Not even the "this is their first game" excuse could prevent TNA Impact from being a total bust of a game....
In any event, TNA decided to answer those prayers by releasing a game of their own named after their weekly television show, TNA Impact. An alternative to the SmackDown series was definitely in the works and fans awaited the release in complete joy.......until they played the final product.
One thing for sure, the control scheme is pretty good. Moves are responsive once you get the hang of things and the best part about it is the reversal engine. Being able to chain various reversals from a strike to a grapple and vice versa gives it a more of a realistic way of how the wrestling action of TNA works. Needless to say Midway nailed that portion of the game pretty good. AND THEN, THE GAME GOES DOWNHILL FROM THERE.
Fans complained about how small the roster is, that doesn't bother me in the slightest. Fans complained about the lack of match-types (especially those that put TNA on the map), that I can understand since the game feels more like a wrestling demo without Six Sides of Steel and the rest. They are just TWO things about TNA Impact that turned me away from it: the lack of movesets for starters and almost nothing to do as well.
I recalled during the hype for the game was that they would add over 2000 moves. Well, only 500 made it in for some reason with no explanation as to why they were not added. And with the exception of Story Mode and an outdated CAW mode, what else is there to do after playing the game? There is always online gameplay but that's all I can come up with.
In any event I question how Midway and TNA came about when they developed this game, especially when it was made from the ground up unlike the SmackDown games which are all rehashes from Here Comes The Pain. Things like missing key elements about TNA did not help things either and I'm not even going to question how 3/4 of the anticipated amount of moves. Cause if this was Midway's way of making what should be TNA, someone in those offices need to be fired ASAP cause this was NOT a wrestling game I played, it felt more like a wrestling demo. Especially in today's standards when it comes to wrestling games.
Now don't get me wrong, as much as I disliked TNA Impact, I would easily accept this game more than SmackDown 2007 and 2008 combined. Not to mention WCW Mayhem and Backstage Assault (two of the WORST wrestling games I have ever played) easily makes this game look like SmackDown 2006 for me. I am a wrestling fan who likes his wrestling games, but TNA Impact really made me reconsider the games I choose for the wrestling genre a lot differentially (and not for the best either).
I don't know, maybe I could've given the game a far better chance to redeem itself. But when you have people like Kurt Angle stating how this game would "outsell" SmackDown 2009 and Dixie Carter boasting on how this game would "revoultionise" wrestling games, they had hoped that it would live up to those standards which it falls short of.
Do yourself a favor and try Fire Pro Wrestling Returns for the PS2. Sure the graphics are in 2D, the controls do take getting used to and the difficulty is pretty tough, but hey, that game alone would be a far better alternative than TNA Impact will ever be.