ball to score points or trying to put spin on the ball. Well anyway I enjoy the game alot. It's got to be one of the most intense 1 on 1 competitive games when you play online via XBOX Live. It's more like chess than table tennis when you are playing some really good players out there. You have characters you can choose from with a variety of skill ratings for power, spin, accuracy and speed. You unlock different characters and clothes for characters by performing tasks in the game such as winning tournaments. I prefer to use Jesper, a swedish fellow. His power rating is the highest of all players that you choose from at the start of the game. You can often get a suddenly powerful shot past unsuspecting players online.
The different buttons on the controller perform different functions such as a soft drop shot, putting spin on the ball in different directions, increasing your power via what is called a "focus" shot. The focus bar gets depleted as you use it and increases as you make good shots. When someone tries to return a shot but hits it poorly, they perform a "block" shot where the ball is hit back to you, but bounces rather high on the table. This presents the ability to perform a "slam" on the ball and smack it hard past the other player. However, slam shots are not too hard to return as long as you are in front of the shot when it comes back to you. Performing a "focus" shot when someone slams to you makes it easier to return it without presenting them another attempt at a slam shot. Generally, you want to slam the ball to a part of the table that the other player is not guarding. Better players will leave a spot open until the last second, knowing that you are aiming to that spot, then they will jump over there and return the ball. Of course, all players have their patterns. For example, when you know how someone typically tries to return a slam ball, watch for the opening and slam it to where they least expect you to. This goes back and forth. You learn their patters and they change them. They learn your patterns and you change them. The person who has the less predictable of patters will usually win. Then again, some people just suck.