Cannon Fodder
From: John Daniels (ah499@cleveland.Freenet.Edu)
Date: 04/30/95-01:52:30 PM Z
From: ah499@cleveland.Freenet.Edu (John Daniels)
Subject: Cannon Fodder
Date: Sun Apr 30 13:52:30 1995
From: kwtoh@students.wisc.edu (SLAM!DUNK nut)
>Newsgroups: rec.games.video.atari
Subject: Short Cannon Fodder Review (also posted to Jag-l)
Date: Sat Feb 18 01:55:06 1995
OK, just got this game today. Played it for a little while and thought a short
review might be in order for those of you who can't decide whether to get this
game. *Disclaimer*: What follows is all IMO, and your mileage may vary. Don't
crucify me if your opinions differ. Thanks.
You know this game is special the minute you boot it up. The main theme is a
catchy pop tune, with the voice vaguely similar to the lead singer of New
Order. "WAR! Never been so much fun!" and a litany of "Kill me with your
gun.... dying in the sun!" bowled me over in laughter. You don't get any
in-game music when you're on a mission. That's not too bad actually, because
you can hear the 'rat-tat-tat' of your machine gun, the dying screams of
soldiers, the cawing of birds in the jungle, and the howl of the unrelenting
winds. All the sounds add to the atmosphere of the game.
The manual is thin (about ten pages), and is in the Queen's English (eg
'centre' instead of 'center'). However, the writing style is in keeping with
the sardonic and humorous tone of the game, which is another plus. CF doesn't
come with an overlay.
Now for the graphics. This is where the game is a bit weak... the characters
are really small! I mean, if you have a 15" TV or smaller I'd say forget about
trying to find your way around. And the explosions are only average...
definitely could've been better. However, you can select via the Option screen
Lo-Res and Hi-Res mode, so I guess that helps a lot for those with good
TVs/monitors.
This game has plenty of variation in it, from vehicles and weapons, to the
terrain types and objectives. You get to use the standard issue SMGs, grenades
and bazookas. You are also able to commandeer 5 different vehicles, namely, the
chopppas, tanx, jeeps, skidooz and big-gunz. There are two different kinds of
choppas, the transportas and the killas (no prize for guessing the function of
each). Similarly, there are unarmed transport jeeps and ones which come with a
mounted MG.There are a total of 5 different terrain types (jungle, arctic,
desert, moorlands and underground base), and 7 different objectives (eg Kill
all the enemies, destroy all the buildings). The game requires you to complete
24 missions, but each mission could have several phases (which might have
different terrain types & objectives, as outlined above). Then, there are 5
different kinds of enemies, from the lowly grunts to the air force pilots.
And what military game would be complete without ranks? CF has 16
different ranks, from the unknown private to the awe-inspiring general. So your
troop was wiped out in the last mission? Not to worry... you've got 360
different conscripts waiting for your orders, but only a maximum of 15 are able
to participate in a mission at any one time. If your troops survive a mission
and kill lots of enemies, they might go up in rank, and thus gain new skills
and smarts, being the veterans that they are.
Gameplay is where CF really shines. You're able to split up your troops into
different squads, which allows you to try various strategems. For example, you
can split your troop of fifteen, with someone being a decoy. Position the other
fourteen soldiers behind a thicket of bushes and lure the stupid grunts with
the 'bait'. Watch them fall to the spray of machine gun fire when they discover
(too late!) it's an ambush. This is where high-ranking soldiers are useful, as
they're able to make good, sound decisions (like lobbing grenades at a whole
bunch of enemies without your direct control. Believe me, the action gets fast
and furious at the later stages and you won't be able to control all your
soldiers at once).
So is Cannon Fodder a good buy? IMO, heck yes! This game is great! The only
point against it is the small size of the sprites. Otherwise, the gameplay and
the sound really make this game a winner.
_______________________________________________________________________
) 1995 SLAM!DUNK nut
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