Cannon Fodder is an isometric point-and-click shooter with a touch of strategy. Each mission you’re given a handful of freshly drafted soldiers, a list of objectives from kill all enemies to kidnap the enemy leader and need to fight your way through impossible odds. Your troops gain ranks as you progress through the game (if they survive the mission, which is a big if) and each has a unique name and is given his own gravestone if he runs out of luck on the battlefield. Cannon Fodder is all about fun, quick wits, sharp reflexes and pure blind luck. So get your copy today, make sure the boys do their duty and get back home in as few pieces as possible!

It’s only a 20MB download and at US$5.99 (~ AUD$8.50) it’s well worth it for the crazy fun that this game is.

The games are Beneath a Steel Sky & Lure of the Temptress, both point-and-click adventure games from the early 90’s. Beneath a steel sky is particularly awesome, both because it’s set in a dystopian steampunk Australia and because the art direction for the game was by Dave Gibbons. Plus you get a comic book by Dave, inspired by the game, as a downloadable bonus.

Seriously, why are you still here reading this, go get free games!

The media release from the board states that

The Classification Review Board has determined, in a unanimous decision, that F.E.A.R 2: Project Origin warrants an MA 15+ (Mature Accompanied) classification with the consumer advice ‘Strong violence, blood and gore. Moderate coarse language’.

“After considering extensive submissions and demonstrations of game play across all levels, the Review Board concluded that the level of violence in the computer game, whilst strong, could be accommodated within the MA 15+ classification”, acting Classification Review Board Convenor, Trevor Griffin said.

What this means is that the game hasn’t had to be modified, the board has just changed it’s mind after lobbying from the publisher.  While I’m glad that yet another game hasn’t been banned, from the video I’ve seen of the game, it really is very violent and probably shouldn’t be sold to anyone under 18.  But because of our lack of an 18+ rating for games, these sort of games either can’t be sold, or get rated at 15+.  Neither of those options are really good.

We need an 18+ rating for games in this country, won’t someone think of the children?!?

Coverage elsewhere:

• The Escapist
• GamePlayer
• Games.on.net

Video trailer for F.E.A.R. 2 below, obligatory graphic violence warning.

On the upside, a friend has given me his old Playstation (the first one) with a bunch of games including Oddworld & Gran Turismo, so when I do get some time I’m going to be having a great old time!

I’m back at work now too after two weeks off, so everything is getting back to normal.  There’s an enormous amount of feeds in FeedDemon for me to catch up on, so lot’s of news to read.

So what does this mean?  It means that many people who were thinking of getting a Wii may get an Xbox instead.  It’s a much more powerful machine with a greater variety of games.  It also has the marketing power of games like Fallout 3 and Gears of War 2 behind it.  For gamers with limited budgets this is a god-send.  Australian retailers have been quick to jump on this for their Christmas promotions:

• EBGames is selling the Xbox with Lego Indiana Jones, Assassins Creed & Kung Fu Panda for $399
• Game is selling it with Lego Indiana Jones, Kung Fu Panda & either Gears of War 2 or Fable 2 for $399

The Lego Indiana Jones & Kung Fu Panda games are part of the standard bundle, but it’s the extra game you want to look for.  I think Game has the advantage here with Gears of War 2 or Fable 2.

Hopefully this means more people start playing games this year, which will mean more people to lobby against South Australian Attorney General Michael Atkinson stand against the R18+ rating for games in Australia.

I’m not sure this is a major problem, but if you don’t know about it & you don’t have a save game just before you complete the final quest I recon you’d be a bit annoyed.  Especially when this didn’t happen in the previous Fallouts or in Bethesda’s recent previous RPGs Oblivion & Morrowind.

I’m also hearing & reading that people aren’t fans of the level 20 cap.  I’m wondering if Bethesda will do what Blizzard did for World of Warcraft and release an update that provides a cap increase.  I get the feeling though that the game designers are wanting you to replay the game rather than just keep going doing all the quests in a single game like you could with the other games.  I’m not sure why or whether it’s the right decision (I can’t play the game due to lack of Xbox360, PS3 or decent PC) but it doesn’t seem to be hurting people’s love of the game.  The forums where people have complained about these issues are full of other people defending the design and saying it’s great.

Like I said, I can’t play the game, but if you like extended gameplay rather than just getting is finished, then you might want to avoid the main quest to begin with.  But if you’re short on time & just like the cathartic experience of completing the game, you’ve got the option of doing that too.

• Sony PlayStation 3 80GB
• Cyber-shot 10.1MP Digital Camera
• 8GB Noise Cancelling Video MP3 Walkman
• Earbud Noise Cancelling Headphones

I can’t enter, but you can!

The games are The Suffering, Area 51 and Rise & Fall Civilisations at War. The US Air Force has in the past demonstrated its willingness to laugh at itself with its continued extensive support of  the Stargate series, and including Area 51 as one of the titles here just continues that theme.

The download site links to the Air Force’s DoSomthingAmazing.com and the games themselves contain ads.  Definitely worth downloading if your connection can cope with the 6GB it will take to get them. Update: note: because they’re ad supported they won’t let you play without an internet connection to load the ads.  So much for my on the train gaming.

Full Spectrum Warrior is also available. It’s not listed on the promo page but it is mentioned on this 1UP article.  You can grab it here (it’s another 1.6GB).   That was a great game on the XBox, I’ve never played the PC version, I’ll have to see if it’s any different.

Yahtzee says what I’ve always thought: GTA 4 sucked, not because it was violent, but because it was boring.

If it sounds weird, it’s because it is.  This is a game that is definitely high on the bizarre humour ratings.  It’s essentially a puzzle game, and it gets progressively harder as the levels go on.  You also get new types of goo, such as ones that you can re-use.

Also, each level has an OCD award.  You get this for either collecting the maximum number of globs or finishing in a set number of moves.  I’ve only managed to get a couple of these, it’s pretty hard.

There’s also the World of Goo Corporation, which is a little minigame challenge.  Each glob that you collect gets added to your overall pile, which can then be used in the minigame.  It’s basically a ‘build the highest tower’ challenge, but the cool bit is the built-in ranking.  While you’re building there, clouds appear behind you which have a name, number and flag on them.  These are other people who have played or are playing right now and what their records are.  There’s also a leaderboard where you can see who has done the best on each level and the World of Goo Corporation challenge.

There are a bunch of good reviews on their site, the consensus seems to be pretty positive.  For US19.95, it’s not bad.  It also has fairly low spec requirements.  It plays just fine on my Dell Latitude D620 laptop with its crappy integrated video card.

I highly recommend this game.  It’s great fun, challenging and really easy to pick up and play quickly.   It does suffer from unskippable cut scene syndrome, where on each level it makes you watch the little intro each time.  This is kind of annoying, but they only last about 2 seconds so it’s not really a big deal.  Also, at least in the demo, you can’t save mid-level.  Not a big deal on most of the demo levels, but the last one is fairly long, and I imagine they’ll get longer in the real game.  I’d hope you can save in the full game, but I wouldn’t count on it.

Never the less, I like this game. Definitely one to check out.  You can get it from Greenhouse or on Steam (for 4 cents more).

Here’ the promo video for the game to get a better idea about the look & feel;