The Professor's Position - TNA's Game May Suck... Report by Professor Newton Gimmick on 09/02/2008 at 06:08 PM
TNA iMPACT: The Game Preview
I've been excited about the TNA iMPACT game since it was announced nearly 3 years ago. To me TNA seemed like the perfect fit for a video game because of the diverse amount of wrestlers on TNA's roster at any given moment. Say what you will about WWE, their roster for better or worse is largely consistent of big guys who do very basic moves. This has never translated well into WWE video games with either the roster performing moves they simply don't do OR the roster having a very limited moveset. TNA's innovative match styles also seemed like a given for TNA to have a great game with some fresh concepts and new ideas.
So where did Midway go so wrong? Apparently wrestling games are nearly impossible to make be any good or fun. Thus far only a few companies like Human and AKI have been able to make them. Acclaim, THQ, Yukes, EA and countless others have tried and failed. It seems especially hard with a licensed wrestling product. I don't know why that is, but Midway seems to be showing off exactly that theory. Many fans believe the Smackdown series "king" but most fans will also agree the system isn't very intuitive and it lacks the fun and polish in gameplay of even the old N64 wrestling games.
When Midway began their TNA journey so long ago they released some promotional art featuring Raven, Monty Brown and Jeff Hardy... That's how long ago they began this. Most of those guys haven't been in TNA in years. So after all this time you'd think that Midway is prepared to release a really polished game.
Unfortunately the facts have surfaced otherwise. The game has a very small roster. The "secret" characters include guys like Mike Tenay and Don West. That's a bad sign to start off. Although Midway bragged about having over 2,000 moves being programmed by the real wrestlers themselves, less than half made it to this alliteration of the game. There is no blood. There is ONE weapon. Despite advertising King of the Mountain and Six Sides of Steel, they are noticeable absent from the game. No ladder matches. No battle royals. No referees. No rope breaks. There is a CAW if you get the game on 360 or PS3 but you're only allowed FIVE CAW slots.
Speaking of the CAW, it's very limited. From basic outfits and attires to moves (most of which need to be unlocked) you'll have a hard time recreating any of your favorite wrestlers. The game reeks of a first time effort and this is all from Midway's own admission.
One of the clever modes that Midway crafted for the game is a in depth story mode which differs from almost any wrestling game before it. You take control of "Suicide" a made up wrestler who supposedly was a TNA star who fell out of grace and is reentering the game. Your CAW becomes Suicide and you work your way back up into TNA with what sounds like a very interesting storyline. Even if it only takes about 10 hours to complete, I applaud this effort by Midway. Unfortunately it seems TOO much time was devoted to this and graphics instead of adding characters moves and match types.
Gameplay is without a doubt the most important aspect of a wrestling game. But Midway seems to be attempting a system that's more of a fighting game than a wrestling game. It's a shame since wrestling games and fighting games at their core should be NOTHING alike. Midway loves fighting games and feels the need to inject some "arcade" style brawling to a wrestling game, thus stripping it of any real wrestling quality it might have had.
Midway also seemed to forget some key elements that are in wrestling games. Championships are non existent. To be fair many WWE games didn't include titles at first either, but this late in the game Midway should have known to have at least one belt even if it didn't have anything to do with story mode. Secondly, Midway supposedly forgot to put in rope breaks because they don't view submissions as an important part of the game. Again, you never see submissions in a "fighting game" and sadly that's what this is.
Midway had a chance to make a truly great wrestling game. They've had over 3 years to complete it. Their hopes were to start out basic and let the future editions of the game have more and more options. Unfortunately Midway will be releasing such a bare bones version of the game that it seems almost pointless to release it.
Downloadable content is a plus for the game, but it's limited to characters and moves. I remain optimistic that this will even improve the game. Unless it's a LOT of characters and a LOT of moves, it seems almost pointless to add more characters to a game that sucks.
Midway's answers to most of the fans questions about TNA iMPACT were met with responses that the second game would include them. Unfortunately it'll be very hard for TNA fans to believe any of this when most of it was promised for the first game. I hope the second game is really good and I hope this game turns out to be more fun that it's appearing to have contained within. Some of the videos with TNA stars have been hilarious and it's clear that TNA and it's wrestlers wanted to work hand in hand with the creators to make a fun game. It appears to fall on Midway to produce the actual game however and they've taken the game in some directions that simply may not be salvageable.
TNA has relied heavily on this game and promoted it better than any wrestling company in recent memory. It's such a shame that this game will reflect on badly on TNA and undoubtedly hurt future game sales if good games come along. Midway is a crappy company, that makes nothing but crappy games. It's a shame they decided to take TNA iMPACT and give it more of the same.
Now I must admit, I haven't played the game... it hasn't released yet. So obviously a lot of this is based on speculation. But Midway themselves have given most of this information out, which makes it confirmed and unfortunately gives me little hope. I'll be picking the game up and playing it and I sincerely hope that I'll be able to come back and say I was wrong in a few weeks, but at the current standing, this game looks and smells like WCW Nitro for the Playstation.
The Wrap Up:
Are you planning on getting the TNA game? Do you think it'll be any good? What's your favorite wrestling game? Let me know at ProfNewtonGimmick@yahoo.com. In the meantime and the in-between time, Professor out!
