Introduction: You probably haven't seen the recent movie 'Balls of Fury'. In fact, you probably didn't even know the movie existed, right? But who cares, because it has spawned this fun little table tennis game for the DS. Characters from the movie become your opponents at the table, and according to the movie critics, you'll have a lot more fun slamming a ping pong ball at movie star Christopher Walken rather than watching him on the Big Screen.

GamePlay: At first glance this might seem like just another glorified version of the ancient Pong; you basically need to return or serve the ball by moving the bat around your half of the table with the stylus. The added fun starts when you have returned a few shots successfully and your power bar grows on the side of the top screen; when you have enough power you can unleash a 'power shot'. Each player has a unique power shot capability that sends the ball over the net with various twisty bounces and explosions, most of which are pretty impossible to return for an inexperienced player. But herein lies the skill of this game - learn to recognise your opponents' power shots and how to return them, and the trophies will be yours'¦

And that's pretty much it. There is also a "taunt" function using the shoulder button that distracts your opponent with a flash on their screen. And when you haven't got your power shot option, you can still spin the ball using the D-pad. But at the end of the day this is a fairly simple table tennis game with some twiddly bits.

The easy setting is great for picking up the game, but the normal and hard difficulty settings will get the most out of the game. You'll need power shots aplenty and the rallies will really test your stylus control.

Control:The stylus is surprisingly responsive to the speed and angle of your swipes at the ball. The ball goes where you expect it to - hit the ball with a left swipe and it goes left, hit it from behind and, well, it goes straight. Adding spin or sending off a power shot is easy with the D-pad.

Graphics:The intro promises much with its fiery flames, but the play screen is pretty much as you'd expect - a table tennis table and not much else. Your opponent gets the upper screen, while you get to move your bat around the lower half of the table. There are six different tables and 10 different characters to choose from. The whole thing is not that exciting, but it serves its purpose well.

Sound & Music: Rock 'n' Roll guitar complements the red hot flames in the intro and you may envisage a table tennis game in which you can sear your opponents with burning hot ping pong balls or perhaps incorporate a little martial arts into your game. But no, it's just table tennis with Rock 'n' Roll. And the odd oriental twang in there to remind you of the movie (that you haven't seen). The sounds of the ball being whacked or bouncing off the table are spot on.

Dual Screen Use: The game of table tennis is ideal for the dual screen DS, with its natural division down the middle of the table. You need to keep your eye on the upper screen to monitor your power bar and obviously to watch your opponent's play, without taking your eye off your own screen for too long and thereby forgetting to position yourself correctly for the return shot.

Final Comments: Balls of Fury is an adequately challenging ball game, ideally suited to the dual screen DS. It's table tennis with a twist - not much of a twist, but enough to be entertaining and fun to master. It's an easy to pick up, intuitive game with simple graphics that won't excite you but do the job well.

Pro: Easy to pick up but requires skill to master.
Con: Pretty basic table tennis game.
Final Score: 7.0



Reviewed by: Douglas Andrews