Customer Reviews

TNA Impact

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

TNA and Midway have ramped up the hype machine for "TNA Impact" for months. SpikeTV, in fact, devoted an entire episode of its "Game Trailers" show to the game. As a big TNA fan, I was already excited for my first shot at controlling Samoa Joe and AJ Styles and all on my PS3, and the Spike special put my excitement over the top. The graphics looked unbelievable, and I was encouraged by quotes from some of TNA's younger talent on the game's playability -- the title of this review is an AJ Styles quote from the special.

Unfortunately, I have yet to figure out what AJ was talking about. I see that other reviewers like the gameplay here, but I cannot stand it. Kicking out of pins is absurdly difficult, there is no apparent rhyme or reason to how much damage is inflicted by different moves, and the number of moves available is extremely limited.

Because the game developers had AJ, Christopher Daniels, and Joe as the models for designing the gameplay, everybody in the game moves like them. Even giant sacks of worthless sludge like Scott Steiner can flip out of a fireman's carry for a counter, climb the Ultimate X cables with ease, and leap over the top rope to the arena floor. Where is the realism in that? Similarly, why does a punch from Steiner dole out the same amount of punishment as a punch from Alex Shelley and why is Sonjay Dutt as tough as Kurt Angle? Every character in this game is the same. There are no character ratings for traits like endurance, strength, speed, etc. It's all very bland.

Finally, the story mode is full of holes. You spend most of your early career wrestling jobbers created with the game's horrendous "create a wrestler" mode, and they get introductions such as "a man who lays his body on the line for you" and "a man who has left a trail of destruction in his wake." Give me a break. While some of the skits in the story mode are entertaining (Eric Young trying to hit on Christy Hemme is hilarious,) the whole Suicide story is awful. "I don't remember who I am, though I just told you the story of how I used to be TNA Champion before I got beat up by LAX. I guess I'm supposed to be a wrestler."

Oy.

Finally, Ultimate X is the only gimmick match in the entire game. There is a falls-count-anywhere mode, but since every single match in the game is no DQ and no countout, and since you can't go beyond the immediate ringside area, that barely counts as a different mode. You will find no "six sides of steel", no ladder (or King of the Mountain) matches, no hardcore or "Monsters' Ball" matches, nadda. That gets pretty boring afte ra while.

The game gets an A for graphics, a C+ for gameplay, a B- for fun, and a D- for features. Unfortunately, Midway only hit a single with this one, leaving TNA fans waiting for that home run.

I'm a lifetime wrestling fan and have been playing wrestling video games since Wrestlemania on the NES. There was a ton of negative feedback on this game upon its release and I avoided the game for a long time because of that. Well, I finally decided to pick up the game after I found it used for $8 earlier today and I already want my money back.

The first thing that sticks out about this game are the nice graphics. The characters look nice and polished and the entrance clips, although very short, look good. This is the only positive aspect of the game. Gameplay is terrible in Impact. You have three attacks: Punch, Kick, and Grab. You can modify these attacks with a strong button, leaving your character with around ten moves total. In other words, gameplay is ridiculously repetitive. Also, it seems like almost all of the players in the game have the same moveset. I think just about every wrestler has the same punch, kick and chop animations as well as the same belly to belly suplex. There is only one weapon to be found in the game, a folding chair. There is only one special match type, Ultimate X, which is really nothing special.

On top of an extremely limited moveset and repetitive gameplay, this game is insanely difficult. I don't have a problem with a video game being challenging, but playing Impact was downright frustrating. I play Smackdown vs Raw on Legend difficulty and while the game is difficult, it doesn't make me want to pull out my hair. Impact makes me want to pull out my hair, fasten a noose out of it and hang myself. Practically every grapple move I did in the game was reversed. If I was lucky enough to pull of my finishing move, the computer character would simply kick out at two and then stand up and start wailing on me like there was no damage inflicted. I was completely unable to kick out of the computer's pinfall attempts. You are supposed to be able to wiggle the analog sticks to kick out of pins, but I think there must be some type of black magic component to kicking out of a pinfall in this game, because I have wiggled the analog stick as fast as humanly possible and have never managed to get the pinfall meter more than halfway full. The storyline mode blows as you are forced to play as the character Suicide against a bunch of imaginary scrubs on your path to making it in the (not so) big time world of TNA.

Unless you're the masochistic type, you really shouldn't pick this game up. That is unless you're planning on smashing it with a hammer.

The graphics on this game are great, probably the best in all the wrestling games, the gameplay is repetetive but pretty fun. You need to go throught the story mode to unlock all the wrestlers & the story mode is extremely hard & can be very frustrating. I had to go to a website that gives you tips & hints on how to beat each opponent. If not for that I wouldn't make it very far in story mode cause opponents reverse near every single move & it's too hard to kick out of a pin, so if they cover you the match is basically over. Once you beat the story mode & unlock all the wrestlers the exhibition is pretty fun. The biggest problem with this game is it's almost impossible to kick out of a pin attempt. This game also didn't have any Championships & lacks gimmick matches. The main match available is the Ultimate X. I'm glad I bought this game used for $10 I wouldn't pay more than $20 for it. I still prefer this game over the recent WWE games any day.

