Pong isn’t just any video game. It was the video game that sparked an entire industry back in 1972. Now this old school game is ready for the iPhone with accelerometer-based controls, two-player action via Wi-Fi, and spiffy updated graphics.
With its cool neon surroundings, 3-D Vector Ball is like playing tennis in the same arena where Tron had to fight for the Users. When the ball sailed passed us, we feared being de-rezzed.
And sail passed us it did, with great frequency. 3-D Vector Ball is tricky to play. (We suggest you start on “Easy.”) To start, align the paddle and tap to serve. Then tilt your phone to slide the paddle around the gamefield.
Sounds simple? Well, no.
With each tilt, you’re changing the angle of your view screen. We kid you not: this resulted in a slight eye strain, with a touch of motion sickness. Also, there’s no way to calibrate the accelerometer’s sensitivity. We noticed a lag between shifting the iPhone and the paddle catching up to us. We lost a lot of games this way. In fact, with our head hung low, we admit we’ve never actually won.
Plus, for all its slickness, 3-D Vector Ball has only one level. And it comes in every background you want, as long as it’s Tron.
If Pong is your game, you could do worse than 3-D Vector Ball. But somewhere in the App store, you could likely do better.
An old game gets a new wardrobe with 3-D Vector Ball. Decent, but not great. It could stand more options. Would like to see finger control in a future release.
Looks slick. Wireless play. The price is right.
Hard to perfect. One level only, with three degrees of difficulty. No way to calibrate the accelerometer. 
