When there is a lack of resources and opportunities around you to play a certain type of game, hearing that there is a video game coming out that will let you play this game at home, you can’t help but get excited. That was how I felt about Merge Games latest VR Ping Pong Pro game. There really aren’t any options around my city where I can play a legit game of Ping Pong like I did when I was younger and so I was really looking forward to a new game that claims to have the realism of actual Ping Pong. My review, in short, would simply have to say: I was disappointed.

Gameplay

Advertised as a virtual ping pong game that will feature realism, I was thoroughly surprised to see the ball react to the paddle the way it did. No matter how much I tampered with the settings, adjusting the tilt of the paddle to be just right and my distance set comfortably, the ball was always hard to tell how to hit. I did eventually figure out how to play the game properly with the controls, but it is only manageable on the lowest difficulty setting and even then still difficult.

The movement of the paddle is limited by a crazy amount that there are many shots that could have been saved if only they let me make that distance. It felt like you were in a perimeter box and the paddle wouldn’t go any further than the set limits. This led to so many points being scored on me when they shouldn’t have; the most frustrating of which were the ones where the ball bounced on my side of the table but too close to the net and the paddle wouldn’t cover the length of the table on my side. It gives the feeling that you are a human version of the practice wall from the arcade mode.

I would say that they had an excellent idea for the game in mind with the set up though. I loved how there were a bunch of different locations that you could play in and that the online ring used wasn’t the same as the maps themselves. It made it seem like when playing against the AI it was all for fun and when playing online against somebody else it was a real match. This is thanks to the online matches being held one of a few crowd filled rooms.

The practice mode options were also pretty great. If the controls were more player-friendly, I could see myself spending hours practice and playing with the various mini-game options they set up. There were even more that were unlockable, so if you manage to land a few wins and high scores, you might see more modes open up to you. The same goes for the customization section of the game, which was a neat inclusion to allow players some unique styles of their own.

It was strange that they chose to allow some rules and not others into the game. I used to play real ping pong by following the regulation rules and even tried out for a couple of tournaments, which I only managed to rank somewhere in the middle (yay for the ribbons, I guess). So I couldn’t help but notice that there were some rules enforced, such as the serve bounce and net bounce rules, but not some other ones that were pretty basic. A couple of the ignored rules to note are allowing the player to hit the ball when it misses their side of the table but before it hits the ground and serves have to cross diagonally and bounce on opposite halves of each player’s side. It just seems weird to pick and choose which rules to follow without giving the list of options to the player to turn on and off as they wish.

Graphics and Sound

While there is pretty much no music in the game, the sound effects of the crowd when there is one, and of the ball being swatted across the table bring it into a real game. While there would most likely be music anywhere a ping pong table was, they did a good job of making it really seem like you were in the surroundings of each map. Visually they did a decent job of this as well. It was apparent that they focused on the table and game materials more than anything, but the way everything around you looked was pretty well done. It may have been obviously a game, but it was done well enough to give you the aesthetic pleasure of being in all the different locations.

Replayability

There is plenty of reason to keep playing as you can always improve your skills. The question is, do you really want to keep getting better at the game while the controls are off as bad as they are?

What Could Be Better

The controls of the game need a lot more work. Trying to identify how hard you can hit the ball is a whole mess of its own, which I wouldn’t expect from a game with the most realistic physics and I already know how the game should feel the play. Not to mention the limited movement from the box makes it impossible to save some hits and cause some movement lag of its own. Movement lag made it the worst as even though I managed to swing the paddle in the right direction, the game registered as it being stationary when it had a full follow through to hit the ball back on the opponent’s side. While this is my main issue with the game, it is one that hurts the entirety of the game.

Other than that, the multiplayer mode needs two things added to it: a rematch option and a player invite option. The moment the match ends, the players are sent back to the main menu, but what if it was a close game and they wanted to do a best of 3 matches? This option isn’t there and all multiplayer searches are done with no options to specify or invite specific players. This issue can be fixed with a quick update though and I hope they decide to do this soon.

Conclusion

VR Ping Pong Pro was quite the letdown and didn’t live up to the expectations that I had for it. The issues I have with the game can both be fixed with an update and I certainly hope they decide to work on improving the game. I am a huge fan of ping pong and was looking forward to having a chance to experience the game at home, but it looks like I just got a teaser for what could have been a great game.