Author
Josh Cox
Price: $1.99
Publisher: TappyTaps s.r.o.
Using the basic concept of table tennis, Paddle Pong HD is the newest way to quench your competitive thirst. First and foremost, it’s is much more like real life table tennis than the old version of Pong. Yes, the game is set up the same way but Paddle Pong HD adds a twist to the classic style game. What’s the twist you ask? Well, it’s just that, a twist. You can turn and twist your paddle. By doing so you can more easily direct the ball and score on your opponent.
To make gameplay even more spontaneous and fun the developers added four bonus items that can be obtained and used during each game. The four items include: a bottle, that will make the ball randomly change directions, an apple, that will make your paddle larger, a saw, that will shrink your opponents paddle, and a blue stick figure with fire hair, this bonus item with drastically speed up the ball and increase gameplay. A tip: you lose all of the bonus items each time a ball is lost, so use them wisely.
The cartoony graphics, not to sound dude-ish, really ties the game together. They give the game its own personality and keep it fresh even though this really isn’t a revolutionary game. The audio also plays a big part in the freshness of the game. The visuals matched with the audio really keep this game fun and interesting. Without those, this would just be table tennis.
The controls, due to the turnable paddle, take a few games to get use to. You can go the old fashion way and use one finger to slide the paddle back and forth or to get the full effect of the game, including the paddle twist, you can use two fingers and learn the twist. Once you master the two finger gaming, I’m sure you will prefer it.
Overall, this game takes an old idea and does a good job to freshen it up a bit for the iPad. Besides single player action, you’ll be able to locally play against a friend insuring the difficulty is high enough for players looking for more of a challenge. Paddle Pong HD will run you $1.99.
Overall Value for it’s $1.99 price point
Overall: 3.5 out of 5.0 stars Graphics: 4.0 out of 5.0 stars Sound: 4.0 out of 5.0 stars Controls: 3.5 out of 5.0 stars