So I just wanted to drop a few words (edit: well I kept typing and they ain't so few anymore lol) on what started as a sure-fire refund candidate and then evolved into one of my fave VR experiences:
RACKET FURY:
TABLE TENNIS VR
In-depth Impressions
I'm looking at it as a former semi-professional Table Tennis player (meaning regional and some national ranked tourneys but never gone International or getting anything other than sponsored gear, no money involved).
First impression wasn't good and after an hour with it I was set in refunding it and just wait for that other (apparently very good) ping-pong (lol) game coming to Quest.
Physics are realistic, almost godlike in giving you that "wow it's real" feeling but also slightly fucked up in some way, how it applies force for instance, enough to make you into an awful player even if you're pretty good irl. Arcade mode was just sim-mode with some auto-targeting railing in your shots.
I was unable to even rally for more than 3 or 4 exchanges! Always playing defense since as soon as ramped up my topspin and power shots I'd just miss the table by a couple feet at best.
I was pissed.
After a few days playing other VR games I went back to it. And I fell in love.
Devs have been smart to include a few necessary tweaks like the starting position of your racket. Once you've set up everything to your liking it's much better.
I just need to fully close the rotation of my topspins to avoid the ball from "getting airflow" and fly off the table with a swirl effect. And pay a lot of attention to how your racket's plate is angled when hitting the ball and closing your shots. Carefully setting up the customization preferences is a must.
What made a world of difference was understanding that at least atm I need to watch at my racket when I hit the ball.
I'm not fully 1:1 into just doing the swing by memory no-look while staring at my opponent's side of the table, I'd miss the ball 50% of the times just "air swinging" at nothing and get frustrated. This I guess is inherent of fast paced/positional VR experiences with IRL "muscles memory" and required precise 3D VR player's interactions. If that makes sense (hopefully). The severity of it will always differ greatly between players but the experience will constantly improve with better hardware/hmds/dev tools and expertise.
As it is now, with time and practice it gets much better but it's still there, at least for me it is. Honestly it'd also benefit greatly from an higher and smoother framerate to make RF:TTvr even better.
120fps would be much better for this kind of experiences.
They can still improve the smoothness on Quest, at least by adding some customization to lessen the load on the 835sd and 100% prioritize gameplay.
I don't care for the A.I. robots and sometimes the Quest/engine/bugs (!) struggles with some skipped animations which are just distracting, especially when the opponent erratically moves forward to the net.
An option to have a wireframe opponent or even just a floating racket would be much appreciated.
It would look and play better and be easier to handle for the Quest's processing power.
Btw, there's afaik there's no option to play using only one Touch controller, and there really needs to be one. There's simple workaround to throw the ball when you're serving, without needing a dedicated second controller just to do that.
Anyway this game is now part of my daily fitness routine. I only play with Sim physics, don't see the point with the Arcade physics the way they are handled here.
I haven't tried the online yet because even on EU West I ping 100+ms.
But I could always find players online at any time, usually after midnight for me, average of 15 players on rotation.
I think the local mp could potentially be a blast vs a similarly skilled friend.
TO BUY OR NOT TO BUY?
• I'd recommend the game to any good TT players out there who don't have many occasions to play the real game with real people. I was about to refund it and was very disappointed with it, yet now I'd rate it as an 7.5/10 effort and if the devs update it to fix the problems, add more customization options while polishing the full package, I will consider it an essential 9/10 purchase for tt enthusiasts looking for a "pure" VR TT experience.
• Casual players who play TT for fun at family gatherings or friends' who own a table, if the sound of playing VR TT excites you then grab it, try it for almost the full 2 hours and then keep it or refund it.
• Absolute beginners who have barely ever held a tt racket their whole life or tried playing ping-pong maybe once or twice should not waste their money with this, imo.
I don't think, as it is now, that RF is aimed at you.
Just go get Sports Scramble (which is awesome btw).
