Game Reviews

Wrestling games have been around for almost as long as mainstream gaming, but in recent years they've really tried to enhance themselves and go beyond the games of old. With that in mind, Midway Studios - Los Angeles, were set the task of creating an engaging experience for fans of the wrestling promotional outfit called Total Nonstop Action (TNA). While a home console version of TNA iMPACT was released in 2008, the game has now come to the handhelds in the form of TNA iMPACT: Cross The Line.

In the story section of Cross the Line, players take control of a fictional wrestler called Suicide. He went against the wishes of fellow co-workers and ended up being ambushed, kidnapped and shipped to Mexico with a messed-up face - not really an issue considering he wears a mask seemingly all the time. To cap things off, the beating was so severe that he's developed amnesia. The only thing he remembers is a longing to compete in the ring and after winning a few minor challenges, he eventually manages to make his way back into the ranks of TNA.

Despite being pretty ridiculous in its premise (or is it?), the story does a good job of actually making players want to continue playing the game. That's a good thing when considering that the game is rather boring and bland. According to Cross the Line, each wrestler only has a literal handful of moves, and even then some of them are the same as others. Players are able to perform an irish whip, weak and heavy punch/kicks, a weak grapple move, a small selection of high-flying moves and a few heavy grapple moves. It means that matches almost have no variety, because the wrestlers have such a limited array of moves. There's also no customisation at all for Suicide, so the moves he starts with are the moves he ends with.To go alongside the lack of variety, the gameplay mechanics don't help things one bit. As players progress through the story, the AI, as one would expect, become much more adept. This means they can counter moves - something they do far too often, and something that is far too damaging for the player's character. It gets to the point where almost any grappling move that's attempted gets reversed, and it can become very frustrating. So, how do players get around this? By performing endless strings of melee moves until their opponent is stunned and cannot perform a reversal.This is all well and good, albeit boring, but players get style points for moves they perform. The better the move, the more style points they acquire. These help them to build up their 'Impact Bar', which when full, allows them to perform their finishing move. Now, there's nothing wrong with this system at all.