TNA Impact

As I begin to write this out, I am debating if I should actually go ahead and get into the things I don't like about this game. And even while I only played it for maybe a half an hour at best, believe me when I say that I have already formulated a list.

Yes, I do understand that this is Midway's first shot into making a wrestling game. But come on guys! This sucker has been in development for years and this is the best they come out with? What's worse, I've read that the company is banking heavily on the success of this game.

That cannot end well.

Whatever happen to market studies? Or hell, don't they even play the games that they are going up against? Did they think it would be smarter to just NOT know what they're up against? They should have known what the WWE has been doing with their games! They've been the only ones on the market for a while and they've haven't exactly been slacking off over those years either!

But let me cut to the chase here...

The game play itself feels robotic, stiff and just doesn't flow in my opinion. It especially affects it because these guys are suppose to be high flying, fast and risk taking. Instead it feels like I'm trying to get Grandpa to move.

Graphics are passable, but what's up with the extremely short entrances? I almost think they could have just chopped the entrances all together. I mean they don't serve much significance here as it is. They could have used the extra space to maybe make this lackluster game better.

The Create-A-Player mode is just... never mind, let me just explain myself in one word right now: Fail. No depth to this mode at all, which makes this thing basically yet another waste of disc space. I cannot even imagine how anyone can fail at this, especially when it comes down to a wrestling game.

Maybe I am being a little too harsh here? Then again, I am bias on this part because I am one of those people who get absolutely HOOKED into the create-a-wrestler mode. Hopefully this will be addressed *if* there is to be a second TNA game in the future.

The story mode makes me laugh out loud, no joke about it. I mean, how much more ridiculous can you possibly be? I'd like to know who came up with the story and who actually believed it was a great idea. I mean it's about a wrestler who calls himself "Suicide" and walks around everywhere in a full body suit and a skull mask. Let me put it to you this way: This guy takes wrestling a tiny bit too seriously.

What's worse is that he gets his ass kicked by LAX (a TNA tag team) and is apparently "left for dead." Suicide wakes up in Mexico, bandaged up and has no memory of who he was or what he did. Which, to be honest, should have been the end of the game because if I were in his spot, I'd love to forget me too.

While I don't absolutely hate this game, because I will admit that behind this mountain of crap that is this game, there is a lot of potential for greatness that I think should have been brought up before this was released. It is unfortunate that their inaugural attempt looks as bad as it does.

In the end, like I said in the beginning, I had read that this game was being banked on heavily by Midway. While I do wish them well, I can't see much positives coming from a game that was in development for as long as TNA was and yet still feeling like it had been rushed out.

If there is indeed a second TNA Wrestling game, I wish them the best of luck, because the odds are now definitely stacked against them.