Pong

Pong is back in a colorful, animated 3D remake of the classic arcade game.

This 3D incarnation of Pong is very flashy, very colorful, very cute - and very dull. The playing fields are inventive, and the animated 3D graphics are up to current standards. The player's paddle is actually a cute little animated character before and after matches. The game follows a typical arcade game pattern of beating levels to unlock other parts of the game.

So what's the problem? From a gameplay point of view, it's a lack of depth. Why settle for cute when there are truly excellent games such as Sypro the Dragon available in the Playstation bargain bin?Sypro has a lot more personality, and a lot more replay value.

There's a second serious problem with this game, and that is the poor controls. Neither the old digital Playstation controller nor the newer analog dual shock control works well in trying to move a paddle on the screen. It really illustrates the brilliance of the original Pong game design which used a dial to control the paddles. They could have used buttons like this modern version does, but a dial gives you infinitely finer control. Whenever I missed a shot it seemed to be because of the awkwardness of the controls.

The third problem is somewhat ironic. Not only are the physical controls poor, but the programmed interface between the paddle and the ball is actually more simplistic in the Playstation version of Pong! In the original Pong you could control the angle of the ball by hitting it near the edge of the paddle, a technique that made skill an important factor in the game. In the new Pong you just hit the ball over and over again, with no control over its direction.

It's hard to believe I can compare the 1972 version of a video game to it's 1999 sequel and find the sequel to be the weaker game. Of course, not everyone who plays this game will compare it to the original. Our 9-year old son has only seen Pong on TV. But even though he didn't notice the controller issues as much as I did, he found his own problems with the game. For one thing, he said the game got too hard way too quickly. Like most children his age he's no slouch at video games, but in Pong he could only unlock a few levels. He thought he might like playing against another person instead of the computer, but that didn't work out either. In 2-player mode you can only use the levels that have been unlocked in single-player, so that got boring fast.

The final disappointment is that, unlike other Playstation remakes such as Asteroids, the original "Classic Pong" is not included in this game. The sad thing is that if it had been, it might well have been the best thing on the CD!