Zeppelin
£3.99 cassette
091 385 7755
Reviewer: Linda Barker

Wrestling's come a long way since the days when ITV stopped showing it on Saturday afternoons, it's very big news at the moment. You can't open your new copy of Look-in without being bombarded by pictures of big men in glitzy outfits. They've all got suntans, teeth, loads of money and (probably) American accents. The recent wrestling game explosion, started with Ocean's WWF licence and is bought up to date with this offering from Zeppelin, Alternative's Popeye 3 and the Codies' imminent wrestling game that'll be part of their Super Sports Challenge compilation.

Whereas Popeye 3 is basically a wrestling game with add-ons, bombs, colourful aliens and a ridiculous storyline bolted on. American Tag Team Wreslting is
just, erm, basic. The only plot line here is that there's a tournament, and the only background knowledge you need is a rough idea of how a tag match works. In fact, all you really need is this review, 'cos I'm going to tell you that very info! Tag team wrestling involves two teams of two, and only one member of each team is allowed in the ring at a time. The teams are usually made up of one very large bloke (or woman) and one incredibly, absolutely the biggest man in the world ever (nearly). I once saw a tag match in which the two larger partners were Big Daddy and Giant Haystacks. I've never seen so much flesh in my life, it was awesome. Anyway, wrestling being what it is, the big bad guy often ends up laying into the smaller good guy. The good guy's larger team-mate stretches out his hand and as soon as his team mate touches it they can swap places and the two big guys can have it out (as they say).

CONTRARY COUPLINGS

Tag Team Wrestling works in a similar way with such contrary couplings as Einstein and Loud Larry, and Sammy Shy and Mr Savage. You'll find that most of your opponents wear paper bags over their heads, or maybe I just kept getting the same opponents. Despite this strange idea of head adornment, these guys are pretty darn hard. I'm not a bad wrestler... (You? You're a rubbish wrestler, you're not fat enough, or tall enough. And your footwork's not fancy enough. Jon) Okay, I'm a crap wrestler but I'm big enough and ugly enough to try my hand at wrestling games and I can tell you that some of your opponents are thoroughly nasty pieces of work.

I often found myself face down in the ring having my back gently massaged by the overbearing bulk of my opponent. Every time I tried to get up, he knocked me down again. And then every time I tried to tag my partner, the other side kept getting in the blimmin' way. It really was heartbreaking. To make things even more difficult, when I managed to topple this giant to the floor and sit on him, he picked himself up in seconds flat. Bruised and tearful, I left the ring.

I'm assured that there are some good moves here. Unfortunately. because I had to do them without any instructions, I only found them out when I was close to death. By running up and down a few times and then letting fly with the fire button you can do a wazzy flying kick. You can also climb onto the ropes and leap off of them onto your opponent giving him a good old falling forehead smash. Yow!

Whether you play for just a single game, or for the whole of the tournament, you're bound to have fun. Your wrestling sprites are big, simple and clear. This is good from the action point of view 'cos it means you can still see them when they're writhing around on the floor. On the other hand, it's a shame they're not all a bit different. Except for a few skimpily-clad girlies... who take their time wandering around the ring before each bout, there's nothing to distract you. The screen may look a little empty at times, but this simplicity really does work.

Label: Zeppelin
Memory: 48K/128K
Price: £3.99 Tape
Reviewer: Mark Richards

I've never really taken to wrestling. Call me Mr. Weirdo, but the sight of a couple of sweaty, overgrown blubbery whales rolling around on top of each other, glued together by head, thigh and various other parts of the anatomy has never really appealed to me.

Wrestlers grab each other by the hair (everywhere!), dig their elbows into vital organs and leap kamikaze style straight onto their opponents backs, squashing them flat on the floor. Don't they feel pain? Have they had their nervous systems surgically removed?

American tag-team wrestling is slightly different in two respects. One - it's American wrestling so it's more of a pre-choreographed dance routine than a fight; two - it's the wrestling equivalent of a tennis doubles match. And now Zeppelin have produced a new smash 'em up sim of the sport!

First pick which up-and-coming TT wrestling duo you wish to be. There are eight equally nasty couplets to choose from with names such as Frank N. Steen and Crusher McGirk (both from up north), Groucho and Jurgen Meatball, or, if you're smart, Einstein and Lord Harry.

Wrestling action includes standard punches and kicks but there are also numerous other moves at your disposal. For instance, you can eecute a pretty damaging flying kick by starting off with a rope-to-rope run and then pressing fire in mid-sprint. Ker-splay! Or what about a falling forehand smash. Simply climb the corner ropes and then leap off, hopefully landing whack bang on top of your unsuspecting foe! Ker-unch!

Once you've got your enemy down, you can keep him there by giving him a few elbow drops just to finish him off! Ker-ash!

One person can only take so much violence so when a fighter's energy meter is running dangerously low, run up to his partner-in-crime who's been standing by and cheering you on, awaiting his turn. Just "Tag" him and you'll you swap places - you're now controlling the second fighter on your team (although sprites are identical), whilst the other recuperates.

The game can be played single or two player mode, and you can select your wrestlers from all of the combinations on offer. There are no specific difficulty levels, but different combinations have different levels of strength so beating one pair doesn't guarantee success against another. Also, in tournament mode against the computer each successive pair becomes more tricky to fight.

This game is very addictive! Graphic-wise, it's monochrome and simple, yet thankfully clear - you can always make out what's going on.

I really have only two gripes. Firstly, the absence of any real sound When you give the opposing scum-bag a mouthful of your foot, it'd be nice to hear a complimentary CRUNCH just to add to the atmosphere and realism. Instead, we get nothing, which does take the edge off a bit, I found.

Also, once the enemy has thrown you over his shoulder onto the canvas that's it - you have very little chance of escaping and just have to grit your teeth and bear it! Yet when you have the opponent under your elbow, he seems to wriggle out with the most unsettling ease! This means that it's very hard to give as good as you get, but I'm sure all you talented beat 'em uppers out there will be able to give the "bad guys" a good thrashing for their money!

Because of this Tag Team takes a lot of getting used to and you really do have to get to know all the moves in order to defeat computer opponents. In human two player mode Tag Team Wrestling is a lot easier (depending on how good your opponent is though) and if you learn the moves and then hide the instruction manual your friends will be floundering around like amateur Joes against the mighty Lex Luger and a good friend of his from hell.

Despite a few very minor moans, Tag Team Wrestling is an enjoyable crush 'em up! It has lots of built in moves and playability and plenty of competition and high brow action. It's not sponsored by any big international wrestling organisations but maybe it should be 'cos it's well worth a not too bone-breaking £3.99.

ALAN: There are very few wrestling sims on our faithful Speccy, so when you see one this good for just four quid it makes you wonder. Top quality action, which, if you're into wrestling, you'd be a fool to miss it!