Differences schmifferences...
The differences between the two versions really come down to the hardware, which sounds obvious but actually goes a bit deeper than just how the game is controlled. You see, there’s a hell of a difference between the power under the casings of your Xbox 360 and Wii, with the muscle of the Xbox 360 meaning that Table Tennis on there is always going to look better. I think it’s fair to say that the Xbox 360 version was so good because of the detail in the graphics. The character models were brilliant and of course there were all the little ‘extras’ such as the players faces changing as to how they were doing in a game, the way their clothing swished about and even the lighting of the venues themselves.Now there’s no way the Wii can match up to that and comparing them side-by-side, the Wii’s graphics do look a bit flat by comparison. However, even if you’ve played Table Tennis on the Xbox 360 and then try out this Wii version, I don’t think you’ll be too disappointed. Sure, the Wii isn’t a powerhouse console but looking at the visuals for Table Tennis you can see that Rockstar have tried to wring every last ounce of oomph out of Nintendo’s little box.
Given that this is a Wii we’re talking about, I have to say that I was impressed by the amount of detail in the venues and the characters themselves. Movements seem pretty realistic and there’s only a few places in the middle of frantic rallies when the animations ‘jump’ to enable you to play a shot. I don’t know about you but I’d much rather the animation skipped and let me play the shot than force a missed ball because it hadn’t finished the set-up…
The sound deserves a mention at this point too as this is one area where I could hardly tell the difference between the two versions. The sound effects of paddle on ball, ball on table, trainers squeaking on the floor, they’re all here. There’s also plenty of crowd noise too, lots of ‘oohs’, ‘aahhs’ and shouts of encouragement for one player or another… and all tweaked to sound like the arena you’re in with echoing, tinny shouts when you’re in a large venue down to duller, slightly muffled noises for the smaller places.
