The game is a realistic simulation of the sport table tennis, with the main objective to make the opponent fail to hit the ball.

Its announcement in March 2006 led to confusion and surprise, due to its significantly different style from Rockstar's previous projects.

Rockstar president Sam Houser felt that Rockstar San Diego was a suitable developer for the game due to their demonstration of skill in developing advanced engines, particularly early in a console generation, citing Midnight Club: Street Racing and Smuggler's Run (both 2000), which were launch games for the PlayStation 2.

Houser also said that, though the game's physics were achievable on the old hardware, the team waited for the possibility to develop for the Xbox 360 due to the "different level of production and technology" that it allowed.

[15] While developing the Wii version, the team particularly considered how to serve all types of players, thus allowing a range of different control schemes.

IGN's Douglass C. Perry felt the graphics and motion capture are "exceptional", and the animation is "beautiful", as well as praising the stable frame rate.

[26] GamesRadar+'s Dan Amrich commended the game's player models and lighting effects, stating they "put the hardware to impressive yet playful use".

[34] Tom Orry of VideoGamer.com felt the visuals improve the gameplay, particularly applauding smaller details such as the player models and ball physics.

[22] The New York Times's Charles Herold enjoyed the simple control scheme but wrote he would rather play real table tennis.

[34] Orry of VideoGamer.com and Bramwell of Eurogamer both named the online multiplayer "excellent";[22] the former noted minor lag but wrote the "performance was generally very good".

IGN's Mark Bozon felt they were an improvement over the original controls, calling it a "huge testament to Rockstar's design".

[29] Eurogamer's Ellie Gibson found the altered controls work "perfectly", finding them intuitive and "easy to grasp".