TNA Wrestling

Some see professional wrestling as an extreme power-sport, while others see it as gaudy, manufactured entertainment. While it won't change your opinion either way, TNA Wrestling stirs respect for the professional wrestler much in the way Mickey Rourke in The Wrestler has encouraged a second look at the lives of these vulgar grand-standers.

That’s not to say it takes a similarly dramatic and downbeat look at the lives of the big men in tights, but TNA Wrestling does involve you in events outside of the ring. The daily drama of being a wrestler comes into focus as much as the matches themselves and that’s where the real strength of the game is to be found.

Essentially it’s split into two games: an adventure about your professional life as you try to climb the treacherous, star-studded ladder of the TNA Wrestling association (while trying to build personal relationships with colleagues and girlfriends), and the actual in-ring, turn-based wrestling bouts.

Scouted during an amateur wrestling match, you get your big break in a tryout for the TNA wrestling association. You get to design your character, choosing hairstyle, costume colours, skin tones and a name. Then, you learn a little about what it takes to play the wrestling game.

Wrestlers are split up into two categories: the face (the good guy) and the heel (the bad guy). TNA Wrestling makes sure, from the outset, that you understand that neither of these roles is wrong. The crowd loves to hate the heel, so playing the bad guy is every bit as important as looking good.

The drama comes from interactions with the people involved in professional wrestling: your manager, TV presenters, talent scouts, other wrestlers, fans, enemies - it’s a long and rich list. Deciding how to treat these people determines how your career and your personal life progress, so you need to know when to be sarcastic, when to be aggressive and when to be supportive.

Each conversation has a selection of remarks, each of which elicits a different response. Your boss, for instance, likes a bit of flattery, but sometimes the only way to gain an angry wrestler’s respect is to give it to him straight and unvarnished. It’s not the kind of gameplay you expect in a wrestling game, but you'll be astonished by how well it works.

It wouldn’t be a wrestling game without the fighting, though, and the mechanics here are just as unexpected. Moves like body slams and shoulder blocks are made up of several smaller actions such as slaps, kicks, and locks. The game uses a turn-based system, in which you perform each action in turn to make up a full move - then it’s the other guy’s go.

Before your wrestler pulls off a successful Full Body BBQ Bump (or whatever) you need to perform a series of simple quick time events. Fail and only the last action is performed; time them right and the crowd goes wild as you treat your opponent to a spectacular attack. The bouts even leave the ring on occasion, in good, excessive pro wrestling style.

Even more, you need to learn to work the crowd every bit as much as your opponent’s rib cage. Getting the audience whipped up into a frenzy - whether they love or hate you - is the mark of a top level wrestler.

It all sounds quite complex, and in many ways it is. But you’re not just performing one wrestling match after another here. You’re living the life of a professional wrestler, and that’s a complex existence for anyone to manage with any level of success.

The surprising amount of depth, coupled with the excellent fighting mechanics and the wry humour laced throughout makes TNA Wrestling a surprisingly rich and unexpected pleasure. Give it an hour of your time, and you’ll never look at professional wrestling the same way.