[{"TitleName":"Cage Match","Publisher":"Entertainment USA","Author":"John Brennan, Paul Atkinson, John Smyth","YearOfRelease":"1988","ZxDbId":"0002494","Reviews":[{"Issue":{"Name":"Crash Issue 52, May 1988","Price":"£1.25","ReleaseDate":"1988-04-28","Editor":"Steve Jarratt","TotalPages":100,"HasCoverTape":false,"FlannelPanel":"EDITORIAL\r\n[redacted]\r\n\r\nEditor: Steven Jarratt\r\nSoftware Editor: Dominic Handy\r\nStaff Writers: Katharina Hamza, Mark Caswell, Nick Roberts, Lloyd Mangram\r\nTechnical Writers: Jon Bates, Simon N Goodwin\r\nEditorial Assistant: Frances Mable\r\nPhotography: Cameron Pound, Michael Parkinson (Assistant)\r\nContributors: Robin Candy, Paul Evans, Roger Kean, Julian Rignall\r\n\r\nPRODUCTION\r\n[redacted]\r\n\r\nArt Director: Markie Kendrick\r\nAssistant Art Director: Wayne Allen\r\nDesign & Layout: Yvonne Priest, Melvyn Fisher\r\nPre-Print Manager: Jonathan Rignall\r\nReprographics/Film Planning: Matthew Uffindell, Nick Orchard, Ian Chubb, Robert Millichamp\r\nProduction Controller: David Western\r\nEditorial Director: Roger Kean\r\n\r\nAdvertisement Manager: Roger Bennett\r\nSales Executive: Andrew Smales\r\nAssistant: Jackie Morris [redacted]\r\nMail Order: Carol Kinsey\r\nSubscriptions: Denise Roberts\r\n[redacted]\r\n\r\nTypesetting by The Tortoise Shell Press, Ludlow. Colour origination by Scan Studios [redacted]. Printed in England by Carlisle Web Offset, [redacted] - member of the BPCC Group. Distribution by COMAG, [redacted]\r\n\r\nNo material may be reproduced whole or in part without the written consent of the copyright holders. We cannot undertake to return anything sent into CRASH including written and photographic material, software and hardware - unless it is accompanied by a suitably stamped addressed envelope. Unsolicited written or photo material is welcome and if used in the magazine is paid for at our current rates.\r\n\r\nTotal: 96,590\r\nUK/EIRE: 90,822\r\n\r\n©CRASH Ltd, 1988\r\n\r\nCover Design & Illustration by Oliver Frey"},"MainText":"Producer: Entertainment USA\r\nRetail Price: £1.99\r\nAuthor: P Atkinson and J Brennan\r\n\r\nThe interplanetary wrestling committee are staging the most bizarre wrestling match of them all. In the guise of six alien forms, ranging from bug-eyed beetle to brawny barbarian, one or two players battle it out in the intergalactic championship.\r\n\r\nCombat takes place within a three-sided monochromatic cage under the gaze of a suitably intergalactic audience. Participants may grab, kick, hit, head butt, neck chop and throw their opponent, the objective being to stun him long enough to climb up the sides of the cage and win the match. Unless he fails to shake the climbing wrestler off the mesh, the unlucky fighter left in the ring disappears as the solid looking cage floor turns into a bottomless abyss of flashing lights.\r\n\r\nTwo energy bars indicate the status of each player's strength; momentary periods of rest give dwindling health a chance to recover. Success means promotion to a tougher match, a tougher opponent and another shot at becoming intergalactic wrestler supreme.\r\n\r\nCOMMENTS\r\n\r\nJoysticks: Cursor, Kempston, Sinclair\r\nGraphics: poor perspective and jerky animation\r\nSound: a few weak white noise effects\r\nOptions: choice of six different characters. One or two players","ReviewerComments":["Pathetic is the first, and probably only printable word that sprang to my mind whilst playing Cage Match. Horribly deformed character sprites hobble woodenly around the bland, unattractive backdrop. Wrestling isn't my favourite sport at the best of times, and even this intergalactic version failed miserably to spark any sort of enthusiasm. Apart from the dire graphics, the gameplay has very limited appeal, with the