I'm going to level with you. I have written a ton of stuff prior to this. I'm not going to include most of it because it amounts to me rambling on about game mechanics, what I think the developers intended, my struggle to understand the move system. I'm going to get that part of the review out of the way now.

This is more like the Smackdown games than Fire Pro for PS2. To me Fire Pro Returns is the best wrestling game ever. This took me some getting used to because the controls are closer to the WWE games at the time and its been a decade since I played SD for PS1. I've looked at the WWE SD games for the PS2 and this looks just as good if not better in some instances. I don't think it's anywhere as deep if we're talking about match types or a season/story mode. No lethal lockdown cage, no king of the mountain match, no monsters ball or ladder matches. That stinks but therethere's the Ultimate X match so, that kinda makes up for it. The story mode for PS2 is you playing as Suicide in a narrative in order to unlock wrestlers and arenas. Not all of the TNA roster is ready at the start. That kinda stinks but, OK sure that's cool...I'll play story mode to unlock guys. I grew up playing PS1 in high school so I know the drill. Would have preferred to just win a tournament to unlock guys... there's no tournament match either but there's some Free for All matches but I would have liked that.

OK so the move thing is the biggest time vacuum I've participated in recently. There's no Create a Wrestler mode for PS2 and there's no way to kinda see all the moves that are available and how they're mapped out. There's a guide in the game, one on gameFAQs in the board but I had to find a 12 year old guide on IGN that actually gives you a decent understanding of how the moves are laid out. Thing is most brawler and grapplers have many of the same moves - slams, suplexes, etc. The high flyers (X Division guys) are the ones that have the real interesting ones and honestly the only ones worth looking up or writing down on a cheat sheet. And I might do just that because there's not a solid logic behind where a move is on the controls or a specific scenario. Like a lot of people's complaints from '08-09, it's not the best control scheme. Unlike those folks, I feel there are plenty of moves...you just need to know how to do them. I honestly feel like each guy has about the same amount of moves as they do in reality. There are some glaring omissions though like Sting's Sharpshooter... Angle doesn't have a true Ankle Lock but there's an Achilles hold that is a fine stand in though. IGN shows AJ's Pele Kick but when I hit the buttons he does a kneecap drop kick. Not sure if that's IGN's fault, it's not in this version or what? I could go on but like I said the move thing is the biggest time vacuum I've participated in recently. I'm getting dangerously close to getting sucked back in. One last point: I think that is the BIG point of this game are the counters/reversals. Very many moves can be reversed. Reversals can even be reversed! I think that is amazing for a PS2 game. Again I think if your thinking about focusing on playing as X Division guys, this feature is really good. Once I got the timing down, this actually felt like a Impact TV match. And I think that is the strength of the game thus far. I do wish countering punches & kicks were easier but I remember them being too easy to counter in the Smackdown games. I like that it's not reversal after reversal.

So the last "game thing" I'll mention is the "glitches." There's a couple I've noticed with one being so bad you need to quit the match...that is being on the apron and going'round the post. It makes your guy "fall off" the apron into a plane that  isn't in line with the other wrestler and you yourself cannot exit it and get back in the ring. Even if another guy throws you back in you're still off axis...yadda yadda... just don't do it. If you were a PlayStation player back in the day, shit like this would happen... it's part of playing a game. Again there's no tournament mode so no biggie if you have to restart.

And that really is the type of game this is. It's a nice looking game that really seems made to be played for 30 minutes to an hour for some TNA wrestling fans. They weren't trying to kill any of the WWE games at the time. It's got faults but again, if you familiarize yourself with the general move layout, maybe jot down a couple favorites then you should have a fun with single player modes. I actually got my wife to play against me. She had a blast with the basic instructions of X is kick, [] is punch, ∆ and a direction does moves, R2 runs. I eventually told her R1 is counter. She's a fighting game player & a proud button masher (MK is her fave) so all of that was easy enough and she was able to do some cool stuff...the best was as AJ Styles she did a running headscissors/frankensteiner (the animation looks pretty cool in this PS2 game). Like Oh Shit! that was cool. So of course she does a few more times (along with some other stuff which I'm not sure what due to her said button mashing)...I bet I can counter that and next time AJ goes up for the headscissors, BAM! Power Bomb! And damn it was cool and looked great This definitely feels like a great 2 player game... like I would recommend this if you have a 2nd player and want to kill 20-30 minutes (or more). This is all I wanted out of buying it used...a diversion.

I think what convinced me to buy it now in 2024 was the roster. Although the WWE games might be fuller, richer games, I couldn't care less about that era of WWE. I could care less about the roster too. Sure there's some ECW guys that would be cool to play as or even some other guys of that era but the bulk of the roster sucks to me. But more importantly, I don't have any connection to that era of WWE and buying old wrestling  games is about the connection instead of game mechanics, match types and move sets. That ended once I  Fire Pro became available in the States (it's the sole reason I bought a PS2 in '07 actually). This TNA Impact is a fantastic time capsule to the golden era of TNA wrestling. It's got big the names you associate with that '05-'09 ('06-'08) period. Petey Williams isn't available on this version unfortunately. Consequences Creed (Xaiver Woods) would have been a great addition though...the Lethal Consequences team was cool! In an alternate universe, they would have included Gail Kim, ODB, Awesome Kong and the Beautiful People if only for a Knockout Division game mode (maybe they were nervous of people doing mixed gender matches?). 

So, it's a bit of a nostalgia trip playing this in 2024. It's very much a game of its time so I fully agree to anyone who thinks the game stinks compared to their favorite WWE games.. or even the WCW N64 games. But what makes this special is the roster and being able to play as prime era AJ Styles, Samoa Joe, Sabin & Shelley, Homicide & Hernandez, Black Machismo Jay Lethal, Chris Daniels, and Abyss...among others. That reversal system along with the pick up and play ability (once you learn the basics) makes this a fun interactive wrestling collectible. I think you might have an even better time with the PS3 & Xbox 360 versions... I'm just a cheap ass

Thanks for reading!