The main motto of the game was "War has never been so much fun" (Eng. War has never been so much fun).
A second part of the game was also released, which was much more difficult than the first. A total of 5 parts of the game were released on the Amiga: Cannon Fodder, Cannon Fodder 2, Cannon Fodder 2: Alien Levels, Cannon Fodder 2: Not Very Festive, and Cannon Fodder+.
The game is divided into a number of missions, which are in turn divided into phases. The player, controlling a squad of soldiers armed with machine guns, grenades and grenade launchers, must destroy all opponents on the map, blow up all the buildings or free the hostages. At first, the player has access to a squad of two fighters - Jools and Jops. As you progress through the missions, the number of soldiers in the squad increases. There are a total of 24 missions in the game (8 missions in the free PC demo).
The detachment can be divided into several parts, and rockets and grenades can be distributed among the units. When one of the units is selected, the second one automatically goes on the defensive, shooting any approaching enemy.
Missions vary both in climate (jungle, desert, arctic) and duration. In a number of phases there is a technique that can be used. Also on the levels there are various traps - quicksand, bogs, stretch mines. It is noteworthy that a snowman can be used as a trap in winter missions (as shown in the intro for the game for the PC version).
Versions of the game for different platforms have some differences, for example, different intros are used, including the image of a poppy flower in the intro in the Sega version is slightly different than the image on other platforms, in the computer version during the passage there is no white flag in the corner screen (in order to surrender, the keyboard (Escape key) is used), in the Sega version, you need to pause to go to the control menu for selecting soldiers or viewing the map. Saving is organized differently: on a PC, it occurs by simply writing to a file under a specific name after any mission, on Sega, loading to the desired level occurs through a special password, and in the Super Nintendo version, to get to the desired level, you need to press the button select. The final cutscene looks different: in the full PC version, it is reported that that "El Presidente" is defeated, "The End" appears in the demo, and "Congratulations, You win!" (“Congratulations, you won!”). The main composition for the game also sounds a little different, and sometimes it is even cut in half (on Sega, for example).
The level names contain a lot of humor and puns: for example, Pier Pressure (homophone English peer pressure - group pressure), Tank You Very Much ...
The original game contained 360 recruits with their own names. The first four - Jools, Jops, Stoo and Rj - are named after the developers of the game (James Dean, John "Jops" Hare, Stu Cambridge and Richard "RJ" Joseph). After completing each mission, the surviving fighters receive a promotion in rank (this also applies to conscripts in the reserve). When a fighter dies, his name remains forever in the hall of military glory with the number of those killed and the last rank. The more experienced the fighter, the higher his rank and range.
The first 40 fighters are Jools, Jops, Stoo, Rj, Ubik, Cj, Chris, Pete, Tadger, Hector, Elroy, Softy, Mac, Bomber, Stan, Tosh, Brains, Norm, Buster, Spike, Browny, Murphy, Killer, Abdul, Spotty, Goofy, Donald, Windy, Nifta, Denzil, Cedric, Alf, Marty, Cecil, Wally, Pervy, Jason, Roy, Peewee and Arnie.