combatants being limited to a few superfluous moves; your poor old character is usually on the receiving end of the physical barrage, since the computer controlled opponent consistently wipes the floor with you. Not that the game actually gives you much incentive to try. Take my advice: steer clear of Cage Match\r\nMark Caswell","Why must we continue to endure such rubbish from some Spectrum programmers? Surely they must realise a bad game when they see it? Cage Match is nothing but utter drivel. The graphics are fine until they start to move, being jerky and inaccurate. The sound is similarly pathetic, consisting of a few meagre white noise effects. And as for the game - where is it? The only way you can last in a bout is to avoid your opponent. You've no chance of beating him as the moves (I presume there are some) are impossible to access. And he recovers so quickly that you might as well not have bothered in the first place. Spectrum computers need this like an eskimo needs a fridge.\r\nPaul Sumner"],"OverallSummary":"General Rating: A beat 'em up not even worthy of a budget label.","Page":"83","Denied":false,"Award":"Not Awarded","Reviewers":[{"Name":"Mark Caswell","Score":"","ScoreSuffix":""},{"Name":"Paul Sumner","Score":"","ScoreSuffix":""}],"ScreenshotText":[],"BlurbText":[],"TranscriptBy":"Chris Bourne","ReviewScores":[{"Header":"Presentation","Score":"47%","Text":""},{"Header":"Graphics","Score":"28%","Text":""},{"Header":"Playability","Score":"12%","Text":""},{"Header":"Addictive Qualities","Score":"14%","Text":""},{"Header":"Overall","Score":"15%","Text":""}],"CompilationReviewScores":[]},{"Issue":{"Name":"Your Sinclair Issue 29, May 1988","Price":"£1.5","ReleaseDate":"1988-04-13","Editor":"Teresa Maughan","TotalPages":116,"HasCoverTape":false,"FlannelPanel":"Editor: Teresa Maughan\r\nArt Editor: Darrell King\r\nDeputy Editor: Marcus Berkmann\r\nTechnical Editor: Phil South\r\nProduction Editor: Jackie Ryan\r\nDesigner: Catherine Higgs\r\nContributors: Guy Bennington, Richard Blaine, Audrey & Owen Bishop, Ciaran Brennan, Lucy Broadbent, Jonathan Davies, Mike Gerrard, David McCandless, Duncan McDonald, John Minson, David Powell, Peter Shaw, Tony Worrall\r\nAdvertisement Manager: Mark Salmon\r\nAdvertisement Executive: Simon Stansfield\r\nAdvertisement Director: Alistair Ramsay\r\nProduction Manager: Judith Middleton\r\nMarketing Manager: Bryan Denyer\r\nArt Director: Hazel Bennington\r\nPublisher: Kevin Cox\r\nPublishing Director: Roger Munford\r\nFinance Director: Colin Crawford\r\nManaging Director: Stephen England\r\nChairman: Felix Dennis\r\n\r\nPublished by Dennis Publishing Ltd, [redacted] Company registered in England.\r\nTypesetters: Carlinpoint [redacted]\r\nReproduction: Graphic Ideas, London\r\nPrinters: Chase Web Offset [redacted]\r\nDistribution: Seymour Press [redacted]\r\n\r\nAll material in Your Sinclair ©1988 Felden Productions, and may not be reproduced in whole or in part without the written consent of the publishers. Your Sinclair is a monthly publication."},"MainText":"Mastertronic\r\n£1.99\r\nReviewer: Tony Worrall\r\n\r\nWossis, then? Cage Match is a futuristic version of the gentle art of Wrestling, the sport loved by umbrella wielding grannies up and down the country. The standard wrestling ring has been replaced by a wire mesh cage, open at the top to allow the players to climb out. \"Climb out?\" I hear you say, \"Why?\" Simple. If a player manages to reach the top of the cage, he/it wins the game and the other player respectfully melts into three pounds of quivering jelly.\r\n\r\nThe player's character (after selection from a list of dubious looking contestants), must beat the living daylights out of the other characters, so as to reduce their vital energy meters. Get your opponent's energy low enough and he freezes, giving you an essential couple of seconds to dash up the cage side and end the game.