So this week we present TNA Impact, now for the record I was only mildly interested in this one, While I have pretty much completely stoped watching wrestling altogether I do still enjoy the video games. This was about 9 games down on my que but its what showed up so here we go....
Now the WWE products have always been fairly well polished affairs, (save for the RAW atrocities on the XBOX) and I was hoping for the same here, sadly the TNA game (much like the product its based on) shows its not quite ready for Prime time.
I went ahead and jumped right into the career mode right of the bat. It starts off with a narration of a wrestler named Suicide chronicling his rise to the TNA Champion, he was supposed to take a dive in the championship match and didn't so a couple of wrestlers beat the snot out of him and dump him in Mexico, this is where you come in...Basically you create your character and are Suicide reincarnated. The character creation is very basic and nothing compared to the depth offered in the WWE games.
You start off fighting a bunch of nameless wrestlers in Mexico eventually winning you're way into TNA. The story is lackluster at best and is basically just there to progress you through the matches. Speaking of the matches where WWE always has a wealth of modes to choose from in TNA there is really only two types basic match (single and tag) and the Ultimate X match (witch I'll touch on a little later). As for the in ring action again the lack of polish really sticks out here, all the wrestlers basically have the same exact moves and it gets really repetitive after awhile. Also the reversal system is abused by the AI, basically anytime you get close to doing significant damage to the CPU they will start reversing almost everything you attempt. This really sticks out in the Tag Team matches as you can be dominating a match, but then have the AI reverse everything, tag in their fresh partner and suddenly destroy you.
The Ultimate X match could have been the one shining point in the game, as it is one of the things that sets TNA apart from the competition. Sadly its just one more area where the game becomes a letdown. The goal of the match is to grab the big red X hanging in the middle of ropes that crisscross above the ring. Sadly there is really no strategy in the matches, basically get your opponent down once climb up try to grab the X, get attacked, Rinse and Repeat.
Graphics wise the game looks good, but the little details are missing like intro video's on the jumbo screens. Also some of the cutscenes are animated while others are just snapshots, its really weird.
One final note is the roster there are only like 25 wrestlers to choose from, and some of them are very questionable choices, compare this to the WWE games which usually approach 50 or 60 and it once again points to a lackluster effort from the developers.
Overall TNA Impact could have been a good game if they had just taken the time to add the little details that make or break a wrestling game. As it stands TNA is a very poor effort and leaves alot of room for improvement.
OVERALL RECOMMENDATION: AVOID IT
3 comments:
Thanks! I am really really nervous right now. I think I am getting "cold feet" LOL! I hope all is well with you, and Happy Holidays!
You guys are the greatest. Thanks for the gift card. It really helped. I'm hoping that next year we can go out to Florida and if we do, you can bet we're stopping by. :) hope all is well and have a Merry Christmas.
I disagree (and why didn't anyone else comment on the topic of your blog? but I digress). The game has a LOT of faults, but has a very nice engine, hopefully next year the will work out the minor kinks and retarted ideas (unlocking new moves is good, but forces you to play the story mode 2 times, just to get a "real" create-a-character)
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