• Wrestling News & Wrestling Rumors – WWE & TNA

(This is reflective of the PS3 version of the game).

Intro:
Never before have I been so excited for the release of a video game. TNA definitely know how to create a buzz, but the hype may set some people up for an anti-climax. TNA Impact the video game by Midway Games is extremely fun to play in terms of in ring mechanics, but its lacking in even some of the most basic features.

Graphics and Gameplay:
The one thing that stands out about the game are the graphics and the game play. The likenesses to their real life counterparts are up a notch from the WWE games and the tiresome animations that plague the Smackdown Vs Raw series are not present in the TNA game. Instead, every move happens in real time and can look different every time you connect. For example timing a dropkick late may result in you clipping the heel of the wrestler, making them do a backflip. Doing a hiptoss near the ropes causes them to wobble and bend accordingly and running in to the steel steps will actually trip you up.

The speed of the game is also much better than the WWE games. On Smackdown Vs Raw you tend to trudge along, press your buttons and watch the animations over and over, where as in Impact you are flying around at breakneck speeds, which reflect the X-Division style and the realism from the motion sensor work really makes it look like you are doing moves, not watching a prerecorded sequence.

It’s not just the wrestlers that look good, but the arenas, the Impact Zone especially look perfect, apart from the odd crooked audience member. The rest of the arenas look good to, although you can’t compare them to anything because they are made up. That being said the Japanese arena feels like the Global Impact event and the crowd even clap respectfully compared to the loudness of the other locations in the US – but if you are looking for the Coventry Skydome in the UK or the Tokyo Dome in Japan you won’t find them.

As good as the arenas look the entrances don’t do them justice. I assumed the short entrances in the trailers were just early edits, but it turns out they are actually that short in the game, which is disappointing. You’ll only see about 7 seconds of an entrance, barely giving the music chance to kick in and you don’t even see them enter the ring. You wait 10 seconds to load, then Borash says a generic welcome, then another 10 seconds to load and then a 7 second entrance. All the time you’re chomping at the bit to actually get playing. That being said you will see some realistic moments, such as Eric Young jumping at the Pyro (which looks just as cheap as on TV). Perhaps the most overlooked aspect of entrances is that recognized tag partners come out separately. Yes even Team 3D.

As mentioned the gameplay is enjoyable and as they’ve been touting, easy to pick up and play. You’ll be flying around in no time. What they forget to tell you is that picking it up and playing it in such a button bashing and high flying way, might get you victories in exhibition matches and the first few story mode bouts, but you’ll soon hit a brick wall or throw your controller at a brick wall when AJ and Tomko beat you ten times in a row 30% of the way through Story Mode (and that’s on the lowest difficulty level “Backyard”). At this point I advice you to watch the tutorial videos. In fact I even plugged in a second control so I could spar against nobody to make sure I had mastered everything. It can be very frustrating when their partner runs in for the save but yours randomly doesn’t feel like it.

Controls:
Controls are pretty basic like in an arcade or a Megadrive WWF game. You have SQUARE and X to punch and kick. For more powerful punches and kicks just hold L1 while doing them. TRIANGLE does power moves. Hold L1 to grapple and tap TRIANGLE again to do a more impressive power move. The same principle goes for ground moves.

To climb a turnbuckle, exit the ring, pick up a chair (the only weapon in the game and you still can’t draw blood) you use CIRCLE. Tagging requires you to hold L1 and press CIRCLE, which works most of the time, but you may end up climbing the turnbuckle instead of tagging out on occasion.

The most fun part of the game is running by pressing R2. You can go in any direction and change direction mid sprint. Couple this with the springboard button and you have some great X-Division action. This simplicity makes it a killer game to play with friends or if you just want to wind down and have fun.

One downfall of the exciting gameplay is the lack of moves. There are a couple of signature moves, but not all the ones you expect and a lot of the moves are interchangeable. Even Brother Ray can fly around. This didn’t bother me personally. A game is a game not a simulator, but it may annoy others.

Like WWE games you can tap a button to reverse moves, but TNA takes it one step further where you can reverse back and forth a number of times, resulting in some good chain wrestling action, that really does look cool. My only problem is reversing doesn’t seem consistent and you’d have sworn that you reversed something and you still get pummeled.

Story Mode:
The story mode is definitely unique and unlike newer WWE titles it doesn’t confusingly mix worked and shoot aspects with strange text messages or fan fests. Story mode is actually a story, but that limits you right from the start. First off you can’t choose a current TNA star, but you take on the role of the much hyped Suicide character. I’m told the voice over to Suicide is none other than former TNA star Senshi (Lowki), although I’m not 100% convinced.

It starts off with a montage about how you were just about to win the title when LAX tell you to take a dive. You refuse and end up getting beaten down and left for dead in Mexico. Two plastic surgeons (who if you look closely happen to be Don West and Mike Tenay!) Offer to reconstruct your features, meaning you use the Create a Character mode to make him look how you want. Compared to WWE games this mode lacks a lot, but you can still make some pretty neat looking stars.

You then have to fight your way through Mexican jobbers (the arena has chickens roaming around it), gradually earning your way back to TNA. I won’t spoil it any further.

My only problem is that because the TNA roster in the game is so small you end up fighting random jobbers even when you’ve made it to the big time which is annoying and takes away from its authenticity.

Story mode is linear, meaning it plays the same every time, but you get a good run as a tag team with Eric Young, which mixes it up a little. The backstage segments are rendered well and the voice over work is good. Your character will actually speak as mentioned.

Along your journey you will collect style points, which unlock hidden characters and moves you can add to your created wrestler. Also a nice feature is that if you become bored half way through you can modify the look of your star completely any time you want.

Ultimately Jeff Jarret is waiting for you at the end of the mode, so good luck.

Ultimate X:
The one gimmicked match in the game is of course TNA’s patented Ultimate X and as complex as it sounds on paper, in execution the match is extremely enjoyable and fits in with the overall game’s simply yet enjoyable gameplay. To climb the cables one simply climbs the turnbuckle then presses L1 and CIRCLE. You can now choose to use the punch or kick buttons to jump off and do a move or you can shimmy along and press circle to try pulling down the RedX. This starts a slider, which you have to stop in the green area, 3 times in a row. During this time you opponent has probably mounted the other side and proceeded to kick you off the structure.

Conclusion:
The game is fun, but feels incomplete, as if they rushed it out too early. With a little tender love the next installment will blow WWE out of the water, now that it has the foundation laid down. The core gameplay is better than WWE and the Graphics have set a new standard of realism, it just lacks the features and extras we’ve become accustomed to in other games. There’s no referee, no Knockouts, entrances are too short, the roster is small, there aren’t many moves nor weapons. There are no disqualifications, or count outs and you can’t fight backstage.

It’s worth the money for the gameplay along and the novelty of being TNA, but it won’t blow you away as the hype would have you believe. Role on the next game!