 Platforms: Java (J2ME)
The appetizingly named Digital Chocolate continues its summer assault with Beach Ping-Pong. Contrary to their previous game, Bikini Beach Party, this time the game manages to avoid being chauvinistic by providing an identical number of male and female rivals to play against.
So… It’s a ping-pong game. It’s set on the beach. On three different beaches, to be exact, each sporting two tournaments for a total of six tournaments against up to six opponents each. That’s quite a lot of ping-pong matches to play before you’re crowned the champion - close to 30 matches, each up to 11 points or, in case of reaching a 10:10 score, a 2 point advantage. So the two main questions are – is it fun, and does it stay interesting for that long?
 The surprising answer to both questions is “yes”. Why surprising? Because the game uses a one-button interface, such as the one already used to excellent effect in DC’s Tower Bloxx. A one-button interface makes a game easy to get into, but isn’t considered something that promotes game depth. So it is indeed easy and fun to just press the action key in the right moment and send the ball flying over in a graceful curve over to the other side of the table, but how tactical can you expect to get that way?
Well, Beach Ping-Pong’s answer is “more than you’d think”. The smartly designed interface allows you, by varying the timing and length of the key-press, to determine the strength and direction of the shot, and even add spin by double-pressing. At first it seems too easy, but the more lucrative tournaments and better players require very good timing, tight focus and game sense. When you win, you feel you deserve it.
You do sacrifice some challenge for the simple elegance of this system, but less than I thought I first. The only things that bugged me were that the computer players had no real personal style to differentiate between them, and the sounds: a ping-pong ball has a very distinct and satisfying sound, and the game failed completely to simulate that on my Nokia 6230i, replacing it with something not far beyond a dry “click”. On the other hand, the ball movement, although not a hundred percent realistic, was smooth and natural looking.
Bottom line: a simple, fun, but also challenging game, recommended even if you think real ping-pong is a sport for small, hyper-active Chinese.
Download Beach Ping Pong:
Size: 205 Kb
Compatible with:
All J2ME models :: All Any J2ME device
Download free java game to PC:
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