WWF Rage in the Cage

"Fun-filled, old school wrestling"

Intro
Seeing ads of this game made me jealous because I didn't have a Sega CD. My friend then told me there were 20 wrestlers (which, for then, was a lot) and that made me more jealous. Then, a different friend offered to loan me his Genesis and Sega CD for my SNES. Once I found out that he had WWF Rage in the Cage, I whole-heartedly agreed. After playing the game, I can say it was the only game out all the ones he had that was worth playing. Some of the other ones were either horribly stupid or boring (or both).

The Game
In this game, you compete against 19 other WWF wrestlers (20 in all; 19 you compete against plus the one you pick) in basic wrestling. The controls are a lot like WWF Royal Rumble or Super Wrestlemania (both for SNES). You lock up with your opponent then continually push a button until you have gained enough leverage to execute a move. Each character has the same moves such as a suplex, a body slam, etc. While there's nothing too completely wrong with this engine (for its time), I felt during this era of wrestling games, it was done to death. It appeared in almost every WWF game, and it didn't show too many significant improvements until WWF Raw was released.

Ragin' in the Cage
One thing unique about this is that it had one of the best cage systems for a long time. After senselessly beating your opponent to a crude jelly, you had the option to climb up and out of the cage and claim your victory. This may not be the first game to use he Steel Cage, but it was the first of this type of engine to use it. I think they utilized it pretty well for what was given.

OOO! FMV's!
One thing about this WWF game that was different was FMV endings (which were later done a bit better by WWF In Your House). After working so hard to defeat 20 other wrestlers, you get to see a little live footage of your wrestler doing something snazzy (usually them celebrating in the ring while you hear either booing or cheering, depending one whether or not your character was a ''heel'' or a ''face'' when the game was made).

One of my favorite things about this game is that when selecting your character, you could push a button to see another live footage FMV of your character performing their finisher. Not too shabby!

Different Wrestlers
I don't feel like mentioning all 20 men, but, as far as I can remember, you can play as Undertaker, Mr. Perfect, Randy Savage, Kamala, The Headshrinkers, The Nasty Boys, Yokozuna, IRS, and many more. For its time, that was a ton of wrestlers. Now, if a WWF game was released with 20 wrestlers, there would be lots of complaints. Just imagine how overwhelmed I would be if Fire Pro Wrestling on GBA was out then.

Graphics
The graphics are nothing to be excited over. The only thing I don't like about them is that they don't show too significant of an improvement in comparison of WWF games using a similar engine. The design was done a little better than Royal Rumble or Wresltemania, for sure. I guess the colors were as well utilized as you would get for a wrestling game.

Sounds
The sounds really don't hold much for the game. Then again, I don't expect a whole lot. The theme musics are synthesized, which was the way to go back then since it was only time before we would actually hear CD quality musics on a wrestling game. There reall wasn't a whole lot of different types of music here. Just a couple of wrestlers grumbling and the crowd.

Surprise Controls
The controls were surprisingly better than I thought they would be, exspecially considering that I was using a Genesis control. The response worked alright and the button layout wasn't too incredibly complex.

FINAL JUDGMENT
Graphics: Up to par with other graphics, but nothing big 7/10
Sounds: Also nothing big, but they work well enough. 6/10
Controls: One of the easiest wrestling games to work with 10/10
Plot/Storyline: N/A
Gameplay: It's mildly entertaining 7/10
All Together: 7/10

Perks
*Great control
*Lots of wrestlers
*FMV's!
*Cage match
*Fun multiplayer

Downers
*Engine has been done to death
*Gets repetitive
*Tournament mode is a bit too long

Recommendations
If you're a Sega CD owner who likes WWF, then go for this game and give it a try.

Reviewer's Score: 7/10, Originally Posted: 04/08/01, Updated 10/01/01