TNA Wrestling

It's hard to see how American professional wrestling could ever have been viewed as macho. Waxed, oiled, Lycra-clad, long haired men prance around a ring, spouting hammy lines before becoming entwined in a mess of sweaty arms and legs. It's camper than a production of The Rocky Horror Picture Show starring The Village People.

And yet to a nine-year-old boy, sat in front of the telly on a rainy Saturday afternoon, they were as close to real life superheroes as it was possible to get. The way these giants could fly through the air and land head-first on the canvas, or receive a beating with a supposedly solid metal chair and still get up to bitch about foul play, was truly staggering.

TNA Wrestling (that's Total Nonstop Action) is the latest version of the theatrical sport to emerge from America. Somewhat unexpectedly, the game based on the franchise features two things we'd never have associated with a wrestling game: strategic gameplay and a self-aware sense of humour. The former manifests itself with the tactical RPG-like battle system. Let us explain.

Having chosen the appearance of your wrestler (we went for a Hulk Hogan look-a-like for nostalgia value) and decided what his leanings will be (er, in terms of good or bad) you'll be thrust into your first fight. This is no button-masher; rather, you'll take it in turns with your opponent to use up your allocation of Battle Points. Each move you select costs points, so you'll need to think carefully about what you can 'afford' to do.

In addition you can string together combos in order to pull of a signature finishing move or appeal to the crowd for more Crowd Points, which can be spent on devastating special moves depending on whether you're a Face (goodie) or a Heel (baddie). Picking your side influences the way your wrestler develops throughout the game.

Before each fight you'll have the chance to engage in a little verbal tête-à-tête with you opponent. Choose the nobler responses and you'll win the favour and adoration of the crowd. Insult or assault your foe and you'll incur their wrath. Each comment rewards you with points towards your Face or Heel meter, which in turn gives you unique special moves for use in the ring.

Some of the comments and situations on offer had us chortling with childish glee, whether it was opting to pick on a weak, third-rate wrestler or coming up with an inventive insult concerning our opponent's parentage. It's playground stuff, but it's written with just enough wit to make you look forward to each encounter rather than just skip impatiently through.

Whoever wrote the TNA Wrestling script deserves credit for acknowledging the absurdity of the pro-wrestling set-up and playing to the audience with a knowing wink. One instance followed a defeat, when our posing opponent smugly observed that we probably wished we could restart the whole fight, a second before the option to 'Restart' flicked up on screen. Hardly side-splitting stuff, but the tone and timing are spot on.

Such amusing dialogue is just as well, too, because TNA Wrestling is tough. Seriously tough. There really is no guaranteed path to victory. You have to vary your attacks and observe your opponent's movements, as well as monitor your own status.

In fact, we found the difficulty of the fights and the sheer range of ill-defined moves a little tiresome after a while. Nothing is quite intuitive enough and the outcome of any attack is never apparent enough to be fully satisfying when executed. Whilst we wouldn't say it's totally random – there's obviously a grand balancing act going on behind the scenes – the battle system is a little arcane for what is otherwise a bright and breezy game.

Still, it's not often that a developer takes a licensed property and all of the expectations that go along with it and runs in completely the opposite direction. It's almost as rare to find a licensed game as thoughtfully executed as this one.