Cannon Fodder (AMI, 1993)
Graphics-8 Sound-9 Control-7.5 Challenge-8.5 Story-6.5
Level Design-7 Frustration-9.5 Fun-7 Originality-8
Overall Score-7
+
Creates an emotional bond with your avatars via simple but effective means
Good war satire
Basic leveling system (a soldier gains a rank by finishing a mission, 16 levels in total incl the first) - rank affects gun range, faster rate of fire and accuracy+how fancy a soldier's gravestone is+how likely split-squad AI soldiers are to take automatic pot shots at enemies
Lots of levels (72 sub levels spread across 24 mission (1-6 sub levels each) although each is generally pretty short)
Strafing/dancing (by first moving in one direction and then shooting in another as you move)+aiming while standing still
Nice intro w/ a fleshed out vocal track (pretty rare especially for non-CD games at the time)
Satisfying sfx and explosions
Some fun weapons (grenades - can be lobbed over obstacles you can't fire through like groves, rockets; partially destructible environment)
Easy to learn but hard to master
Can make your squad split up into up to 3 smaller squads (useful vs artillery or rocket soldiers)
Map feature (shows the whole level, enemy bases and your squad's location)
Decent variety (hostage rescue, kidnap enemy leader, protect civilians, escort civilians back home, mannable turrets - Lone Ranger (NES), )
Can look around your squad at a decent distance using the mouse
Temporary invincibility power ups, max rank power ups and homing rockets (rare and generally hidden)
Vehicles (tanks - stronger rockets+can only be destroyed by turrets and other tanks, helicopters, jeeps, skidoos/snow mobiles, )
Some ambient sfx
Some creative level design (making enemy turrets destroy their own buildings by luring them with a vehicle, jumping off a cliff in a jeep and then exiting it quickly after hitting water, call on choppers with the flashing landing pads in some missions)
Jumps via ramps while in vehicles and they move fast+can run over enemy soldiers (Dune 2)
Critters/neutral creatures (Dune 2)
+/-
Mostly (?) open-ended sub levels (sometimes maze-like, sometimes pretty straightforward, sometimes single screen or close to it)
Save between missions only (not sub levels/phases)
Esc makes you restart a level (dead soldiers don't come back however - perma-death).
Can't replay levels to grind soldier ranks/levels but new recruits do start at higher levels later on in the game
Some gore (corpses stay bleeding to death or floating on water, can keep shooting at dead enemies to make them bounce around)
Moves a bit slower than on PC while giving you an equal rate of fire, making the game easier than the PC version (on an AMI 500)
Can't choose how many or which soldiers to take for a mission
Enemy bases/buildings repeatedly spawn enemies (Gauntlet)
Can't jump or dodge
No squad formations and you can't make each soldier fire in a different direction or at the nearest enemy
No music in-game
No control groups (see C&C, Warcraft, etc)
Grenades and rocket don't carry over between levels
Can't aim your shots freely while in a skidoo. Can't shoot while in some jeeps
No story (does work well with the satirical/critical message of the game though)
Can't issue commands while the game is paused
Some resource management (limited grenade and rocket ammo)
-
Some control/interface issues (pathfinding issues (the following soldiers in a squad sometimes lag behind for no apparent reason when moving back and forth or get stuck on corners, your soldiers generally have trouble getting around any larger obstacles on their own), no "stop" command like in Dune 2, can't use modern keyboard & mouse controls (wasd/arrow keys+mouse aiming), somewhat loose camera - your soldiers gradually move closer to the edge of the screen meaning you'll have less time to react unless you stop at times although you can counter this by moving the mouse away from the squad in the direction you need to see better (however if you drag the mouse into the side menu it stops affecting the camera so the view reverts back), no map screen (M on PC) or squad switch hotkeys? (latter would allow for more advanced maneuvers), the skidoo gets stuck on obstacles a bit too easily, overly big hit boxes on rooftops and other skidoos if moving nearby them in one+for some explosions)
Sometimes simply can't dodge a rocket even with a single, high rank soldier (have to come out from cover and shoot or lob a grenade over cover vs certain rocket enemies - leads to reloading if you're trying to keep the best soldiers alive)
Blown off rooftops and doors can randomly land on/fly into your troops (hard to tell where they'll land while they're in mid-air, in 8-4 a turret is placed so that a bunker door will most likely fly into it and it's the only way to destroy the bunker), barbed wire fences or vehicles you need to use
Slowdown (gets pretty bad in a lot of levels after the 5th mission or so - tried A500 and 1200) - try Open Fodder (open source port)
