Playing in the Impact Zone: Part Two

With WWE '12 hitting the stores this week, and none of us purchasing it due to having no favourite wrestlers to play as (see part one), we continue to look at what we want from a new TNA game!

From Jobber to Champ

Erm... Salty Biscuits 

Unless your name is Crimson, a wrestler is very unlikely you will make your debut and get a title shot within the same year, but the common season mode of wrestling games tends to be that way these day. A continuous career for around five years would be a good option, as it allows you to work your way up the card and through the titles. It could even include the BFG series, which would set a pace that doesn't seem rushed and puts the season in a similar game length to those that would be played in other sports games such as FIFA or NHL. 

As interesting as the story mode was in the original Impact, I would prefer a move away from this very scripted mode, as it left little room to manoeuvre. The biggest pain was that you had to win every single match; again putting you on par with Crimson! You moved through the roster, gaining championship belts as you went and had no say in the direction of your character. Now, for a new game, I don't expect the mass details Yuke's have infused into the WWE's career mode over time, but I do expect some choices, such as which title to go for first, who to have as my tag team partner, who to feud with, etc. These are all choices that were available during the PS2 iterations of the WWE games, so it's not too much to ask for, as I don't want to be in another tag team with EY called the Salty Biscuits! 

Full Metal Mayhem 

The other area of the game I would like to see expanded are the match types. The first game had Ultimate X, but compare that to the multiple match types on offer in WWE '12, in which a number of competitors can compete in various match types including ladders, cages, last man standing, first blood, etc. Building on the types of matches would spin out the length of game play and with the inclusion of ladder matches, would bring in more weapons, compared to the odd chair that was scattered around the ring side area in an unrealistic fashion. 

Making some improvements to Ultimate X and creating matches such as Full Metal Mayhem and King of the Mountain would give gamers new match types that they will not have played before, such as the excitement of when HIAC was first introduced into the Smackdown series.

Yukes have done well ironing out issues with their games, which TNA should learn from. If they follow the annual release structure of typical sports games, they would be in a position whereby we would be debating between picking up TNA or WWE, just like football fans do with FIFA and Pro Evolution Soccer every year. Hopefully, we will get our hands on a new game within the next year and it could have the same impact Smackdown had when it replaced Attitude, with TNA growing as a brand. The next logical step is to try and grow into this lucrative gaming market.