Silent's Review of "Pong IV: Attack of the Terminators" - LucasForums

01-01-2008, 2:42 PM
#1

Since "Pong V: War of the Tigers" will be coming out on the Xbox360 next years, I decided to go and catch up on my gaming. So, with my Xbox handy, I managed to buy myself Pong IV, and play through it. A bit of a disclaimer, I am a fan of the Pong series, becoming addicted to it after playing the first Pong game on the SNES. Some mild spoilers of the story, so sorry...

So, let's start shall we...

Graphics=8/10. Pong IV seems pretty decent in terms of graphics. The arena is in 3d, you got the standard CGI cutscenes, the ball looks perfectly spherical, but it just doesn't seem to appeal to the senses as much as better games. Framerates pretty good too. Overall, Pong IV doesn't appeal to be grpahically, though Pong V might be able to fix those flaws and wow me with the X360's processing power.

Gameplay=10/10. Now, THIS is where I am talking about. It's so easy to control your paddle as you go around hitting the balls. The game start getting harder when they start throwing smarter AI at you who remember your actions...and especially the final level, where you have to score against your opponent before the time runs out and you get an automatic lose.

Unlike other games, it's just plain fun. No other game is like it. Honestly. I mean, for crying out loud, it's Pong! Anyone who doesn't disagree with me is an idiot.

Story=9/10: The Pong series never, never disappoint in their storytelling. And this is no expection. In Pong IV, you play as the computer technician Albert in the year 3045, after the fall of the Alrig in the previous Pong game. You were hired by the United Nations navy to help man the "Pong Paddles" as they battle against a rebel priestess who threaten to release the secrets of Faster-Than-Light Travel to the entire galaxy unless her demands are met. What are her demands? Well, play the game and find out. Sure enough, you see alliances broken, enemies made allies, and destruction all about. Eventually, you must make a choice to either stay working for the United Nations or align with the rebel priestess...And due to the moral complexities of the story, I really couldn't choose which to choose, and I saved the game before making final calcuations and deciding who's really the good guy and who isn't.

I also liked the nice touch of the fact that no matter what happens, eventually Fate intervenes. It really doesn't matter who you side with anyone, since both sides will become jealous of your powers and will seek to kill you by hiring the The Bangimot Merc Company from Pong III. But, really, who cares about the fact that you don't have any real control and that the game really is disguising its linerality? Not me, of course!

(Oh yeah, and the entire essay is indeed satire.)

One of the themes that is really good about the Pong series is the essence of good trimpuhing over cynicism and hatred. This is reflected by the battlegrounds you face in, which include a return back to the "The Black Void", as seen in Pong II: Ongrotull's Wrath. With emptiness, and the sound of Pings as the balls hit the enemy Pong Paddles, it really brings back that sense of epicness that was sorely lacking in Pong III.

That being said, I really was confused how the Tes-Ktediy Gods from the first Pong game managed to get destroyed by the Alriatg Missles. All this time, we were told the Tes-Ktediy were immortal, and then a simple 'missle' kill them in one shot? What a let down. That why I marked it down one point, but still, the Pong series overall is better than any other game.

Replay Value=11/10. Why not? After all, you are playing the Pong series, where you battle against smart AI and try to attack your enemies by having balls fall into their goal areas! It's fun every single time, especially when you replay the same foe over and over. Yep. Total replay value. For it's fun.