Review: PONG Quest! (Steam)

by Jim Smale · April 21, 2020

PONG Quest is a new take on the seminal arcade smash. Take control of a brave young paddle and traverse treacherous lands – each loosely based on various classic Atari® hits – in this uniquely PONG-themed dungeon-crawling RPG.

Pros:

Chunky cartoon graphics.
265mb download size.
Steam achievements.
Full controller support.
Graphics-fullscreen and resolution.
3 difficulties-casual/standard/hardcore.
Four modes-Quest/local battle/local classic/online battle.
Quest Journal-Stats/game competition/record of unlocks and a full list of unlocks awarded.
Quest mode-story mode that plays out as a dungeon crawler, you see the enemy going around and touching them causes a PONG fight!
Quest mode has loot drops for ball types, cash and customize items.
Earn EXP level up and pick from 3 upgrade choices.
Classic PONG gameplay.
Customize your Paddle with headgear, suit, and accessories.
A lot of fun to play.
Quest mode boasts 6 dungeons each contain a handful of levels with a boss fight at the end.
Idols-grant buffs.
Optional side quests are given by the people you encounter.
Local battle-2 to 4 players.
Local classic-2 player.
Online mode-public/friends with four modes available-anything goes/classic/quick play/competitive.
Online supports taking two local players online.
Mini games-find them in dungeons and the can be things like pairs/Simon says etc.
Adds in other games like Centipede.
Vortex-special bonus rooms.
Balls-many to find and they spawn an effect like the oil spill, give life or fireball, invisible ball and so many more.
Pause menu has a list of collected ball types and descriptions.
Combat-Pong gameplay but with the ball effects making it harder and every hit you receive you lose at least one health (scored against losing more) and when you are at critical (zero) next goal finishes you or your opponent.
Can replay levels.
Quest mode has the main hub with shortcut menus.
Autosaves regularly.

Cons:

Repetitive combat.
Slow starter.
Inventory is a big deal and it takes a long time to get it done to a level where it’s not a hindrance.
Difficulty spikes.
RNG is a huge factor.
No punishment for a game over in quest mode, you just have to restart that level but keep pickups and exp earned.
Can’t change clothes on a level.
Music is the same track over and over and over.
Hard to manage ball types from the knowledge of their effects to swapping between them in battle.
Certain upgrades ruin the game and make it a breeze. I won’t say what.

7/10
Graphics - 7/10
7/10
Sound - 7/10
8/10
Accessibility - 8/10
7/10
Length - 7/10
8/10
Fun Factor - 8/10

7.4/10

Summary

PONG Quest surprised me in that it’s a game that works quite well with what it has. If you would have said I’m making a PONG dungeon Crawler I would have thought it would be a mess, truth is it is not. Pong quest is an absolute blast to play, collecting all the ball types, leveling up and battling many enemies is just big dumb fun. Now it’s not all fun and games, the combat as you would expect is very repetitive, the maps all feel the same, mini-games repeat many times over and boss fights are frustrating. You can avoid a lot of this by dragging it out and only playing for a short amount of time but given how easy and quick to action the game is its very hard to just stop. I finished the quest mode at around 5 or 6 hours and apart from a few games locally here and there I won’t be back anytime soon. It was good for what it was and surprised me a lot but it just needed a bit more.