TNA Impact Wii Review

TNA Impact

Wii Review
Developer: Midway Studios Los Angeles
Publisher:  Midway
Players: 1-4

TNA iMPACT! has made its way onto the Nintendo Wii platform to try and garner some attention from wrestling fans on the console.  Is this a good substitute for the Smackdown vs. Raw series on the Wii?  Or is it not even a contender?

TNA stands for Total Nonstop Action, and is basically the #2 wrestling company out there behind the WWE, with stars such as Jeff Jarrett, AJ Styles, Kevin Nash, Sting, Samoa Joe, and others leading the way.

Midway has taken this promotion, with its six-sided ring and all, and brought it over to the Wii for a release.

The big question which revolved around TNA iMPACT! on the Wii was with the controls.  A lot of the stuff is mapped out to the buttons on the Wiimote/nunchuk, with the A, B buttons doing punches and kicks, while your C button will make you run.

If you want to get into the grappling, you have your Z button to allow you to do a strong grapple.  The biggest issue I had with the controls was the use of the D-Pad, which is used to do counters and such.  You can do gestures with the controls though to do a variety of things, such as an Irish Whip, among other moves.

The game plays out like a pick-up-and-play wrestler, just as it should as there is plenty here for those to be able to have fun with at first, and master in the long run.

There are nine match modes in the game, with everything you will be familiar with.  The best match though is Ultimate X.  Ultimate X has a big red X above the center of the ring, and wrestlers need to jump up on the ropes, and climb to the middle of the ring to get the big red X down.

This match type is great fun the first couple times out, but more moves need to be able to be pulled off from on the ropes.

There are 25 wrestlers featured in the game, but the big issue was that a lot of the moves in the game are the same for more than one wrestler.  Midway made it clear they did not have the time to use all of the animations, and this is seen clear as day here.

The most aggravating aspect of the controls here though is that you can not do a grapple from behind, to me this is inexcusable.  The game almost felt unfinished in how you couldn’t do certain things.

The other big thing that was left out is create-a-wrestler, no CAW in the Wii version at all.

This changes the story mode as well, as you cannot use a created wrestler, and instead have to use from made-up guy.  The story mode is both fun and interesting, but the fact that you cannot use your own guy is a downer.

TNA iMPACT! on the Nintendo Wii is a decent first effort for a wrestling game on the Wii, but just doesn’t feel finished in any way.  The graphics need an upgrade, the game modes need to be expanded, as do the moves, and there are tons of omissions with a lack of move sets, create-a-wrestler, etc.  This is only worth a rental even for hardcore wrestling fans.

Graphics: 6.0 Disappointing on the Wii with block characters, a lack of detail, and more.  Animations I will say are quite good.

Audio: 7.0 The audio gets the job done, but commentary is not what it should be.

Gameplay: 5.0 The controls need to be changed and updated, you need to be able to do more and have more freedom in a grappler.

Replay Value: 5.5 You may be able to get into this, but the lack of modes and moves will draw you away.

Final Score: 6.0

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