TNA Impact

Few games have wrestling down to such a simple science as TNA Impact, and if it was this brutally entertaining on TV, we’d never stop watching. The game manages to achieve the exciting atmosphere of the sport while injecting it with the brutality of a barroom brawl. It’s impressive to look at and a hoot to play, but depth is sacrificed in favor of accessibility — the easy-to-learn controls include only grabs, submissions, and attacks. This simplistic formula gives Impact an overall feel akin to the Akideveloped WCW series that rocked our world back in its 1998 heyday. Impact doesn’t develop the decade-old design philosophies that it dips into so much as refine them with current-gen tech.

We dig the idea of a spiritual successor to WCW, but the lack of innovation is plain lazy. For example, one original match type — the super-fun tightrope-climbing Ultimate X — accompanies eight other standard modes. Even the story lacks inventive direction (though its deliberate cheesiness is a hilarious plus): After you refuse to take a dive, the league puts out a hit on you, and you’re left for dead in Tijuana with amnesia! As it turns out, everyone in TNA is an obsessive psychopath with one goal: preventing your rise to the top of the organization. Their determination becomes extremely irritating during gameplay, as repeated reversals will result in numerous rematches. The frustration will make you want to suplex your TV.

Impact nails the feel of wrestling, but adding a new coat of paint to an old-school style won’t be enough to entice those seeking something fresh. Fans of the genre or “sport,” however, have an accessible and fun wrasslin’ game worth sticking in their collection.