Incredibly simple but still great fun (Cannon Fodder)

Member Name: Burning_Darkness

Product:	Cannon Fodder
Date:	12/10/09 (18 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: simple fun gameplay, charming visuals, addictive

Disadvantages: very dated by modern standards

Released back in 1993 by sensible software, the team also responsible for the classic Sensible Soccer games, Cannon Fodder is a mouse-driven shoot-em-up in which you control a small squad of soldiers as they fight against numerous enemies through a range of settings including jungle and desert campaigns, employing both machineguns as well as limited supplies of rockets and grenades, which can be used to blow up vehicles and buildings.

The controls couldnt be simpler- one moust button makes your troops fire whilst another makes them move to your selected location, and the gameplay is both incredibly simple and hugely addictive. Your men can only take a single hit before dying, and after each level you are taken to a cemetary screen that becomes slowly filled up with the graves of your dead men as you progress on through the game. There is a real incentive to keep your men alive, both because its hard not to become attached to them and also because thir rates of fire, aiming accuracy and weapon range all increase the longer they survive to be promoted up through the ranks.

The graphics are simplistic but charming in a way that just screams 'Amiga, and the sound effects and midi music are both equally dated, but the gameplay remains as enjoyable as ever and the game is still great fun to play through despite being fifteen years old. Essentially a darkly humorous satire on war, Cannon Fodder is a timeless little pick-up-and-play game that remains great for the odd nostalgic blast.

Summary: a classic little shoot em up