\r\n\r\nThat's about all there is to it really. Only a tiny number of aggressive moves are available and most of those are difficult to perform when you need them. The animation is jerky and the characters respond pretty poorly to the game controls.\r\n\r\nCage Match may have been a good idea, but programmers Icon Design, who should know better, have put little thought into the gameplay. If you want to risk your two quid go ahead, but I can think of better things to spend my dosh on - like TWO copies of next month's YS!","ReviewerComments":[],"OverallSummary":"Mastertronic stab at two-player combat comes a cropper on the programming front. Severely average budget gear, not really recommended.","Page":"76","Denied":false,"Award":"Not Awarded","Reviewers":[{"Name":"Tony Worrall","Score":"4","ScoreSuffix":"/10"}],"ScreenshotText":[],"BlurbText":[],"TranscriptBy":"Chris Bourne","ReviewScores":[{"Header":"Graphics","Score":"5/10","Text":""},{"Header":"Playability","Score":"4/10","Text":""},{"Header":"Value For Money","Score":"5/10","Text":""},{"Header":"Addictiveness","Score":"4/10","Text":""},{"Header":"Overall","Score":"4/10","Text":""}],"CompilationReviewScores":[]},{"Issue":{"Name":"Sinclair User Issue 74, May 1988","Price":"£1.5","ReleaseDate":"1988-04-18","Editor":"Graham Taylor","TotalPages":100,"HasCoverTape":false,"FlannelPanel":"aEditor: Graham Taylor\r\nStaff Writer: Jim Douglas\r\nStaff Writer: Tamara Howard\r\nArt Editor: Gareth Jones\r\nDesigner: Andrea Walker\r\nAdventure: The Sorceress\r\nZapchat: Jon 'Mr Blagger' Riglar\r\nTechnical: Andrew Hewson, Rupert Goodwins\r\nContributors: Tony 'a fiver if my name goes first in the list' Dillon, Chris 'Can't you trust me for the dosh?' Jenkins\r\nAdvertisement Manager: Katherine Lee\r\nAdvertisement Executive: Alison Morton\r\nAd Production: Emma Ward\r\nPublisher's Assistant: Debbie Pearson\r\nPublisher: Terry Pratt\r\nMarketing: Clive 'If anybody asks I'm at lunch' Pembridge\r\n\r\nPhone: [redacted]\r\nFax: [redacted]\r\nSubscriptions: [redacted]\r\nBack Issues: [redacted]\r\nEditorial and Advertisement Offices: [redacted]\r\n\r\nThis Month's Cover: Brian Talbot\r\n\r\nPrinted by Nene River Press, [redacted]\r\nDistributed by EMAP Publications Ltd.\r\n\r\n©Copyright 1988 Sinclair User ISSN No 0262-5458"},"MainText":"Label: Mastertronic\r\nAuthor: Icon Design\r\nPrice: £2.99\r\nMemory: 48K/128K\r\nJoystick: various\r\nReviewer: Tony \"not very easily impressed\" Dillon\r\n\r\nAs you might have guessed, I have a new word. Lame. Meaning anything naff or generally useless. This game fits it perfectly.\r\n\r\nBilled as a 'future sports simulation', you play one of seven 'wrestlers' stuck inside a huge cage. You have to punch, kick, slap and jump on your opponents to batter their energy to a minus state. I can only say that this game reminds me of nothing so much as that other lame experience, Rock and Wrestle. The controls are pretty ineffective, having little real effect on what is going on. The graphics are poor and the animation is slow and jerky. The sound is pretty limited too. Is there anything good I can say about this game, I ask myself? Well, it does have a two player feature, but are there two people who want to play it?","ReviewerComments":[],"OverallSummary":"A lame game with lame graphics and the lamest playability seen since the last really lame game.","Page":"47","Denied":false,"Award":"Not Awarded","Reviewers":[{"Name":"Tony Dillon","Score":"2","ScoreSuffix":"/10"}],"ScreenshotText":[],"BlurbText":[],"TranscriptBy":"Chris Bourne","ReviewScores":[{"Header":"Overall","Score":"2/10","Text":""}],"CompilationReviewScores":[]}]}]