Editing Cannon Fodder (section)

==Games==
===''Cannon Fodder''===
{{main|Cannon Fodder (video game)}}
[[File:Cannon Fodder recruits.png|thumb|New recruits queue near the tombstones.]]
Production of ''Cannon Fodder'' began following the completion of the successful strategy game ''[[Mega Lo Mania]]''. Sensible Software wanted to create another strategy game featuring mouse control and the notion of sending troops on missions, but with more action than had been used in ''Mega Lo Mania''. Production began in 1991 but was slowed due to Mega Drive conversions of other games. ''Cannon Fodder'' lost its provisional publisher in the aftermath of owner [[Robert Maxwell]]'s death. As development work resumed, the team gradually reduced the complexity the strategy gameplay in favour of more direct control and action gameplay. In May 1993, Sensible Software found a new publisher in Virgin Interactive, which released the game in November of that year.<ref name="CU preview">''[[CU Amiga]]'', Oct 1993, pp. 65-66</ref>

Amiga magazines rated the game positively, widely awarding scores of over 90%, while ''[[Amiga Action]]'' awarded an unprecedented score, calling it the best game of the year.<ref name="Amiga Action 53">Steve McNally, ''[[Amiga Action]]'' (issue 53, Jan 1994), pp. 24-25</ref> Critics praised the fun, addictiveness, music and humour of the game. The game also drew criticism in the ''[[Daily Star (United Kingdom)|Daily Star]]'' for its juxtaposition of war and humour and its use of iconography closely resembling the [[remembrance poppy]].<ref name="star">Jonathan Guy, ''[[Daily Star (United Kingdom)|Daily Star]]'', 26 Oct 1993</ref>

====Ports====
Once [[Sensible Software]] was sold off to [[Codemasters]], the decision was taken to port the game over to the [[Game Boy Color]]. The limit on having two men in your squad and a much smaller playing area meant changes had to be made to the gameplay, mainly to make it easier. Jon Hare described the change as converting "11-a-side football to 5-a-side football".{{Citation needed|date=January 2024}}

In 2004, Jon Hare set up a small [[mobile phone]] games team known as Tower Studios. Their first release was ''[[Sensible Soccer (series)|Sensible Soccer]]'' in 2004, followed by ''Cannon Fodder'' in 2005. Both titles were published by [[Kuju Entertainment]]. The games were only playable on certain color models and, due to many keypads' inability to register a diagonal movement, the control systems for both games had to be radically redesigned.

===''Cannon Soccer''===
In 1994, a free [[minigame]] called ''Cannon Soccer'' (or ''Cannon Fodder - Amiga Format Christmas Special'') was included on the coverdisk of the ''[[Amiga Format]]'' Christmas issue. It was essentially two bonus levels of ''Cannon Fodder'' in which the soldiers fought hordes of ''Sensible Soccer'' players in a snowy landscape. The levels were titled "[[Land of Hope and Glory]]", and "It's Snow Time".

===''Sensible Soccer 92/93 Meets Bulldog Blighty''===
One of the demos on the ''[[Amiga Power]]'' cover disk 21 was ''[[Sensible Soccer]] Meets Bulldog Blighty''. It featured a mode of play that involved replacing players with soldiers from ''Cannon Fodder'' and the ball with a hand grenade. The grenade would randomly begin to flash and would eventually explode after a few minutes, killing any nearby players. The magazine described it as a "1944 version of ''Sensible Soccer''",<ref name="bulldog">''[[Amiga Power]]'' Jan 1993 (issue 21), pp. 6-7</ref> though ''[[The Daily Telegraph]]'' compared it to the [[Christmas truce#British-German truce|Christmas-time football match]] in 1914.<ref name="telegraph">[https://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/video-games/8603136/The-best-violent-video-games-of-all-time.html?image=4 The best violent video games of all time], ''[[The Daily Telegraph]]'', Retrieved 24 July 2012</ref>

===''Cannon Fodder 2''===
{{main|Cannon Fodder 2}}
''Cannon Fodder 2'' is a 1994 sequel featuring very similar gameplay and graphics to the point where an ''[[Amiga Computing]]'' review suggested it had more in common with a data disk than a true sequel.<ref name=AC /> The game featured levels set in deserts and an Alien spaceship as well as levels with a medieval theme. ''Amiga Computing'' rated the game at 71%.<ref name=AC>{{cite journal |year=1995 |title=Cannon Fodder |journal=Amiga Computing |issue=82 |pages=116–117 |publisher=IDG Media}}</ref> A major difference in the sequel is that the plot involves time travel.<ref name=":0" />

The designer [[Rev. Stuart Campbell|Stuart Campbell]] wrote: "''CF2'' was a cross-cultural kinda game. Levels were inspired by films, music, other games, politics and events. Titles came from songs, books, and all manner of other sources".<ref>[http://worldofstuart.excellentcontent.com/cf2/cf2.htm ''Cannon Fodder 2'' development history by Stuart Campbell]</ref>

===Cancelled sequels===
After selling [[Sensible Software]] to Codemasters, Jon Hare ended up consulting on many of their development projects, one of which was the PS2 title ''Prince Naseem Boxing''. Work on this title was performed in a satellite studio based in Hammersmith, London. However, due to the commercial failure of this title, the studio was shut down. A casualty of this was cancellation of a 3D remake of ''Cannon Fodder'', something that Hare had been working on for at least nine months. Hare did speak about how he was looking to expand on the whole theme of war and include gameplay not just set on the battlefield: "I'd like to focus on the public's perceptions of war and warfare. There's many interesting things that go on behind the scenes with politicians".

