TNA iMPACT!

Review from Cav, Cav, Cav and Cav - Thursday, 27 November 2008 @ 7:48am

Professional Wrestling: It’s not for everyone, but I love it. I take in as many varieties of it that I can, but the company owned by Vince McMahon seems to overshadow the main market, both on TV and in the Video Game Market … until now.

Firstly I would like to apologise for the delay in this review. There was a bit of a mix up and I didn’t get my hands on a copy to play for quite some time and when you get yourself 3.5 kids and a mortgage you’ll understand why. Not everything lands in your lap at the exact moment you want it in the world of Video Game reviewing.

In 2002, former WWE employee and second generation wrestler Jeff Jarrett started a new wrestling company, to go head to head with Vince McMahon. Things have started slowly Total Non-Stop Action Wrestling and it’s my bet that there is a quite a lot riding on the success of the TNA iMPACT! video game to bring in new viewers to the product. Hell yeah the game looks good, but so do a lot of the TNA ’Knockouts’ in the women’s division, but it doesn’t mean they can wrestle. I personally had high hopes for this game. It needs all the help it can get, going up against the WWE Smackdown! Vs Raw series. I have actually always compared this game to EA’s skate going up against the Tony Hawk franchise, since the moment I knew it was being developed. Tony had held the title, pardon the pun, for many a moon until skate was released. I think the Tony Hawk team have actually had to stand up and take notice. I was hoping the TNA iMPACT! game was going to do the same, but it hasn’t. The graphics are clean and really well presented, but it’s the game play has failed it. The first real thing that those unfamiliar with TNA will see is that this wrestling organisation operates using a 6 sided ring instead of the traditional four sided ‘squared-circle’.

The man who started it all - Jeff Jarrett

When I pick up a new wrestling title, I pretty much do the same thing every time: Choose exhibition mode, have a couple of practice matches to see if anything has changed much so I can grasp any new button concepts, then jump into the Create-A-Wrestler (CAW) and start the Story mode. The CAW system is extremely limited in the beginning, which is really disappointing as I like my character to look exactly the way I want from the get go. I have to be the shining star in the lime light ….. And anyone who has ever met me will probably tell you that you get the same deal in real life. The move set is very standard and further moves are only available as you progress. I can’t be arsed going and editing my character once I have begun my career, I wanna play damn it!

Versatility and consequences are needed in Story mode, but TNA iMPACT! has none. You either do it or you turn off your machine and go do a load of laundry. I couldn’t believe that when I lost a match I was forced to do it again until I won to progress. Did no one think this through? Another thing I can’t understand is why rostered TNA Talent are five hundred times harder to beat than generic wrestlers who were created especially for the game? Why the hell are the generic creations there at all anyway? I know that the roster for TNA isn’t that big, but I’m pretty sure it’s big enough not to warrant the use of these guys. It took me three 3 hour sessions to complete storyline mode and all I can say is: Bill Cosby. WTF I hear you say? Well the final words spoken by my character are something along the lines of: “It’s not about the Gold around your waist, but the Gold around you… your friends” Holy shit, is that fucking lame or what? What is this? The final word with Jerry Springer or what? If it is, where the hell was the transvestite prostitute who got reunited with his/her father only to find out that his/her father is the father of his/her son?

These guys are so tough they show no emotion .... ever

The game play itself has its moments. The wrestler’s moves actually flow quite well and don’t appear jerky as older wrestling games used to. Finishing moves, or iMPACT! moves as they are know in this neck of the woods, are easily performed once the ability has been built up. Counter moves will have you searching for your Nana’s knitting needles so you can find out if it really will come out of your left ear if you drive it into your right one with a hammer. Painful in its execution. Painful when implemented on you. I physically blew out the springs on one of my Xbox controllers as I frantically palmed the thumbstick and shook the crap out or if, left to right, to try and counter an offensive move from an opponent. Not impressed. One of the weirdest things I have seen in this game is that there are multiple functions for the one button, that all depend of the position of your character. There I am trying to kick the snot out of someone and my wrestler climbs out of the ring! Oi! Where the hell do you think you’re going?

This man no longer works for TNA, so we can't show you his face

Once again, the old ‘crap camera angle’ rears it’s all too familiar, ugly head when you exit the ring to take the action to the floor on the far side of the ring. You simply just can’t see you wrestler enough and not at all if you are floored. On the subject of ‘taking it to the floor’ I am disappointed that there are only chairs to use as weapons against your rival. The one difference that stands out in TMA iMPACT is the Ultimate X match, where a pair of ropes are suspended above the ring and a ‘prize’, be it a title belt or an large X, is placed in the middle where the ropes intersect. Your objective is to beat your opponent down enough to be able to scale the ropes to claim the prize. Not bad. Obviously TNA’s answer to a ladder match.

Pros

Bonus DVD with the game. 2 TNA Pay Per View DVD’s by redemption. Bonus matches on the game disc – heaps of footage for any fan. Nice graphics. Entertaining voice work by original TNA stars.

Cons

One way story line. Too few options to start with in Create-a-Wrestler. Multiple actions for single buttons. Too many unknown/created wrestlers to fill space.