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My first experience of this game was seeing it on Cartoon Connection on Channel 7 in Australia. They had an Atari ST on set, and they were demonstrating this game to show you what the computer could do. I was probably 10 or 11 years old at the time, and I went bonkers trying to convince my parents to get this game for me. I had to have it - I had never seen graphics like it in my entire life! Thank god it was released on multiple platforms!
You play the part of a Saxon lord attempting to rid England of the evil Norman invaders. Along the way you'll save damsels in distress, have sword fights, steal gold, and a host of other things!
Once the game has loaded up, you get to choose from the four people above. Each has particular strengths and weaknesses and it differs somewhat to the C64 version of the game where they are roughly in order from good to bad (Wilfred, Cedric, Geoffrey and Wolfric). On the Amiga, the choice is somewhat more difficult, as there is no clear cut "best" one to pick.
Leadership is an advantage on the field of battle - troops tend to follow the orders of strong leaders over weak ones. Jousting will assist you in Tournaments, which are used to give you fame or extra territory. Swordplay will assist you in raiding castles and saving damsels in distress. I told you the choice was hard!
Once you've chosen who you are, you go and visit Robin Hood. He offers the assistance of him and his Merry Men (tell me there isn't a homosexual connotation there!) three times throughout the game. This help is quite handy, especially when besieging an enemy castle, so use it wisely. It can make the difference between a successful game and an unsuccessful one.
This is part of the "interactive movie" concept that was the basis behind Cinemaware games. There were set story pieces, and you got to play parts of the game that advanced the story. A good concept, really, and one in use in most modern games.
The map above is an essential part of the game. As a Saxon trying to repel the evil Normans, you will start in one of the top three territories. In this game, we're at the very top. The other blue territories belong to other Saxons, and it's often a good strategy to take over the Normans first. Be warned, sometimes fellow Saxons will turn on you.
You can only move adjacent to where you are, as well. The green forest in the middle is Sherwood Forest, and you click here to get Robin's help before going on an attack.
Above is probably the most famous image in Defender of the Crown. This comes up when the music is playing as an introduction to the Tournament. A Tournament is where you suit up in your armour, jump on a horse, grab a lance and attempt to knock the other guy off his horse. This image, along with the music, is one of my favourite things in Defender of the Crown - and you're not even doing anything.
In order to win a Tournament, your lance must hit the centre of the other guys shield, and you need to click when it's close enough to thrust the guy off. It's fairly difficult to get used to! If you have more than just your home territory, you can joust for land. If you win, you get the territory of your choice and if you lose, you lose one of yours that your opponent chooses. Alternatively joust for fame - this effects your leadership level.
Another thing you can do is raid other castles for gold. You fight with your sword through an opponents keep, and through the door. Once inside, you fight a second man until he has no health left, and then you move him up the stairs and into the secret treasure room. You can earn a good bit of gold this way!
Sometimes the Normans will kidnap a beautiful Saxon maid, and you can choose whether to go and save her or not. If you succeed, she will be -very- grateful to you, and you'll be rewarded for your good deeds - in more ways than one! Some of the maids are prettier than others, so you may be influenced by personal taste.
Finally, you get to lay siege to your enemies castles. In order to do this, you need to buy at least one Catapult from the Buy Army screen, and it is also recommended that you have several Knights, as they're more effective than just foot soldiers. With the catapult, you need to bash down the wall, and then send over Greek Fire and Disease to decimate the enemy ranks. It'll take a little while to get used to, but once you have, it's a piece of cake.
After that, you battle the forces of the other side. The Amiga version of the game only has three choices, as opposed to the C64 and the ST which each have more - this is quite a disappointment. Win the battle and you will take the castle! You need to do this for all your enemies in order to win the game.
Winning the game gives you a wonderful end screen and some nice music - it's well worth it and it does feel like an achievement, so you should play to win!
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Defender of the Crown was THE game when it was released in 1986. The graphics blew everything that was available at the same time out of the water. An oft heard cry at school was, "The graphics are AWESOME!" - and they were - and they are. On all the platforms that I've seen (Amiga, C64, Atari ST), it was the single best game, graphics wise, up to that point. What is nice is that there are quite a lot of static screens - each uniquely advancing the plot in some way. As this was before multimedia extravaganzas, things such as the trumpeters were static with music overlaid and you filled in the rest. It is surprisingly effective! Some of the most beautiful screens are the castles, the firelight indoors scene when you save the maiden, and of course the finishing screens when you complete the game. I can't compliment the graphics team enough for their pioneering work on Defender of the Crown. Full marks!
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Complimenting the game was a rousing soundtrack evoking thoughts of "olde England". The theme music is instantly recognisable, and quite a fair bit of work has gone into all the music to provide that Robin Hood/Knights/Castles kind of feeling. Another great thing is that it does feel like an Interactive Movie - the music isn't computery or plinky plonky or contemporary - it matches the time period of the game with aplomb. There is also great variation between things like the rousing theme music compared to the romantic bedchamber music, with the marriage between the images we see on screen and the lush tunes absolutely perfect. Out of all the computer game music I have ever heard, this would be easily in my Top 5. Stellar effort!
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There are a few main things to do - you need to buy armies, put them together and take them out on the field to conquer territories. You raid other castles by sword fighting - this is also the thing you do to save the ladies. You joust in tournaments for fame or land, and this is exceedingly hard at times, due to the way the screen moves around. You besiege castles in order to take them over and outst evil Norman lords. Again, somewhat difficult to get used to for the novice. In among all of these set pieces, there are some other random events (the "Meanwhile..." things) such as people raiding your castles and taking your Gold, to infiltrating you and destroying weapons. Interface wise, the game works well with simple point and click. However at times, it's quite difficult. To disguise that there aren't all that many things to do, the game has been made quite hard in parts, but not disgustingly so. It is possible to win, and even become so good that winning is easy - however it can be a little daunting when first trying to get into the game. Overall, an excellent effort.
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| Defender of the Crown deserves its reputation as one of the better games ever released in the annals of computer gaming history. It takes a unique concept and marries it with glorious visuals, lush sound, and varied gameplay. This is a shining example of what a computer game should be - and hats off to the team at Cinemaware for bringing us this gem! Highly recommended! |
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