TNA iMPACT Review (Nintendo Wii)

TNA iMPACT!, for the Nintendo Wii, is a great concept that never made it past being just that - a concept.

When WWE took over WCW, wrestling fans everywhere were saddened to hear that several of there favorite characters would not be returning to the ring. No Sting, no Big Papa Pump, no Lex Lugar, no Booker T, and certainly no N.W.O. Red, Black, White and whatever other color of the spectrum you could imagine.

Vince McMahon and capitalism had one. No more competition in the wrestling world, meant viewers no longer had the option to choose what wrestling show to follow. There was only one. For better or worse, if you were a wrestling fan, you had to take it.

Enter 2002. Jeff Jarrett, a wrestler who had graced both the WCW and WWE ring, and his father decided to create their own wrestling company. Total Nonstop Wrestling (TNA) was born. All of our old favorites, slowly made their way back to the ring. And, their return heralded a new era of competition - to become the best wrestling organization around.

Unfortunately, that competition has yet to make the translation to the console gaming world.

When Midway announced the release of TNA iMPACT!, fans everywhere rejoiced. Finally, we’d get to revisit characters that had been lost to the gaming world. We’d also get to see more recent stars, like Kurt Angle, make their way back to home gaming.

The celebration has been short lived. TNA iMPACT! for the Nintendo Wii comes up short on all fronts.

On the graphics side, the Nintendo Wii version of TNA iMPACT loses a lot of the detail from the big dog PS3 and 360 consoles. What you end up with is a bunch of boxy characters who just don’t look too distinguishable.

You’ll be able to live with the graphics. But, what makes the characters seem even less unique are their lack of moves. You’re presented with only a fistful of characters, all with the same taunts and signature moves. The signature moves aren’t really signature moves at all, as most of the characters use the same closers. Maybe, we’d let that slide with this infant franchise. Honestly, WWE and THQ had ten years to perfect their Smackdown style. But, the least they could do is vary the taunts, right?

There’s no reason to complain about a lack of originality on the taunt side or the signature move side. Why? With the Wiimote and Nunchaku controller combo, you’ll have a hard enough time executing anything outside of a kick or punch. So, get used to just tapping the A and B buttons for punch and kick. Taunts are executed with the 1 and 2 buttons, but you’ll have to sprout a few extra fingers to use them. You will also find yourself using the D-Button heavily. Left and right give you your chance to reverse moves. But reaching for the D-Button is a challenge on its own. We found that the best way to play this game is the use of the classic controller. Well for the most part at least. You can shake off being stunned by pumping the Wiimote and Nunchuk, which actually feels better than pressing buttons really fast and hard.

Jumping back a little, there is one major complaint related to the lack of uniqueness in characters. You can’t create your own player. You would think that by now, every sports game under sun would allow you to create your own player. Not so in TNA iMPACT! Maybe the development team on this title just doesn’t have a sense of how important that feature is for consumers. We like to create our own players. We’d like to give them a name of our own design. Add our own hairstyles and tattoos. Sometimes we want to have Sting’s face paint, and sometimes we don’t. You know? Create our own players. The choice should be ours.

Midway did throw in all the classic matches, including: Tag Team, Single Player, Free For All, and Submission. Plus, TNA’s own unique Ultimate X match, where players have to grab a giant X suspended above the ring, without the use of a ladder.

Unfortunately, there are a few problems even with this feature. There is a definite collision detection problem in TNA iMPACT for the Wii. Sometimes you hit people and the punches go right through them. And sometimes the punches just don’t do anything - like when you’re opponent is about to grab the X.

The tag matches will have you yelling bloody murder as the AI is completely off. Your own partner will break up your moves, while your opponent will help you out. It’s mercenary wrestling at its best.

We actually thought the story was pretty cool when it started off. You begin the game as a wrestler named Suicide, who was the king of all that was holy or unholy in wrestling. But, when you refuse to take a dive, LAX gives you a good old-fashioned amnesia-inducing beat down and leaves you for dead in Mexico. Random? Of course. But, it’s a fun little story. You have to fight your way back into the world of TNA from obscurity. The only problem is, the entire journey back into the wrestling world has no title belts. Yes, a business based off of title belts just doesn’t have any of those things actually in the game. Bizarre? Definitely.

The animation is actually pretty smooth overall. The only problem is, everything is just a bit too monotonous. The game could benefit from a several hundred move upgrade to break up the simplistic gameplay.

Overall, TNA iMPACT! is a game that will only live in the hearts of people who are loyal to TNA over WWE. If the franchise continues, Midway will have to do some serious upgrades on the game design and controls in order for it to be even close to competitive with their THQ rivals.