Guide for TNA iMPACT! - General hints and tips

First thing's first. If you want to make things a little bit easier for yourself against the computer, you can change the difficulty in the 'Options' menu. Just change the difficulty to 'Backyard' and you're ready to go. Also, if you don't know how to play this game, or if you just want a refresher on what the controls are, the game does have a few tutorial videos in the Options menu. Under 'Training', these videos range from your basic controls to how to pull off submissions, as well as show specific controls for the 'Ultimate X' match type. They aren't vital for this walk through, as I will highlight the controls for a moves set that will be apt to see you through the game.

Another thing you will want to familiarize yourself with is the HUD in game. The impact meter I found wasn't really needed except for one achievement. As you score style points, it will build until it's all lit up, marked by a short riff. This means you can use your wrestlers finisher. If left default it is useless unless the damage done to the opponent has 3 or 4 parts in the red as they will effortlessly kick out. That level of damage will take a considerably longer time than using the submission method I will outline below. Keep an eye on your opponents Impact though, their finishers will be punishing. Once practiced in my technique, then the AI won't land a lot of moves on you, but if the AI manages to use a finisher on you, then it's difficult to escape. The game wants you to wiggle the left stick left/right to fill the struggle gauge, but it feels very unresponsive, so best avoided.

Below the Impact bar though is the characters name, and behind that, a red gauge. This is your best friend, it will fill up as you get damaged, and likewise, your opponents will fill as your do damage to them. Once it's full, it will impose a stun effect, leaving the victim entirely defenceless until it's cleared. This again wants the wiggle of the left stick and feels no responsive, but while the AI is suffering a stun, you can land a hit on the target area without fear of a reversal.

You can reverse attacks yourself. This works by a simple press of the at a specific time during an attack. For light attacks, including kicks and punches, it's just before they land. For more complex moves such as suplexes and Irish Whips, it's just when the build up reaches it's apex. The HUD will show the button promt at the time it can be used, but often it doesn't work. Sometimes spamming the button will reverse, other times it won't. I couldn't find exactly how to get this to work, it does feel like a slightly broken mechanic in the game. Fortunately, it's not vital, and once going, you won't really need it.

Though you won't really need to view all of the tutorial videos if you're just looking to quickly get through this game and score the completion, they are handy to highlight what I've spoken about above. With a few basic moves, you can wear down any opponent with minimal risk to yourself. It would be a little slower than using all the moves at your disposal, but the AI, especially towards the end of the story, will counter almost everything. So a set routine of uncounterable moves will allow you to quickly get the best of your opponent. This involves submission, specifically, weakening the head. I went with head over legs/arms due to the fact that you could get a head submission hold even while stood up, you didn't need to get them down to land it. This is handy at the start, but about 40% into the story, the standing submission will be countered frequently so becomes obsolete too.

The move set

The bread and butter of this moves list is a simple throw, grab the opponent by their arm and sling them over your shoulder onto the mat.

Away + from your opponent. Though you must be in close range to land it. You can close the gap a little with a simple kick, ( towards + ) but this will leave it open to a counter, not so troublesome in the early story, but it can be costly down the line. Some of the heavyweight wrestlers will pound on you once you're down, and it can be hard to actually get back up again. This may be the only real time where you would try and counter yourself. A swift blow between the legs can buy you the time to get back on the offensive. Though hopefully by the time you get there, this moveset will be muscle memory though and you'll have no need for a quick kick.

As soon as the throw is done, you want to legdrop your opponent before they get up, ( + ). This is unreversable. Using a hammer ( + ) can and often will be reversed, so best to avoid that from the start. The leg drop is just an additional move to build your opponents stun meter. It does a little body damage, but that's not really of any consequence, the head is all we are concerned about.

There are two choices you have now. Either repeat the previous two steps. You can stand right on their toes safely, so as soon as they're on their feet, repeat the throw and leg drop combo. I would do this 3 or 4 times, back to back. The chance of a counter when using a floor move is greatly reduced (but not completely removed!). After a few repeats, you can risk a head strike while they are down. You can wait until the stun is in place, but there is a fair chance you will get away with one, this will help speed the game along some. You have two choices in head attack, the basic on is a simple while stood over the head, with a default move set, it looks like you're trying to pop their neck Sam Fisher style. It does a decent amount of damage to the head, about 7-8 on most wrestlers will get you into the red damage zone. I would recommend using that if the damage already done is anything less than orange. The second would be a head attacking submission hold, + while stood over the head.

The submission move will open a minigame. A random combination of 3 buttons will appear under your HUD. The idea is to win 3 rounds before your opponent wins 1. The only 4 possible buttons are . They can appear in any order and repeat in the same string. You do have ample time to key in the three before the AI does, and by winning a round, you reset the AI's progress. They have to start over every time you complete a trio of buttons. This is easily winnable once you've seen it once and know what's happening, the QTE even flashes up for a split second before it loads properly, giving you a sneak peek at the first combination. The submission hold will essentially do 3 small damage hits to the head, and with a little luck the first two can change the opponent head condition to dark red, and the third will lead to a tap out.

Regardless of what you choose to do here, attack the head, or repeat the throw/legdrop combo, you're only really looking for one thing, to fill the stun gauge of the opponent. Once this happens use a submission hold to maximise damage output. You'll know it's full even before the wiggle stick icon appears on your opponents HUD because red will begin to quickly deplete. Attack, but watch the red. Sometimes it will completely empty after your first attack, leaving reversals open once again.

Once they have a deep red colourd head. This is when you want to go for the tap out. If they are laying down and stunned, it's + for the submission move. If they are standing, you want to get them in a grapple first, a simple press of + will do that. Then the submission buttons + will put them in a sleeper, with the same minigame as the floor submission. A successful trio of combinations when the opponents head is red will garentee a victory

That's literally it for the most part of the story mode. There is a brief variation on reaching a certain point in the story mode where match victory has a different condition to it rather than a traditional pinfall/submission. We'll cover that in detail at the appropriate times.

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