Title: WWF Raw Released: 1995 Genre: 2-D Fighter Developer: Acclaim Publisher: Acclaim Regions: USA, UK, Japan Availability: Rare

Video games based on the "professional sport" of wrestling tend to polarize players like few other gaming genres. You either love wrestling video games or you hate them... rarely do you find someone who claims ambivalence. When viewed as a "sport", professional wrestling is a joke. It's scripted; everyone involved admits it. Much of professional wrestling consists of  boring macho posturing and repetitive action. This isn't to say that it can't be enjoyed, much like WWF Raw for the 32x. Yet another mildly upgraded Genesis game, WWF Raw features twelve of "wrestling's rudest and roughest" characters, all of whom appear in sharp digitized portraits on the character select screen. The in-game character graphics are hand-drawn animated sprites, unlike the digitized character graphics of that other 32x wrestling game, WWF Wrestlemania: The Arcade Game (which hosts many of the same wrestlers.) The graphics are much larger and more colorful than those in the Genesis game, though the animation is still a bit choppy. The control is precise and direct, but some of the special moves can be difficult to pull off in the heat of battle. There are seven playing modes including tag team and the Royal Rumble, which features six wrestlers in the ring at once! The game supports the six button controller, and each button performs about six different moves, depending on the circumstances. Just like real wrestling, you can do some crazy things like punch the referee and fight outside of the ring. The soundtrack is typical of the genre, limited to hits, kicks, and the roar of the crowd. Nothing special, really, but not distracting, either. In fact, the phrase "nothing special" applies to most everything about WWF Raw. Pick it up if this is your sort if thing.