Dead or alive?
Nial Grimes dons the tin hat and enters a world where Cannon Fodder
aficionados fear to tread. "Oi put that light out!"...
Megalomania forms a very important part of most gaming genres. From
SubStation through Sim City to games such as Populous players just love
being in a life and death control situation. Lemmings and, more
recently, Cannon Fodder, have refined the formula, adding more direct
control and a touch of humour to the proceedings.

The interface is fairly easy to use, and the icons are quite well
drawn, but the manual doesn't go into enough detail on playing the game
Deadland has clearly taken a leaf (no, make that a whole chapter) from
Cannon Fodder's book in blending arcade action with an element of
strategy. Your mission is set on a deep space planet known as Ursula
Minor, and the object is to evacuate as many of your small crew as
possible. This involves building a new ship and you've only got
thirty-one days to get the job done.
Anybody who has played Cannon Fodder will be immediately at home with
Deadland's presentation. The action takes place through a large view
screen, inhabited by a band of grizzled, gun-toting astros (true, they
may be small, but you can tell they are grizzled by the way they walk).
Enemy soldiers maraud the planet surface, guarding any useful objects,
and mud-holes bubble here and there, threatening to swallow innocent
crew members.

There's little point in getting anything built when enemy installations
are nearby
Movement is handled via the mouse - just press the mouse button and the
whole team obediently march to the pointer. You can explore the planet
beyond the boundaries of the screen by clicking on the edges of the
window and you needn't worry too much about the guys in the meantime -
they automatically deal with any enemy soldiers that stray too close.

If you're having trouble getting somewhere, build a cab!
Having familiarised yourself with these basics (and probably been
killed a few times in the process) you can actually begin to play. The
key here lies in building, and the crew are remarkably adept at
throwing together pieces of equipment - they can whip you up anything
from a concrete slab to a hovercraft in a matter of seconds. The number
of objects available keeps the gameplay fresh - vehicles are useful for
getting around quickly, whereas gun towers are handy for protecting
important installations. Your resourceful team can even put together
expendable droids that can be sent on missions.

Aha these will come in handy!
As you've probably gathered, Deadland has no rigid mission structure -
you can almost make it up as you go along. "Almost" in that although
the overall aim is to set up a shop to construct a new ship, you still
need to approach the problem logically. For instance, there's no point
in setting up installations if they are going to be instantly destroyed
by enemy missile launchers. A far better idea is to send a team out to
deal with any local resistance before you start.
To be honest, much of this information has been gathered purely through
trial and error - the manual does an almost passable job of describing
which button does what, and the role of each buildable object, but it
doesn't tell you what each object looks like on screen and would also
benefit hugely from some sort of walk-through.
Despite this problem, Deadland is a solid shareware game. You might
miss the overt humour proffered by Lemmings and Cannon Fodder, but the
free-reign "missions" and new challenges go a long way towards making
up for deficiencies in other areas; the price closes the deal. In fact,
once you've got a good grip on the controls it's a lot of fun, and
that's what this game thang is supposed to be about, innit?
Product name: Deadland
Publisher: Loftsoft
Contact: 51 Vicarage Road, Sutton, Surrey. SM1 1QN
Price: £5.00 Registration
Requirements: Any ST (Falcon compatible)
Pros: Cannon Fodder-style gameplay, free-reign missions and price
Cons: Naff manual and humourless graphics
Score: 70%
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