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Now I’m quite curious to how I will react when I put this disc into my xbox360. Normally this wouldn’t be my choice of games.  In fact I would quite happily spend the night playing Dead or Alive 4 or maybe Virtua Fighter 5 watching my ass get kicked by some over powered AI than watch two large pixelated men duke it out in the tightest lycra uniforms they could find.  But don’t worry I will give it a chance.
TNA Impact is the latest in wrestling games this year from the guys who brought you Mortal Kombat.  "Midway" It uses the latest UNREAL Engine.  So graphics should be pretty smooth but then again this game is all about the damage. Who can deal it out the most wins.  In some of the most brutal and somewhat cheesy moves.  So after quite the EPIC intro I’m sitting here quite amazed and thinking... Hang on maybe this may be awesome.  So let’s give it a try!

The game has a few game play options to begin with.  You can either try your luck with the story or you can simply enter an exhibition event where you have a numerous amount of match styles.  Tag team matches, free for alls and the ultimate x ring are just some of the game play modes which you are blessed with.  You can also test your skills online against other players but more about the multiplayer later.  In the story mode you play as a past successful wrestler which gets beaten up for not dropping out a match.  So as you build yourself back up to be the hot shot you were you have to fight in different locations and against different super starts to ascend.  As you play in this mode you will pretty much play in all game play modes which you can play with against your friends.  But if you’re playing the 360 version there’s plenty of achievements which TNA is ready to throw at you for completing certain stages.

With the story mode your told to create a character which you can modify move templates as well as appearance.  You can add most clothes, tattoo's, padding and even shades and suave hat!  Then again for my first character with the mass amount of creation options I did find myself randomly skipping as I was itching to get into the game.  This is a wrestling, not imagine fashion designer.  I really didn’t care what my guy was wearing as long as he was bad-ass enough to deal out the pain!  Now wrestling has always been about the most deadly but impressive trick which any player can pull off.  TNA Impact does a super job of really giving the player an abundance of choice when it comes to dealing damage.  You have your bog standard hits and kickes as well as your grapple attacks and submissions.  You can also bounce off the ropes to gain speed to do power attacks which inflict an enormous amount of damage.  When getting your face kicked in you can retaliate by reversing the opponents moves, but watch out as they can just as easily reverse it once again.  To add to this you can also jump onto the side ropes to gain height to crush your enemies.  AND!   If that ain't enough just simply hop out of the ring, grab the nearest chair which someone left laying for good use, and smack it across your opponents back sending him crushing to earth like a sack of potatoes.  However if you’re a beginner at these kind of games ( like me ) it will take a little time just getting used to it all.

The game play mechanics is a little confusing at first, especially with no tutorial at hand I did find myself flicking back to the manual to find certain button combinations to perform tricks or to simply tag my partner into the arena.  Your health is indicated in the top left region of the screen.  You have a small diagram of a man and as you take damage each segment of you will turn a different colour to represent the damage.  You also have a stun meter which fills as you take damage, once full your character will be limp and then you have to waggle your analogue stick to slowly recover.  But to be honest, waggling or not it seemed to return to normal at the same rate.  Finally you have the "IMPACT" Meter.  As you pull off combos and devastating attacks this will fill, once full it with a-flame and then you can execute your characters finishing signature move.

There's plenty of mini-style games mid match, for example once an enemy pin's you down you have to again waggle the stick as fast as you can to kick out of it.  If the opponent gets you in a submission lock you have to then enter a button combination which helps keep the action fluid and alive?  Style points are earnt as you damage your enemy, but you will get less points for using the same move over and over again.  Style moves are used to unlock characters and different move lists.  In theory TNA Impact had everything going for it until you play for about half an hour and you truly realise about all of the flaws of the games.  Let’s just quickly cover what things irritated me!