Trial & error (some shots from off screen, barbed wire fences are explosive, hidden rocket soldiers, too hard to spot most spear traps, 11-2 (running into a stationary tank kills you, the civilian attacks you and won't follow you+has serious trouble getting back to its hut (which is dangerously close to a turret btw), the wooden wall can only be broken by tank fire), factories take a ton of hits to the door to destroy, chopper attacks - pretty much have to split up and lure it with a single soldier before it reaches you (then make it empty its ammo stock and follow it back to its landing pad), )
Simple AI (generally runs straight towards your troops, guard/idle enemies don't react to other soldiers being killed right next to them, if left alone a CPU controlled squad (the one you're not controlling when splitting your squad) might use up their grenades and rockets for taking out nearby soldiers, can't tell NPCs to move out of the way during protection missions, can cheese enemy turrets with choppers)
Can't give a behavior order to a squad/soldier that you're not controlling (such as stand and shoot, keep shooting at designated target, patrol, follow/give cover fire, strafe, use a certain weapon only, etc - Wing Commander)
No HP or armor powers ups (one hit deaths+the whole squad can die in one rocket hit, lose immediately if one NPC dies in a protection mission) - trying to keep everyone alive can get very frustrating
Overly slow movement in deep water considering you can't shoot while in it
Some difficulty spikes (8-1 - bridge part, 8-2 - start surrounded by bunkers and rocket soldiers+need to get to a turret in the middle which also dies in one hit (same thing happens in various later levels - in one during mission 10 you're sometimes immediately shot at by a nearby turret!), 9-1, basically impossible not to lose a soldier in 12-1 unless you know a specific trick to not trigger the chopper as quickly+get lucky and have it not chase you the first time it comes?)
Some tedious aspects (finding that last soldier in a "kill all enemies" mission can get tedious when some of them are guards that stand still+blend in with the background, hostages move too slowly)
Crap ending
No alternate main weapons (no shotguns, sniper rifles, etc)
Bugs:
-At one point in 8-1 my soldiers would just shoot into the ground right ahead of them instead of where I pointed
-Might not be a bug but the homing rockets are weird in that they move rather slowly with every other shot (and then every other shot is a regular rocket at regular speed)
-Rocket firing enemies can sometimes be inconsistent with if they fire or how often they fire, making difficulty very uneven later on
Level Design-7 Frustration-9.5 Fun-7 Originality-8
Overall Score-7
+
Creates an emotional bond with your avatars via simple but effective means
Good war satire
Basic leveling system (a soldier gains a rank by finishing a mission, 16 levels in total incl the first) - rank affects gun range, faster rate of fire and accuracy+how fancy a soldier's gravestone is+how likely split-squad AI soldiers are to take automatic pot shots at enemies
Lots of levels (72 sub levels spread across 24 mission (1-6 sub levels each) although each is generally pretty short)
Strafing/dancing (by first moving in one direction and then shooting in another as you move)+aiming while standing still
Nice intro w/ a fleshed out vocal track (pretty rare especially for non-CD games at the time)
Satisfying sfx and explosions
Some fun weapons (grenades - can be lobbed over obstacles you can't fire through like groves, rockets; partially destructible environment)
Easy to learn but hard to master
Can make your squad split up into up to 3 smaller squads (useful vs artillery or rocket soldiers)
Map feature (shows the whole level, enemy bases and your squad's location)
Decent variety (hostage rescue, kidnap enemy leader, protect civilians, escort civilians back home, mannable turrets - Lone Ranger (NES), )
Can look around your squad at a decent distance using the mouse
Temporary invincibility power ups, max rank power ups and homing rockets (rare and generally hidden)
Vehicles (tanks - stronger rockets+can only be destroyed by turrets and other tanks, helicopters, jeeps, skidoos/snow mobiles, )
Some ambient sfx
Some creative level design (making enemy turrets destroy their own buildings by luring them with a vehicle, jumping off a cliff in a jeep and then exiting it quickly after hitting water, call on choppers with the flashing landing pads in some missions)
Jumps via ramps while in vehicles and they move fast+can run over enemy soldiers (Dune 2)
Critters/neutral creatures (Dune 2)
+/-
Mostly (?) open-ended sub levels (sometimes maze-like, sometimes pretty straightforward, sometimes single screen or close to it)
Save between missions only (not sub levels/phases)
Esc makes you restart a level (dead soldiers don't come back however - perma-death).
