Lookin’ Back #23 – Cannon Fodder

War has never been so much fun.

Back in the day, there was a well known British developer by the name of Sensible Software, who created a few games for a few systems back in the late 80s and 90s.  They created Sensible Soccer, of course, but one of the most fun Sensible games I ever played was the excellent Cannon Fodder.

Cannon Fodder was a quirky action/strategy game played from a top down perspective.  You controlled a small squad of soldiers around maps of varying terrains, from grassy jungles and forests to snowy mountains.  You had different aims for different levels, which involved either killing all the enemies, destroying all their buildings or rescuing some hostages.

There wasn’t any story to the game.  It was just a case of ‘perform this task on this map’.  The violence was over the top for it’s time and the game itself was designed as a war satire, the whole ‘War has never been so much fun’ title music adding to the overall silliness of the game.  Even the instruction manual itself even describing war as a “senseless waste of human resources and lives”, which the lack of overriding story alludes to.  The game is war for the sake of war.

However, while the game was poking a bit of fun at the notion of war, it also took remembrance seriously, with every soldier that dies in the game represented by a tombstone on the giant hill at the mission screen, and the names of the soldiers who had gotten the 5 highest number of kills during the course of the game.  The dead soldiers names would also appear once you completed each level.

While, for the most part, Cannon Fodder was ‘run around and kill people’, there were some strategy elements involved as well.  You were able to split your team of soldiers into up to 3 smaller squads, and let the AI take some control over a group.  For example, you could leave a couple of soldiers at one point and make them defend it while you move the rest of your squad to an enemy hideout.

This was a cracking action game, and if you get the chance to play it (legally, of course) then I suggest you do.  As a final note, the developers actually went out and created a music video for the title music with some game footage in it as well.  So why not have a look at it.

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