TNA Impact: Cross the Line Hands-On

Game company Midway may have gone belly-up, but the games the company had in its stable continue to live on. 2009's Wheelman was eventually published by Ubisoft and another of Midway's big properties--wrestling series TNA Impact--is now coming to the PSP thanks to SouthPeak Games and developer Point of View. By the look of things, the PSP version looks quite similar to the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 versions of TNA from 2008, though there are a few new bits and pieces.

Perhaps the most amusing of the PSP-specific features is the ability to use TNA ringside announcers Mike Tenay and Don West as playable wrestlers in the game. In the game, Tenay is a high flyer and the boisterous Don West is a power wrestler. Tenay was previously available as free downloadable content in the original TNA game, but West is entirely new. Watching the two of them duke it out in the middle of the ring (while, surreally, Tenay and West call the action in their respective roles as play-by-play and color announcer) is great fun, especially when they start using high-impact moves like blasting one another with ringside weapons or diving off the top turnbuckle.

You'll find ringside weapons in a new match type for the PSP game known as full metal mayhem, and there are few more satisfying gaming experiences than watching Mike Tenay mercilessly beat Don West down with a flat-screen television. Other match types include standard one-on-one, tag team, and handicap matches, as well as the TNA-specific Ultimate X match. This match pits multiple contestants in a specially designed ring and challenges them to grab a red "X" suspended in midair in the middle of the ring.

In addition to Tenay and West, TNA for the PSP will feature a host of real-life talent on its roster. This includes well-known stars like Kurt Angle, Samoa Joe, Chris Sabin, and more. You can also use a number of fictional wrestlers who appear in the game's single-player story mode, which follows the career of TNA wrestler Suicide as he tries to regain his identity and his TNA career after crossing the wrong people in a championship belt match. From the sound of it, the Career mode is a direct port of the mode found in the Xbox 360 and PS3 versions of the game.

TNA's controls seem to translate just fine on the PSP. You press the X button to kick, press the square to punch, and use the triangle buttons to pull off grapple moves. To run, you hold the right shoulder button, and you can modify strikes with the left shoulder button to make attacks stronger. Once you've built up your impact meter, you'll have access to a special move by pressing the circle button. These special moves can include submission moves that will then pop up a button-mashing minigame; three buttons pop up onscreen and you need to press them in the order presented. Successfully doing so will keep the hold locked in; if an opponent has your character in a submission move, you can escape the move by successfully pressing a button sequence.

Apart from the single-player matches, the game will also feature wireless multiplayer for two players (ad hoc only). TNA Impact: Cross the Line is due for release in June.