Skyworks Interactive just released a load of sports games into the App Store. So we’re going to take them one at a time. First up is World Cup Ping Pong!
The more we play this game, and correspondingly the better we get, the more excited we are about it. Imagine in your head the Ping Pong scene from Forest Gump (YouTube). Now transfer that scene to the iPhone. Actually, didn’t Forest invent the iPhone? Ah…never mind that…
That’s right World Cup Ping Pong puts you right in the middle of four different ping pong settings -- Tournament, Arcade, Head to Head, and Practice. In Tournament mode, players can choose their team country (eight represented) and paddle selection (three paddles with varying power and spin ratios). Paddle movement comes dragging a finger around the screen. Swipe quickly to put some spin on the ball. You’ll quickly find that this is the key element to winning -- spin mastery. Practice mode is similar but no competitive tournament is entered and thus no moving through the ranks. Arcade mode flips the opposing end of the table vertical and pits you against rings appearing on it. Rings of different sizes and point values become visible and challenge you to hit the ball inside their borders.
Got a friend near by? Dare them to defy you in Head to Head mode. This is where the AppSmile team had the most fun with World Cup Ping Pong. A top down view is presented with each player at opposite ends. Make sure you have a steady surface to rest the device on since the rivalry may get heated. Too bad Skyworks didn’t include the ability to represent countries in Head to Head mode and this would be a great feature. Another option that is seem no developer has offered yet is live online competition. Hopefully this is considered for a future update to World Cup Ping Pong.
As more and more finger swipe sport titles are being added to iTunes, we anticipate the competition to get fierce. Yet, World Cup Ping Pong is holding its own for now and will probably continue to do so considering Skywork’s commitment to world class sporting games.
World Cup Ping Pong gets our AppSmile 5-Dimple rating:
