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You often have to suffer for your art and wrestling is no exception. Those paragons of the body beautiful spend many sinew-twisting hours in the gym, only to subject themselves to the mercy of the ring, and the scrutiny of senior citizens. And for what, apart from the Olympian idea of the sporting elite?

Well, the truth is, most wrestlers are actually quite fond of their beer and tabs, greasy egg and chips, and 'full fat' Coke. Now, these obese specimens come to the Master System where the roughest rumbles take place in the steel cage, in a multi-format wrestling event for one or two mean muthas.

The WWF stars move to a Master System version of their rock 'ard steel cage wrestling events.

Move your wrestler around the ring, punching and kicking your opponent to weaken him. When fully weakened, perform a successful pin for a count of three.

There are two stages to any wrestling match. The first is when both opponents are still standing. This is an undesirable state of affairs, so the task is to take someone out (not for a curry). Repeated punches or kicks are a useful way of knocking someone off their feet. Even more effective is a grapple which involves grabbing the foe, then executing a variety of nasty turns, like shoulder throws and head-butts. Throw them off the ropes and then floor them with a clothesline. But grapples can go both ways, so a fight for control often ensues.

A floored fighter recovers in relation to the length of his energy bar. When he's weak, a pin should follow a throw, as victory comes after only a count of three.

There were eight featured wrestlers on the Megadrive version, but some rearrangement and additions have brought the line-up up to ten here. The Undertaker, Rick Flair, Bret Hart and Tatanka join regulars Ted Dibiase, Papa Shango and (of course) the Immortal Hulk Hogan. But what happened to British Bulldog and Ultimate Warrior? [They left the WWF! - Rich]

This is much the same fare as the Megadrive game, but seems to strip out most of the fun, and make the most of the bad features. Moving the characters round the ring is simple enough, but once in a grapple, the control method seems to desert you, leaving you often to the tender mercies of your opponent.

Graphically, the fun has been lost, with each of the wrestlers drawn much the same and being animated quite poorly. No spotty pants or extravagant throws. In fact, it's all so terminally dull that I was yawning within minutes of switching it on. It's superior to disastrous fighting games like Pitfighter, but WWF is still dull as dishwater.

This doesn't look too bad. Although the graphics are really small and the ring quite dull, the sprites aren't too bad.

However, the scale of the sprites combined with their speed gives them an insect-like gait that's very unrealistic. The control method's very dodgy, making play frustrating and, ultimately, full.

WWF is awash with colourful personalities, each with their own characters and techniques. Unfortunately, there's none of that in this game, making WWF Steel Cage Challenge a tiresome wrestling sim that I really can't recommend.

Presentation 69%
P. Four play modes: single, tag, tournament or team tournament - three difficulty settings.
N. A password mode would have been a good idea.

Graphics 61%
P. On the Master System at least, the graphics are clear and the sprites not too small.
N. Apart from the cage background, everything looks very dull and stays that way.

Sound 60%
P. Each fighter has a personal tune played before fights and after victories.
N. But these are sad and routine thump effects don't help much.

Playability 48%
P. Knocking seven colours out of a friend is fun, especially with a tag team.
N. But the imprecise control method, and unvarying action is frustrating.

Lastability 33%
P. Even the easiest level is tough to beat...
N. ...but that's down to imprecise controls and frustrating play. Interest in the game soon dies.

Overall 47%
A bit of a John Major type of game. Not offensive to the eye or ear, but it just doesn't do anything for the player. We reckon that even die-hard WWF wrestling fans will be disappointed with this one.