It's a definitive thematic improvement over Codemaster's reinterpretation (gone are the flashy effects and programming showoff) by means of a more serious interior and the recruitment screen that shows all the people you've lost to a war you don't even know the details of (which makes the loss of people feel more like something out of control than some noble deed).
And you WILL lose a lot of troops, the level design encourages you to split troops, which wasn't possible in the GBC version, and sacrifice them into enemy fire a lot of the time and sometimes the battlefied is so unmerciful your squad gets dropped next to unavoidable projectiles.
However it still feels kind of tedious and overlong like the GBC version, at 72 levels that get kind of repetitive until the last third start having more novel ideas to keep things fresh. I'm pretty sure boring the player wasn't to portray its anti war message (since its provocative tagline is "War has never been so much fun") but instead make you realize how many people die in the battlefield while someone above them carries out plans away from danger, so I would have prefered a much shorter game to carry its point across.
And you WILL lose a lot of troops, the level design encourages you to split troops, which wasn't possible in the GBC version, and sacrifice them into enemy fire a lot of the time and sometimes the battlefied is so unmerciful your squad gets dropped next to unavoidable projectiles.
However it still feels kind of tedious and overlong like the GBC version, at 72 levels that get kind of repetitive until the last third start having more novel ideas to keep things fresh. I'm pretty sure boring the player wasn't to portray its anti war message (since its provocative tagline is "War has never been so much fun") but instead make you realize how many people die in the battlefield while someone above them carries out plans away from danger, so I would have prefered a much shorter game to carry its point across.
this game is actually pretty cool, the gameplay is really addicting and the anti-war message stuck with me for a while after finishing, a must-have for Amiga owners
Easy to pick up and play and quite addicting, best to stick with the Amiga version IMO
This review contains spoilers
Cannon Fodder is interesting to me. I like how it balances being amusing with being serious. One moment you’ll be laughing at one of your soldiers getting tossed around by bullets like a ragdoll, then when the mission is over you’ll see their grave in the background alongside anyone else you lost. Just to hone in that these things do happen all the time in the real world, often for want of a nail.
The gameplay loop is a little strange. I’m a little braindead on RTS games (could not get a grasp of Herzog Zwei after multiple attempts), but Cannon Fodder is thankfully pretty easy to pick up on. The controls are a bit strange however. I don’t particularly like how the cursor was retained in console ports, and I would much rather have the d-pad just control my troops instead. It also gets real aggravating a bit too early on, pretty much the instant the bazooka-wielding enemy soldiers are introduced.
I worked on this in early-mid November and ran out of steam after completing about 7 missions, only to later discover there was a total of 24. Maybe 22, definitely one of those, but either way too damn many. I thought about it for a moment and decided I didn’t particularly want to press onward, at least not to completion. It was pretty nifty for the timeframe I was playing it, at least.
I do love the title theme, by the way. As far as video game music goes, it’s one of my favorites. There’s not a whole lot of music in here after that though, and what remains is far less memorable unfortunately.
The gameplay loop is a little strange. I’m a little braindead on RTS games (could not get a grasp of Herzog Zwei after multiple attempts), but Cannon Fodder is thankfully pretty easy to pick up on. The controls are a bit strange however. I don’t particularly like how the cursor was retained in console ports, and I would much rather have the d-pad just control my troops instead. It also gets real aggravating a bit too early on, pretty much the instant the bazooka-wielding enemy soldiers are introduced.
I worked on this in early-mid November and ran out of steam after completing about 7 missions, only to later discover there was a total of 24. Maybe 22, definitely one of those, but either way too damn many. I thought about it for a moment and decided I didn’t particularly want to press onward, at least not to completion. It was pretty nifty for the timeframe I was playing it, at least.
I do love the title theme, by the way. As far as video game music goes, it’s one of my favorites. There’s not a whole lot of music in here after that though, and what remains is far less memorable unfortunately.
One half very good action shooter game, one half very charming and striking anti-war commentary, especially for its time. Title theme fucking slaps too