I just had to sign onto my mother's amazon account to review this game. I didn't expect much from TNA Impact! considering it didn't have the backing of past generation systems like WWE does with their products. Well I went over to a friends house and he told me he had just picked up the new TNA videogame. So we popped it into his PS3 and within about 10 minutes of gameplay, I was abosolutely amazed at how awesome this game is and I had to log on amazon.com and buy a copy for myself to own.

Graphics: The graphics are everything you'd expect and more out of a next-gen game. From the facial expressions down to the beads of sweat pouring down the wrestlers faces... it's just amazingly realistic. 10/10

Controls: The controls are very simple which I enjoyed. I got pretty frustrated with the controls of the SVR series, where the controls would change completely every game and as someone else stated in an earlier review, TNA Impact! is not about trying to create a wrestling simulation. It's about having fun and not taking 30 minutes to learn the controls. A very simple control scheme indeed. 10/10

Story: Now the story in any wrestling game can tend to be somewhat cliche and silly at times, but you do need to understand that if the story was at a stature of a game like Metal Gear Solid 4, then it would just blow. You have your story mode of course, such as any wrestling game should have, but this story is more complex then the SVR games story modes, which made it a major plus. 9.5/10

All in all, I'm basically saying that this game is definitly worth renting, if not buying. A definite buy in my eyes even for fans of wrestling who aren't familiar with TNA wrestling. Some people have brought up places where this game might lack, which I disagree with. But if it does lack in certain spots, it makes up for it in others such as graphics and controls.

So go rent it. Guaranteed you won't be dissapointed.

i love TNA and the tv spots they do. this game in no way represents the intensity of TNA. Boring, pointless storyline, create a wrestler what? Please dont insult us with ps1 quality game. my advise, it would be more fun finding real people to wrestle fake with.

TNA Impact was fun when i first got it i played the story had some fun matches with my nephews i was not happy with the online cause i wasn't able to play online due to there not being one person on. TNA had good potential had it had more moves, matches, and weapons and 2k as the developers not that midway did a bad job but the guys that make 2k sports would have done one hell of a job, I would love to see Konami do a wrestling game anyways TNA is worth a rent that's about it hopefully we get a part 2 by a different company

Now I bought this game simply out of curiosity and thought that being a wrestling fan I at least owe it to myself. I didn't expect much and to be honest I was damned if I was going to enjoy it, and you know what? I love this game. What a lot of people are wrongly doing is comparing it to the Smackdown franchise, it's not even the same company so why would they do such a thing? Sure, Smackdown has been going for something like 10 years and has a big fan base behind it, but that doesn't make it the greatest wrestling series ever. The Smackdown games in my book are aiming to be too much of a wrestling simulation, rather than a computer game that you can just pick up and play.

Midway and TNA give us just that. A game that you can pick up and play at any time, it doesn't have over complicated controls, nor does it endeavour to give you a thousand hours of playability with one playthrough, which is what some gamers seem to be after these days. I will admit it does lack some features which we would come to expect from a wrestling game or sports game in general. A season mode and create modes are completely absent. Some rules that you find in wrestling aren't there, such as rope break or disqualification. The roster is relatively small, but what it lacks in size it makes up in perfection, which in my eyes what really makes this a winner.

I'm sure a lot of people would gladly have a go and say "graphics aren't everything" and you're right, they're not. But what they are is still important, if you're looking to give us a realistic looking game then graphics are imperative. Apart from the beauty, the playability is simple and effective. Although it does lack a lot of diversity when it comes to move groups ie. back grapples. I have to give Midway and TNA credit and say for a first shot, this game really works and is very enjoyable as a whole.

The Story mode is pretty cool and it tells the story of you, previously known as Suicide. He/You were the most unstoppable wrestler in TNA and off the cusp of winning the TNA Heavyweight title He/You are attacked by LAX. Beaten to a pulp and missing some vital parts of your memory like who you are and that you were once the biggest wrestler in TNA. You enter into the create a superstar phase and you effectively give Him/You plastic surgery. After surgery He/You rediscover the urge to wrestle and find out you're pretty damn good at it, so you must now fight through the ranks to become the big name you once were.

I would advise that most people decide to form their own opinions on this one. One piece of advice I would offer you above everything else, however, is that you shouldn't compare it in any way to Smackdown as it's a completely different experience.

The first thing you encounter when you pop this in your PS3 is a 20 minute install where practically the entire game is copied to the hard drive. Of the eight PS3 games I own so far (I am a new owner), this is the only game tat does this. The box notes that you need 4.75 GB of space for the installation. This wait was infuriating.

The graphics, sounds and control scheme are great. Dare I say it....much better than Smackdown vs Raw. The gameplay and presentation is a little lacking, though. If you are used to full ring entrances, you won't find them here. Most last only about five seconds.

The lineup of wrestlers is not entirely reflective of TNA today, especially because the game does not include the TNA Knockouts.

Having been to a TNA taping in Orlando, I can say with certainty that this game looks exactly like the iMPACT! Zone.

I think this is a 4 star game with some room for improvement. I'd give it a solid "B".