Cannon Fodder 3

Cannon Fodder 3 has a basic premise involving American soldiers battling disparate terrorists who have united with the aim of world domination. Like the earlier games in the series, it features a mix of "old school" action and strategy gameplay viewed from an isometric perspective. The player directs a small squad of soldiers, primarily with the mouse though the keyboard is used to deploy additional weaponry. The control system – according PC PowerPlay – "is very similar to 'twin-stick' shooters like Geometry Wars, except here you control just one of the four soldiers while the others fall in line, shooting when the lead does".

Each squad begins with four soldiers. They are fragile (though, possessing health bars, are somewhat tougher than the protagonists of the originals), but increase in status and power should they survive; the player is provided with a replacement squad should all his platoon die. The player can also split the squad into smaller units should strategy so require. The game has an online cooperative mode for up to four players, though Strategy Informer noted this mode is unpopular.

Cannon Fodder 3 is the third installment in the Cannon Fodder series, the first two games of which – Cannon Fodder and Cannon Fodder 2 – were successful across multiple formats in the 1990s. Those games were created by Sensible Software led by Jon Hare; Hare later worked on abortive sequels for both the PlayStation 2 and PlayStation Portable, as well as planning a version for smartphones. However, the publisher Codemasters had acquired Sensible Software and its intellectual property. In 2008 Codemasters licensed Russian company Game Factory Interactive (GFI) – which had previously been involved in games such as The Precursors, Boiling Point: Road to Hell and White Gold: War in Paradise – to develop Cannon Fodder 3.

While English-language media reported on the development in January 2011, GFI was initially permitted only to release the game in Russia and the Commonwealth of Independent States, with the possibility of a wider European or North American release initially unclear at the time. GFI, described as an "unknown", or "little-known" company, published the game in Russia in December, with both GFI and Burut CT variously reported as developers. Eurogamer then reported that Codemasters had clarified the agreement between itself and GFI: Codemasters had reserved the option to publish the game in the UK, but ultimately declined. This allowed GFI to distribute the game out with Russia and dispelled the belief that GFI was not authorised to make such a release.

Richard Cobbet, writing in PC Gamer UK said "just maybe, this is going too far", in reference to images of soldiers' gory corpses cleared from the interface by windscreen wipers. The reviewer expressed bemusement at "terrorists with robots and plasma guns" antagonists, but reflected – in reference to Cannon Fodder 2 – "still, could be worse. They could be time-travelling aliens again". He said the "biggest issue" is that a "gung-ho" approach to play is infeasible and that the "precise and tactical" approach faithful to earlier games in the series "turns out to be a very different experience from before.

Far less satisfying". This is due to the "key problem" of the ease with which enemy weapons such as rocket launcher-armed turrets can destroy the player's soldiers. The player is thus forced "to play with aching, paranoid care, picking away at base defences from as far away as possible, and rubbing up against the save points like a lovely cat finally reunited with its owner. This is not fun".