Star Tennis Windows Phone

Oh my. It takes some doing to break Pong. One of the first arcade games, and the title which first popularised video games, Pong is very, very simple. You’re almost certainly familiar with it, but just in case: it’s a game of paddle and ball. Or rather, line and dot. Two lines, in fact, each occupying opposite sides of the screen. The dot, or ‘ball’, travels on a simple trajectory, deflecting off the lines and the edges of the screen; should it bypass one of the lines – the players’ ‘paddles’ – then they have conceded a goal. First to an arbitrary score wins.

Over the years, it’s been cloned incessantly – particularly in the early years of its lifespan, and in the first home consoles, all-in-one units running integrated clones and variants of Pong. Over time, alterations to the formula were added, messing with the aesthetic, adding extra features, but never getting overly complex – there’s only so many layers which can placed on top of so simple a foundation (I am of course ignoring the ideas which evolved from the control scheme – games like Breakout). As such, it’s one of those few designs which, when it does get revisited, is always immediately recognisable.

So how can you break such a simple game? What could you possibly do to not even live up to that most basic, most ancient of formulas? Well, there are a few things you could try. You could release a broken version where the ball likes to glitch through objects, and sometimes even refuses to move at all. That would put a bit of a dampener on things. Or perhaps you might think to add in superfluous, unexplained elements that do nothing but obstruct the game – perhaps adding a mixture of movable and immovable objects every time the player scores against the computer, quickly building up so that the playing field is more obstacle than space, making scoring more difficult. Doing all that while making a game that manages not only not to improve aesthetically on the original, but actually worsen it – combining its primitive shapes with garish colours and a crowded environment to create something as obnoxious it is to look at as it is to play.

Yes, you could do all those things, and you’d have Star Tennis. At least the developer isn’t trying to charge for it, I suppose. A small mercy. Avoid.

UPDATE 11/01/2011 : The developer has informed us an update has been submitted for the game which fixes the issues mentioned in the review , here is what the developer had to say :

I have taken the review into account and I have submitted an update of star tennis to the marketplace. The update is a complete overhaul of the original game. All the graphics and play mechanics have been torn down and built from scratch.

Single player now has 3 modes:
Enhanced – remnant of the original game (with better AI and overall gameplay)
Classic – For those who prefer the original game of pong
Endless – Play the enhanced mode with random obstacles each time you score. And the end you can upload your score to a global leader board through OpenXLive.

As you may already know OpenXLive provides global leader boards, achievements, game announcements, several social gaming elements. All which are taken advantage of by the new Star Tennis.

I hope you will enjoy this upcoming update and I would also hope that if you do enjoy the new Star Tennis you will make note of the improvements and spread the word (as this update is a direct result of your review)

Star Tennis Gameplay Video

Star Tennis Screenshots

Version Under Review : 1.2.0.0

Star Tennis is a FREE game for Windows Phone 7

Our Rating for Star Tennis

What do you think of this WP7 Game ?

Scan this QRcode with Bing vision ( Hit the hardware Search button and click on the small icon that looks like an eye ) on your Phone to download this game on to your Windows phone device.

Free

Star Tennis

Developed by: R-Squared

wiper rated it : 1/5 for version 1.2.0.0

This game has been tagged as: Air HockeyR-SquaredRating - Badsports gamesStar Tennis

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Article written by wiper

I've been gaming since I first played Chess on the Amstrad PCW, and have never looked back. The advent of smartphones has given rise to an exciting new world of possibilities for gaming, and I've been particularly enamoured with Windows Phone 7 thanks to its integration with Xbox Live, and the minimum specifications Microsoft had for the handsets meaning that all of them are capable gaming devices. Also, because the OS is just so damned sexy. When I'm not playing or reviewing games, I have a variety of other interests and hobbies, not least ancient literature and history, subjects in which I hold both a bachelor and master of arts; so if you've any questions about which of the ancient Greek novels is the best,* you know who to ask! *Lucian's True History

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