TNA Impact for the Xbox 360
Wrestling just isn’t what it used to be anymore. I remember back in the day wanting the Junkyard Dog and Macho Man Randy Savage getting down in the squared circle. The Hulkamaniacs running wild on you! It used to be the monthly event. Getting the Pay Per View and having your best friends over and watching some Sports Entertainment. Im not going to lie, I was an addicted fan. Over time Wrestling has evolved, companies and wrestlers are no more and at one point there was one source to get your fix. TNA Impact came out of the love of the sport, I feel that it was a fresh alternative to other companies that existed. Wrestlers who were not really into the structures of the WWE needed to go somewhere, but where? TNA was born. They took an old sport and put a new ring and twist on it. Its action packed, and it has a lot of familiar faces that you have known and loved. Sting, Jeff Jarrett, Booker T, The Dudley Boys are just a few amongst the many names of professional wrestlers that are involved in the six sided ring. With its ever growing popularity, it only seems natural to expand into other mediums. Movies, DVD’s and well, yes, of course video games. TNA Impact the video game was a natural move for the company.
Now, to get into the meat and potatoes of it all, for a first effort this is not a bad game. It is not the greatest game to ever exist, but I don’t thin that was Midway’s intention. I feel that with the overhaul of wrestling video games there hasn’t been much evolving in them. I feel that they got to a certain level and stayed there. Sadly, I feel the same way for TNA Impact. I think the graphics are sub par, the controls are quite clunky the game play is slow and the various modes are one in the same.
The Graphics are nothing to brag about. You’re not gonna go to your friends house and boast about how you totally created a character with real looking six pack abs. If you did, I would have to question how much you get out in the real world. They seem kind of blurry, a little smooth. I don’t mean that in a good way. It feels like a bad photoshop job. There isn’t much detail in the over all body of the character. Certain parts of the character creation are decent, but you can’t have one decent part and a bad part everywhere else. It just doesn’t work that way.
One of the biggest blunders in this game is the story line. Yes, I said it, a story line! I couldn’t believe it myself. You play as a character named “Suicide” (you can change the name, that’s a plus) who is beat up and left for dead out in Mexico. You have to work your way through the wrestling circuit to get back on top and get into the TNA arena. Yes, It is as bad as it sounds. That isn’t the only mode in the game. You have modes such as exhibition where you can play as some of the TNA super stars, but not all. Those need to be unlocked. There is a lot of unlocking that needs to take place in this game and it doesn’t seem like there is much pay off.
The Controls are nothing to brag about either. I think they are really clunky and kind of mismapped. The reversal button doesn’t work all the time, sometimes you hit the person and it doesn’t show it. You start off with super basic moves and throughout the levels you unlock very few out of the many that are supposed to be unlocked. This doesn’t entice me to play further. I can only do a strong jab and knee so much before I get tired of repeating the same motions. I think with a little bit more time and effort the buttons could have been put in the right place. Sadly, this didn’t happen.
The Game play in this title just isn’t anything spectacular. I may have my standards high, but in this day and age of video gaming you have to have an amazing looking/sounding/playing game to compete. You can’t toss a title out there and hope that it is successful. I know there are die hard fans out there who will disagree with me and that’s fine. This is just one person’s opinion. I don’t think there is enough in this game to continue playing. It is super slow at times, the soundtrack and in-game music is quite terrible. It sounds like rejected demos for bands that will never make it. Or bands who have made it, who knows. The commentary is just as cheesy as it is in real life, so no difference there. It is super slow moving and it feels sluggish.
Overall, as I said before, its not a bad effort for a first game and I wish TNA all the best in this limited world of Sports Entertainment. Sadly, the TNA Impact video game just isn’t anything special. If there was a bit more time and things were developed a bit more it could have potential. I understand the nature of the business and you can’t have all the eggs in one basket. So I give kudos to a decent first attempt, but by no means is this game worth owning. I give it a skip.
