Well, release dayn came and when I was out and about I thought I would go ahead and buy this game because not only do I love TNA but I love wrestling games ever since the days of N64. So I got home and set it up and my first impression was "wow!". The graphics are supperb and the in-ring action is brilliant. Much more realistic than SVR and it just looks and feels like a real match. However, it did take me a while to get use to the controls having played smackdown (vs. Raw) for the past 7 years and on PS2. I have not tried the story mode yet but I hear it is pretty good.
However, apart from the graphics, realism and sheer wow-factor of having a TNA wrestling game (finally!) there are a few down sides. The create a wrestler is quite disapointing, nothing on the SVR series. There are not as many options for clothing and you don't really get a say on what moves you have (in comparison to SVR), you obviously get to pick a finisher but the really annoying thing is that all the decent moves are locked. Now heres why. In SVR you play through the carreer mode and unlock bonus superstars like the rock and Stone Cold, TNA is exactly the same but the catch is you have to unlock the whole damn roster! Unlike SVR you can only play as I think 10 superstars until you go through story mode and unlock other characters. Which is slightly disapointing.
So apart from having to unlock half the roster and the disapointing create a wrestler mode it is a very good. The most realistic wrestling game I've ever played! c