Cannon Fodder


Title           Cannon Fodder
Publisher       Virgin (1993)
Game Type       Shoot-em-up
Players         1
HD Installable  HD-Patch: aminet:game/patch/cannonhd.lha (CD32 also available)
Compatibility   All Amigas (not with some Escom Amiga's internal
                disk-drives).
Game data/utils Play any level: aminet:game/patch/CannonCheater.lha
Submission      Dennis Smith Profiled Reviewer

Review
Sensible Software's famous shoot-em-up blood-fest: you take control of
a small squadron of tiny (Sensible-Soccer-esque) soldiers from a sizeable
stock of reserves (and you'll need them all!). Your mission is presented at
the beginning of each level - usually requiring you to shoot and blow up
every enemy and/or enemy building - first with just rifles, then with the
addition of grenades, then rocket launchers, then vehicles like 'choppas',
jeeps and 'tanx'. For a bit of variation some levels require you to rescue
or protect civilians, or even kidnap an enemy leader. All this takes place
in large eight-way scrolling maps in several environments, each with its
own tricks and traps: arctic wastes, jungle, desert, moorlands and
underground bases. And there's a good deal of blood. Turn your eyes away if
you're squeamish or abhor the idea of shooting baby seals just in case
they're a camouflaged enemy trap. Yes, although obviously cartoonesque, it
really is like that.

Although it starts out fairly easily, the difficulty level quickly piles
up, and it won't be long before you're faced with enemies with rocket-
launchers, at which point the game is already hard enough for most people,
and it's going to get worse. And that's the main problem with the game. It
is very difficult indeed. Those rockets come at you from the side of the
screen before you've even spotted the soldier who fired them, and they're
deadly accurate - you'd better have good reactions. For the most part,
completing the levels involves failing them several times but in so doing
learning the locations of the main hazards. Added to this is the fact that
most of the levels are split across several stages, and you can't save
between stages, only at the end of the level. Cannon Fodder is an excellent
shooter with strategy elements, but only for the real die-hard shooters.
Mere mortals will only find it frustrating.

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