ULTIMATE GUIDE
CANNON FODDER
BY BLENDING SIMPLE STRATEGY ACTION WITH WARTIME HUMOUR WORTHY OF BLACKADDER, SENSIBLE SOFTWARE CREATED A UNIQUE GAME THAT WON HEARTS AND MINDS ON THE AMIGA AND OTHER PLATFORMS. JOIN US AS WE REFLECT ON THE CELEBRATION AND CONTROVERSY SURROUNDING CANNON FODDER
WORDS BY GRAHAM PEMBREY
CAPTAIN
WOUNDED ENEMY
[Amiga] Placing crates of grenades next to wooden huts was a huge health-and-safety fail.
[Amiga] Destroying all enemy buildings is the key objective on certain missions.
A
s
you might gather from an opening screen that cautions, “This game is not in any way endorsed by the British Royal Legion,”
Cannon Fodder
caused just a tiny bit of a stir in 1993. Sensible Software added the words as a legal disclaimer, following a minor media storm that saw politicians and tabloid newspapers denounce its use of the memorial poppy flower as “outrageous” and a “poppy game insult to our war dead”. But we can only presume those complaining had spent little time playing or understanding the game. If they had done, they would have discovered an anti-war message about the futility of conflict, rather than anything disrespectful. You might feel that sentiment hitting home after progressing several levels with the same few squad members, whose names you have come to know well (and who you have perhaps levelled up from Private to Corporal or beyond) only to lose a troop permanently to a single shot. Their grave will then appear on a hillside shown between missions. Beyond the hill, new recruits shuffle forward to join your war effort; a seemingly endless conveyor belt of figures stretching far into the horizon as melancholy music plays.