Defender of the Crown

aka: Conquering England, DOTC, Defender of the Crown: Obrońca Korony
Moby ID: 181
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Description official descriptions

Defender of the Crown puts the player in the role of one of four Saxon knights in medieval England, in a time where the land is in turmoil as the King is dead and his crown was stolen. The Saxons and the Normans blame each other and fight for control of England.

After a short introduction by Robin of Locksley himself, the game starts with a single castle and 10 soldiers at your command. From there, you have to build your army, take control of additional territories and fight and defeat the three Norman lords - and sometimes your Saxon friends as well.

In addition to the basic 'build your army and conquer your opponents' the game offers several events and options that can be used to fine tune your play style: You may engage in a jousting contest where you have to knock your opponent off his horse, gaining either fame or land, or you can go raid a castle for loot or the hand of a princess, joining your houses and territories.

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Credits (Amiga version)

15 People

Written by
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Computography and Mical Game System by
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Music
Orchestration
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Package Illustration by

Reviews

Critics

Average score: 72% (based on 49 ratings)

Players

Average score: 3.7 out of 5 (based on 235 ratings with 10 reviews)

The atmosphere is so strong that you completely ignore any gameplay issues.

The Good
The atmosphere of the game is so firmly set that the PC version, even though it lacks the bright colors and sound of the Amiga version, is a joy to play and watch. Even in CGA, the subtle shadows in dimly-lit scenes are visible.

The strategy of the game is simple, which is both a good and a bad thing; for those who don't like to think too heavily playing strategy games, it's fun.

The Bad
Since the strategy is so simple, gameplay will occaisionally swing to the side of "hit or miss" -- that is, half of the games played will be long and evenly-matched, and other games will end violently in less than 15 turns.

Also, the PC CGA version's sound/music leave much to be desired (the Tandy version's sound/music is much better, but you need a Tandy to hear it).

The Bottom Line
If anything is representative of "the classic computer gaming renaissance," it's Defender of the Crown. The definitive Cinemaware game deserves to be played by everyone at least once.

PC Booter · by Trixter (8952) · 1999

Not as good as the Amiga version, but great fun nonetheless

The Good
Like (for example) Hero's Quest: So You Want To Be A Hero and Moonstone, Defender of the Crown is a triumph of atmosphere over modern considerations such as 3d graphics and cd-quality sound. The wars and intrigues of old Saxon/Norman England come to life in truly remarkable fashion, especially considering that underneath it all is a fairly straightforward strategy game. Castles can be raided, jousts held, maidens rescued, and lands seized - what more could a proud young noble want?

The Bad
The PC version reflects the period when the Amiga (and Atari ST) were far superior in terms of graphics and sound. The luscious backdrops and portraits of the original don't quite have the same appeal when translated to EGA.

For the gameplay, DOTC has the annoying quality of severely punishing mistakes -put one foot wrong at any point and you'll likely lose the game within two turns. Getting in front and staying there is paramount; it's extremely difficult to come from behind and win. Further, the combat is nastily arbitrary; the "tactics" options when raiding a castle have little or no effect, and you'll frequently find a battle unwinnable regardless of the size of your forces.

The Bottom Line
If you want an object lesson in why old games are still good, play DOTC. It shows that atmosphere and playability are NOT functions of how fast your computer is or what graphics chip sits inside. To be still enjoyable after all this time is a remarkable feat - how many steroid-frame-rate games of today will be around in fifteen years?

DOS · by Colin Rowsell (43) · 2002

Good semi-historical, semi-educational leadership game

The Good
The English romance i.e Jim Sachs' artwork. I think the game has meaning particularly to the British or those with British roots, seeing the familiarly shaped continent and familiar counties. It's a short game, you only have to conquer England (depending on the game, you have to defeat the Norman lords or both Saxon and Norman lords), but the randomness makes the game quite replayable.

The gameplay is an improvement over the Amiga, first release. In this version you're not forced to be a murdering or thieving bastard to end your turn and continue the game. You can end your turn with a "pass" or by buying army. Also, your fellow Saxons actually are your fellows. They'll let you camp your army on their land.....sometimes anyway. They may also conquer your lands and besiege your castles.

The Bad
There's nothing much in the game itself I don't like. It's the promotional material I have a real problem with. The box art and blurb make it seem like it's some sort of sexy, adults only adventure, when really, even the love scenes in the game itself are fairly tasteful.