Can't replay levels to grind soldier ranks/levels but new recruits do start at higher levels later on in the game
Some gore (corpses stay bleeding to death or floating on water, can keep shooting at dead enemies to make them bounce around)
Moves a bit slower than on PC while giving you an equal rate of fire, making the game easier than the PC version (on an AMI 500)
Can't choose how many or which soldiers to take for a mission
Enemy bases/buildings repeatedly spawn enemies (Gauntlet)
Can't jump or dodge
No squad formations and you can't make each soldier fire in a different direction or at the nearest enemy
No music in-game
No control groups (see C&C, Warcraft, etc)
Grenades and rocket don't carry over between levels
Can't aim your shots freely while in a skidoo. Can't shoot while in some jeeps
No story (does work well with the satirical/critical message of the game though)
Can't issue commands while the game is paused
Some resource management (limited grenade and rocket ammo)
-
Some control/interface issues (pathfinding issues (the following soldiers in a squad sometimes lag behind for no apparent reason when moving back and forth or get stuck on corners, your soldiers generally have trouble getting around any larger obstacles on their own), no "stop" command like in Dune 2, can't use modern keyboard & mouse controls (wasd/arrow keys+mouse aiming), somewhat loose camera - your soldiers gradually move closer to the edge of the screen meaning you'll have less time to react unless you stop at times although you can counter this by moving the mouse away from the squad in the direction you need to see better (however if you drag the mouse into the side menu it stops affecting the camera so the view reverts back), no map screen (M on PC) or squad switch hotkeys? (latter would allow for more advanced maneuvers), the skidoo gets stuck on obstacles a bit too easily, overly big hit boxes on rooftops and other skidoos if moving nearby them in one+for some explosions)
Sometimes simply can't dodge a rocket even with a single, high rank soldier (have to come out from cover and shoot or lob a grenade over cover vs certain rocket enemies - leads to reloading if you're trying to keep the best soldiers alive)
Blown off rooftops and doors can randomly land on/fly into your troops (hard to tell where they'll land while they're in mid-air, in 8-4 a turret is placed so that a bunker door will most likely fly into it and it's the only way to destroy the bunker), barbed wire fences or vehicles you need to use
Slowdown (gets pretty bad in a lot of levels after the 5th mission or so - tried A500 and 1200) - try Open Fodder (open source port)
Trial & error (some shots from off screen, barbed wire fences are explosive, hidden rocket soldiers, too hard to spot most spear traps, 11-2 (running into a stationary tank kills you, the civilian attacks you and won't follow you+has serious trouble getting back to its hut (which is dangerously close to a turret btw), the wooden wall can only be broken by tank fire), factories take a ton of hits to the door to destroy, chopper attacks - pretty much have to split up and lure it with a single soldier before it reaches you (then make it empty its ammo stock and follow it back to its landing pad), )
Simple AI (generally runs straight towards your troops, guard/idle enemies don't react to other soldiers being killed right next to them, if left alone a CPU controlled squad (the one you're not controlling when splitting your squad) might use up their grenades and rockets for taking out nearby soldiers, can't tell NPCs to move out of the way during protection missions, can cheese enemy turrets with choppers)
Can't give a behavior order to a squad/soldier that you're not controlling (such as stand and shoot, keep shooting at designated target, patrol, follow/give cover fire, strafe, use a certain weapon only, etc - Wing Commander)
No HP or armor powers ups (one hit deaths+the whole squad can die in one rocket hit, lose immediately if one NPC dies in a protection mission) - trying to keep everyone alive can get very frustrating
Overly slow movement in deep water considering you can't shoot while in it
Some difficulty spikes (8-1 - bridge part, 8-2 - start surrounded by bunkers and rocket soldiers+need to get to a turret in the middle which also dies in one hit (same thing happens in various later levels - in one during mission 10 you're sometimes immediately shot at by a nearby turret!), 9-1, basically impossible not to lose a soldier in 12-1 unless you know a specific trick to not trigger the chopper as quickly+get lucky and have it not chase you the first time it comes?)
Some tedious aspects (finding that last soldier in a "kill all enemies" mission can get tedious when some of them are guards that stand still+blend in with the background, hostages move too slowly)
Crap ending
No alternate main weapons (no shotguns, sniper rifles, etc)
Bugs:
-At one point in 8-1 my soldiers would just shoot into the ground right ahead of them instead of where I pointed
-Might not be a bug but the homing rockets are weird in that they move rather slowly with every other shot (and then every other shot is a regular rocket at regular speed)
-Rocket firing enemies can sometimes be inconsistent with if they fire or how often they fire, making difficulty very uneven later on