Cannon Fodder

My 12 year old son loved the game introduction in the instruction booklet. He thought the letter home from Lucky was hilarious ... 'I'm gettin' on awful well with the boys. What's left of 'em, least ways.' It sets the tone for the entire game, which takes a tongue in cheek approach to war. You can play in any of 5 languages (English, French, German, Italian and Spanish) and at Cadet, Veteran or Hero levels - never start as a Hero! There are 25 missions to be completed in the Barracks, Forest, Underground, Desert and Snow regions. Missions are basically shoot 'em ups, where the number of enemy to be disposed of varies.

The graphics are clear and the controls simple. Arrows move the crosshair around the screen, 'A' moves your troop to its location, and 'B' shoots at the crosshair location. There are other controls to switch weapons and throw explosives. Soldiers who are killed screech and disappear, or there is a small fireball if grenades or bazookas were used. Start in the Courtyard of the Base, which also has a Hero's Monument (with tributes to your best grunts), a Cemetery for troopers who don't make it and a Choppa, where you get a mission briefing. The enemy is El Presidente (the name can be changed).

Major Sterling assigns missions with names like 'Go with the Floe'. He explains mission phases, the region to be cleared of enemy, and what your troop will be up against in enemy specialists and weaponry, for example snipers or mortar teams. You start with machine guns but can acquire grenades, bazookas and big guns, and may come across Jeeps, Skidoos, Supatrax and Choppa for extra help. The Major explains that you are 'cleared to use deadly force' as you head into the killing zone. There you control a troop represented by 2 small cartoon figures. Move them out fast before the enemy attacks. Two recruits are fielded at a time and ten extra assigned at the end of a mission.

My kids (10 and 12) have also tried an Army Men game recently and found this one similar, though a little easier to beat. They still found it very hard and used the save slots often. My impatient younger son found it irritating to have to search each region for enemies - he would have liked intelligence reports of their locations. He especially liked the game ability to move your troop leader up through 16 ranks from Private to General, and is currently a Staff Sergeant.

Given that this is a game about violence, I would only recommend it for older kids who will not take it too seriously. My children enjoyed it as an arcade game, found it challenging to go through the levels once, but would probably not keep at it for sustained play (I'm relieved to see that they prefer farming to war). Overall, Cannon Fodder is very well done for an arcade shoot 'em up, with a nice variety of weapons, missions and locations, and a great use of humor.