TNA iMPACT! Updated Hands-On
We enter the ring for another round with Midway's upcoming wrestling game.
A.J. Styles will beat your butt in TNA Impact, the upcoming wrestling game from Midway. We should know, because he did it to us more than once during Midway's spring press event held yesterday in Las Vegas. After talking to the development team behind the game, we got the impression that the pros like Styles, Samoa Joe, Jay Lethal, and others have been a crucial element in creating Impact, and the game seems to be shaping up just fine because of it.
The Ultimate X match will be in TNA Impact, and it plays quite differently from your standard match.
When we last saw the game in October of last year, we could already tell that things were heading in the right direction for TNA, with a fast-moving game and great-looking character models. After playing it in Vegas, it's clear that the months of work that have gone into the game are starting to pay dividends in the form of lots of wrestler-specific move sets, more variety to the match types, and a rock-solid frame rate.
The game on hand at the Midway event featured a bunch of new wrestlers from the 25 TNA grapplers that will make up the game's roster, including fan favorites like Booker T and the tag tandem of Alex Shelley and Chris Sabin (better known together as the Motor City Machine Guns). Based on what we played, it looks like the game has gone a long way toward making each wrestler as unique as possible in the ring, in terms of both the types of basic strikes and grapples they use, as well as character-specific finishers. In the game, wrestlers are classified in one of three major styles: grappler, acrobat, and brawler. The category defines what moves are available to a character, so you won't see a brawler like Scott Steiner pulling off the kinds of high-flying acrobat moves of an A.J. Styles.
Though the developer is promising lots of unique moves for each wrestler on the roster, the controls in Impact are still simple to learn. You kick with A, punch with X, grab an opponent into a hold with the Y button, and perform various actions (such as climbing in and out of the ring or going up the turnbuckle) by pressing the B button. You can also modify those basic moves with the left button, which will let you perform more-powerful strikes and grapples. To block or reverse, you hit the right button, and to run around the ring, you hold down the right trigger.
When it comes to match types, the big news with the latest version of Impact is the inclusion of the Ultimate X match, a TNA staple. Here, two or more wrestlers enter a specially constructed ring and fight to reach a red X suspended from ropes high above the center of the ring. There's an element of strategy to this match type that isn't found in the standard matches, thanks in part to the controls. To gain access to the top ropes where the X is hung, you first have to climb the turnbuckle by pressing the B button. Then, to hang from the suspended rope above the ring, you press the left button and hit B again; your wrestler will leap and grab hold of the rope, and you can shimmy your way down the rope toward the center portion of the ring.
Once you're on top of your target, you press the B button once more, and a minigame pops up where you have to stop a sliding cursor in the center of the meter. Do so a certain number of times (in this demo the magic number was eight) and your wrestler will grab the X prize and win the match. The problem is, while you're moving down the rope or trying to grab the X, your opponent is trying to do the very same thing, or at least stop you from doing it. He might be suspended from the same rope and kick you viciously, or leap up from the mat and try to yank you down off the rope. He might even dive off the top rope and try to pull you down in midfall. One of the reasons the match is so popular on television is its unpredictability, and, from what we played, that carries over well in game form, too.
We know that the developer is aiming for 60 frames per second with Impact, and is even promising 60 fps online, though currently it isn't promising more than one-on-one battles online. With the game's direct competitor, THQ's SmackDown! vs. RAW putting an increased focus on tag team wrestling this year, we're curious to see what TNA has in store for tag team matches. We also look forward to seeing what's in store for the game's story mode; while details are scarce, one producer told us to expect an actual story in this mode, as opposed to a simple career mode.
One thing's certain: With the game set for release in September and most, if not all, of the features and roster currently in the game, the development team looks to have plenty of time to polish as many of the bugs and glitches from the game as possible. Based on what we've seen so far, we're optimistic about a hard-hitting, slick game when it's finally released later this year. Of course, we'll be bringing you the latest on the game as we follow its progress throughout the year, so stay tuned.
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- GameSpot Score7.0good
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