Table Flip Simulator review – Stick it to the man (or woman)

I daresay we’ve all felt the urge to fling something at someone at some point in our lives. Table Flip Simulator lets you do that without any real-world repercussions. In fact, it allows you to go one step further and do, as its name suggests, flip the table in front of you, sending it crashing forwards at great speed. Got help anything that gets in its path.

Needless to say, Table Flip Simulator isn’t a game that takes itself too seriously. This is the type of game that makes ‘sticking it to the man’, as they say, fun. That retail boss that’s making your life hell? Get your own back by wrecking his shop. Fed up that people can’t be quiet in the cinema? Throw your phone at their heads and be done with it. What more could you want?

There is a little more to Table Flip Simulator than that, though. Each level here, selectable via a map, actually has a main objective for you to complete. You might have to clear a stage so that your favourite band will come out and play, for example, or feed your cats. To that end, two types of throw are available: one that places or gives people items, and another that’s simply violent.

It’s up to you to use both to complete your main goal in each level, but if you want to unlock bonus levels and suchlike you’ll also want to seek out and complete optional goals. You can take your time in finding these, as it’s up to you when you finish a stage after completing the main goal, pressing a button to initiate the final defiant act of actually flipping a table. But still, there’s a good chance you’ll to return to each level, and with many on offer, including some boss levels, there’s plenty of table flipping to be done.

What lets Table Flip Simulator down is mainly its presentation, with it not looking all that impressive on PS5. It’s also a game that, devoid of full voice acting, has characters making irritating noises at the start of each line of text during its dialogue scenes. It tries to make you sit through these when replaying a level, too; thankfully there’s a skip option to make use of.

There are some issues with the gameplay as well, unfortunately. As fun as it is throwing things at people and causing general chaos, the entertainment does eventually start to wear thin. Perhaps the most disappointing thing, however, is that your final act of flipping a table often feels underwhelming unless you’re only going for the main goal. There’s often nothing left for the table to hit if you’ve tried to hunt down all of the optional goals that are available.

Still, there’s a good amount of fun to be had with Table Flip Simulator. It’s the type of simple, cathartic game that’s good to unwind with at the end of a tough day. You won’t mind the basic visuals and other less than impressive aspects when you’re lobbing things at everything and everyone, aiming to cause catastrophic chain reactions as generally as much mayhem as possible.