Inside Hotwire 3D

TNA iMPACT! is Midway’s first entry to the video game wrestling arena since the release of WWF Wrestlemania more than a decade ago. The game will feature some of your favorite wrestlers from TNA with names such as Scott Steiner, A. J. Styles, Samoa Joe, and Booker T to name a few. Wrestlers are divided into three primary fighting styles: Grappler, Acrobat, and Brawler. One of the biggest highlights of the game is the Ultimate X match, which is TNA’s most revered competition. Think of it as Smackdown’s ladder match where the objective is to snatch the brief case at the top; but instead of using a ladder, you climb up to the rope, make your way to the red X that is suspended high about the center of the ring using the “monkey bar” technique. When you get to the center, a mini-game will pop-up that lets you play with the sliding meter. You’ll need to get that magic number to retrieve the prize behind the red X.

Needless to say, TNA iMPACT! will run at a fast pace of 60 frames per second. You can imagine how frantic the action can get at this speed! So far, there are talks about having an actual story mode instead of the regular career mode as well as a lineup of 25 of the best TNA grapplers. Midway promises to deliver some intense actions in the ring by using trigger buttons to create powerful strikes and grapples, not to mention character-specific finishers. Of course, there is going to be a number of tag team matches but details on that have not been revealed to us. Though the developers are still working out the kinks of the game, the animation is operating quite smoothly. Wrestlers move really fast, giving you a true-to-life wrestling experience. Based on what we have seen so far, we’re optimistic that this will turn out to be a good wrestling game. TNA iMPACT! is scheduled to release in September 2, 2008.