In an interview with [[Eurogamer]] in late 2005, Hare confirmed that there was up to two years' work (on and off) put into a 3D update of ''Cannon Fodder'': "I designed ''Cannon Fodder 3'' with Codies six years ago, development stopped and started three times and eventually it was seemingly permanently halted when the London studio was closed four years ago. Nothing would please me more than to see this project resurrected, it was very advanced in its structure and therefore would need little modernisation".<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.eurogamer.net/article.php?article_id=61490 |title=A Sensible Decision Interview • Interviews • Eurogamer.net |website=[[Eurogamer]] |access-date=21 January 2006 |archive-date=16 October 2007 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071016082230/http://www.eurogamer.net/article.php?article_id=61490 |url-status=dead }}</ref>

In August 2006, Codemasters London announced a brand new version of ''Cannon Fodder'' for the [[PlayStation Portable]]. The game would have retained its familiar top down view, and the big heads of the soldiers, and for the first time the game would have been 3D. After a large launch announcement which included character renders and screenshots, the game was quietly canceled without explanation.<ref>{{cite web |title=Codemasters forum - Cannon Fodder |url=http://community.codemasters.com/forum/forumdisplay.php?f=577 |accessdate=2007-11-27 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071024031130/http://community.codemasters.com/forum/forumdisplay.php?f=577 |archive-date=2007-10-24 |url-status=dead}}</ref> In a later interview, Hare said that Codemasters was hit with economic problems and was forced to sell the studio.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.cubed3.com/news/12707|title=C3 Exclusive Interview / A Talk With Jon Hare|date=2009-07-11|author= Mike Mason|accessdate=2012-04-27|publisher=Cubed3}}</ref>

===''Cannon Fodder 3''===
{{main|Cannon Fodder 3}}
In 2008,<ref name="eurogamer 2011">Wesley Yin-Poole, [http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2011-01-18-will-cannon-fodder-3-release-in-the-uk Will Cannon Fodder 3 release in the UK?], [[Eurogamer]], 18 Jan 2011, Retrieved 14 July 2012</ref> now intellectual property owner Codemasters licensed Russian publisher Game Factory Interactive to develop another sequel. GFI created the game along with developer Burut CT and released it in Russia and the [[Commonwealth of Independent States]] on 19 December 2011.<ref name=":1">{{Cite web |title=Cannon Fodder 3 for Windows (2011) |url=https://www.mobygames.com/game/cannon-fodder-3 |access-date=2022-06-25 |website=MobyGames}}</ref> English-language media speculated on whether GFI was permitted to release the game outside of that region, but Codemasters ultimately clarified it had reserved but declined the option of publishing the game.<ref name="eurogamer 9feb">Wesley Yin-Poole, [http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2012-02-09-english-language-cannon-fodder-3-hits-gamersgate English language Cannon Fodder 3 hits GamersGate], [[Eurogamer]], 9 Feb 2012, Retrieved 14 July 2012</ref> GFI released the game in Europe and North America in February 2012 via a download service. 

The game retains the core style of its predecessors but with more advanced graphics, a counter-terrorism theme and a greater array of weapons and units. It includes 26 locations around the world and on the moon.<ref name=":1" /> English-language publications gave the game mixed, mediocre reviews,<ref name="pcgamer">Richard Cobbet, "Lukewarm War", ''[[PC Gamer#PC Gamer UK|PC Gamer UK]]'', April 2012 (issue 238), p. 116</ref><ref name="digitalspy">Liam Martin, [http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/gaming/review/a367840/cannon-fodder-3-review-pc.html 'Cannon Fodder 3' review (PC)], [[Digital Spy]], 27 Feb 2012, Retrieved 13 July 2012</ref><ref name="powerplay">Nathan Cocks, [http://www.pcpowerplay.com.au/2012/06/cannon-fodder-3/ Cannon Fodder 3], ''[[PC PowerPlay]]'', 18 June 2012, Retrieved 13 July 2012</ref> with both more positive,<ref name="metacritic">[https://www.metacritic.com/game/cannon-fodder-3/critic-reviews/?platform=pc Cannon Fodder 3 PC], [[Metacritic]], Retrieved 14 July 2012; taken from ''[[Compupress#Key titles|PC Master]]'', Apr 2012</ref> and negative reviews appearing elsewhere in Europe.<ref name="games.cz">Karel Vojtisek, [http://games.tiscali.cz/recenze/cannon-fodder-3-recenze-58966 Cannon Fodder 3] (Czech), Games.cz, 29 Mar 2012, Retrieved 14 July 2012</ref>