The game drew heavy criticism from the British Legion and the tabloid newspaper the Daily Star when it was about to be released. Reasons included its use of the remembrance poppy iconography and accusations that it glorified/made light of war. In reality the developers intended to use dark humor to present an anti-war message, best exemplified with the closing paragraph in the game's manual, "on a more serious note: don't try playing this at home, kids, because war is not a game - war, as Cannon Fodder demonstrates in its own quirky little way, is a senseless waste of human resources and lives. We hope that you never have to find out the hard way."