- Title: TNA iMPACT!
- Platform: Xbox 360
- Publisher: Midway
- Developer: Midway Studios LA
- ESRB Rating: “T” for Teen
- Genre: Wrestling
- Pros: Nice presentation; finally get to use TNA stars in a game
- Cons: Limited moveset; only 5 CAW slots; cheap A.I.; goofy story mode
When you start the story mode, you watch a cutscene showing off that your character was the king of the mountain in TNA, but when a rival group asked you to throw the title match and you refused, you get beaten half to death and dumped in Mexico. Now you have to work your way up through the indies and eventually back to TNA. I have a few problems with all of this. First off is that you are beaten up for real, not as a storyline. That is assault, not sports entertainment. Second, your character seemingly forgets all of the moves that made him a champion and you have to start over with a basic moveset. Third, I think the story would have worked better if the devs would have partnered up with TNA’s real life Mexican wrestling partner, AAA, rather than just dumping you into a Tijuana slum and telling you to wrestle. This would have alleviated my concerns with the “realism” of the story. Fourth, when you finally do get to TNA, none of the other wrestlers act like their real world selves, and the matches that you are put in are completely stupid. No one wants to team up with Eric Young, darn it!
Gameplay
None of the features and modes would matter if the gameplay wasn’t up to snuff, however. Unfortunately, this is where IMPACT stumbles a bit. You have strikes mapped to the X and A buttons, grapples mapped to the Y button, and holding the left bumper gives you “strong” versions of these attacks. Other things such as pinning your opponent, using your finisher, picking up chairs (the only weapon in the game), and climbing through the ropes or on the turnbuckle are all mapped to the B button. This causes some confusion as you’ll try to pin someone and your character will climb through the ropes instead. Another problem comes from the fact that there are only a limited number of moves in the game, and the matches all feel pretty much the same no matter who you are playing as. We dig the simplified control scheme and blazing fast pace and high flying style, but there just needs to be more depth here.
Graphics
Graphically, TNA IMPACT looks pretty good. The character models are very well built and the animation is very smooth and great looking. One thing I will say is that the skin textures on the wrestlers are, well, gross looking. Super huge pores, freckles, pimples everywhere. I don’t need to / want to see that, thank you very much. Another issue I have with the presentation is that the entrances have been cut down to just a few seconds. Boo-urns.
Sound
The sound is a bit of a letdown. All of the themes for the wrestlers are here, although you only hear them for a few seconds. The commentary from Mike Tenay and Don West is repetitive, lags behind, and just isn’t that good. Pretty even with their real world performance, then. I also have a problem with the sounds the wrestlers make in the ring. Everyone sounds the same with the same grunts and groans and the same begging pleas for you to not body slam them.
Bottom Line
