[7] WWF War Zone also features audio commentary provided by Vince McMahon and Jim Ross.

War Zone also includes a training mode in which the player can freely practice the moves of their chosen wrestler.

Wrestlers of both genders can be created, with various options for skin and muscle tone, as well as body type and in-ring apparel.

Individual maneuvers cannot be chosen though and an entire set of moves must be copied from one of the game's existing wrestlers.

They must use a combination of strikes, grapple moves and holds to wear down their opponent's health, thus weakening their resistance to win attempts.

[11] New characters were added, including Stone Cold Steve Austin, Kane, and Ken Shamrock.

Both members of The Headbangers (Mosh and Thrasher) were included, as were three of the personas of Mick Foley: Mankind, Cactus Jack, and Dude Love.

Ahmed Johnson left the company in February 1998 and Shawn Michaels temporarily retired in March 1998 after WrestleMania XIV, although he was still contracted with the promotion.

Sue, the belt girl who appears in Season Mode when a championship has been won, has a moves set identical to Bret Hart.

In addition to the main roster and unlockable characters, there are also different attires for each superstar, with some such as Goldust and Stone Cold Steve Austin having more than others.

[13][14] The development team for War Zone consisted of 20 people, 10 each working on the Nintendo 64 and PlayStation versions.

Space considerations of Nintendo 64 cartridges prevented developers from including the CD-quality audio and full motion video of wrestlers from the PlayStation version.

[15] Despite the limited cartridge space, lead programmer Justin Towns (who had previously worked on WWF WrestleMania: The Arcade Game and WWF In Your House for Acclaim) found the Nintendo 64's z-buffering support and the faster speed in creating cartridges over burning CDs to be advantageous during the development process.

[16] Parts of the War Zone game engine were taken from another Acclaim Sports title, NHL Breakaway.

[15] WWF announcers Vince McMahon and Jim Ross recorded over an hour's worth of speech for the game's match commentary.

The same engine from War Zone would be reused for three follow-up games, ending with the 2000 release ECW Anarchy Rulz.

[20] A Game Boy version of War Zone developed by Probe Entertainment was released on June 10, 1998.

[23][24][22] Jeff Gerstmann of GameSpot complimented the gameplay and graphics and called the Nintendo 64 version the best wrestling game on the system.

[37] Anthony Baize of AllGame wrote that said version was "able to set itself aside from other games in the genre and offer players some newer, innovative options.

[7] Tim Hsu of GameRevolution also offered praised for the N64 version's presentation, multiplayer options and create-a-wrestler mode.

'"[44][c] However, Scary Larry said that the Nintendo 64 version "provides the thrills and spills of an all-out street fight, but with much better scripting.

But it's the huge wealth of options and detail (including interactive player biographies) that makes the game shine and ultimately a great purchase... if you like professional wrestling.