The Bottom Line
It's like an interactive Robin Hood or Ivanhoe adventure. Semi-historical, romanticized violence. Personally I still enjoy it and I think the DOS version is better despite inferior graphics and sound.

DOS · by Andrew Fisher (697) · 2018

[ View all 10 player reviews ]

Discussion

Subject By Date
PC CDROM version got released in the 90s abstauber Oct 11, 2018
Screenshots at the wrong entry? ZeTomes (36297) Jul 19, 2017
Links Cavalary (11445) Sep 20, 2014
Interview with Bob Jacob St. Martyne (3648) Dec 13, 2009

Trivia

1001 Video Games

Defender of the Crown appears in the book 1001 Video Games You Must Play Before You Die by General Editor Tony Mott.

CGA version

The CGA version "tweaks" the screen during the joust; the furious riding on your horse makes the screen "shake". This locks up the game on VGA cards, but if you can avoid this if you play it under a pseudo-emulator like Windows or OS/2 (or just don't joust during the game).

EGA version

There was bootable version released that supported EGA/Tandy graphics and Tandy 3-voice sound, which greatly enhanced the PC version of the game. Unfortunately, this version is extremely rare and most people only have the CGA/PC Speaker version.

Freeware release

A full version of this game is available online at Cinemaware.com (the full link is in the links section). The game plays in any browser.

Version differences

  • The C64 version of the game has three Saxon ladies that can be kidnapped, and the NES version only has one lady while every other version has four.
  • The Commodore 64 version of Defender of the Crown was also released on tape in Europe, as disk drives were expensive in Europe at the time and most people still used tape drives. The tape version is trimmed down to fit on the smaller storage of tape, and is missing several pictures found on the disk version. Some of the missing pictures are Robin Hood at the start of the game, and the closeup views of the Saxon damsels after you rescued them.
  • The DOS and the NES version have inferior graphics and audio quality compared to other systems. However, these ports feature more in-depth strategic elements - most of the strategic movements of the Saxons and Normans are not determined but randomized.
  • The Amiga version does not contain some features like Greek fire and disease attack options, which were include in other ports. According to Bob Jacob (Cinemaware founder) the most complete version of "Defender of the Crown" was the Atari ST release (interview in "Your Amiga" magazine issued in, June 1988 on page 16).

CD audio version

In 1988 Rick Levine programmed a CD quality audio version of Defender of the Crown. The Defender of the Crown code still resided on and ran from the PC, but hooks were placed in the code to play the CD quality audio off the CD -- on a Hitachi CD-ROM player. David Riordan had the CD quality audio created. That special CD-ROM version was demonstrated at a conference (might have been the Game Developers Conference that year), but it was never released to the public. However in 1991 the Amiga CDTV version of the game was released and next to minor graphical improvements contains major sound enhancements including two CDDA soundtracks.

Awards

  • ACE
    • October 1988 (issue #13) - Included in the Top-100 list of 1987/1988 (editorial staff selection)
  • Commodore Format
    • February 1991 (Issue 5) - listed in the A to Z of Classic Games article (Great)
    • November 1994 (Issue 50) – #17 The All-Time Top 50 C64 Games
  • Computer and Video Games
    • May 1988 (Issue #79) - Golden Joystick 1988 Award: Runner up in category Strategy Game of the Year
  • Computer Gaming World
    • November 1996 (15th anniversary issue) – #92 in the “150 Best Games of All Time" list
    • November 1996 (15th anniversary issue) – #2 Most Rewarding Ending of All Time
  • Gamespy
    • March 2000 - Introduced into the Hall of Fame
  • ST Fomat
    • May 1990 (Issue #10) - Included in the list "ST Format's 30 Kick-Ass Classics"

Information also contributed by PCGamer77, Ricky Derocher; Terrence Bosky and Tomer Gabel

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Contributors to this Entry

Game added by Tomer Gabel.

Browser added by Picard. NES, Commodore 64 added by PCGamer77. Jaguar added by Indus. ZX Spectrum added by twitek. Macintosh added by Dragom. CDTV, Android added by Kabushi. Atari ST added by ZZip. Apple IIgs added by Eli Tomlinson. iPad, iPhone added by Pseudo_Intellectual. Windows added by Alexander Schaefer. Game Boy Advance added by Xa4. Amstrad CPC added by cafeine. CD-i added by Geoffrey Palmer.

Additional contributors: JRK, Ricky Derocher, RodeoInTheGreatWhiteNorth, Richard Levine, Patrick Bregger, mailmanppa, Jo ST, FatherJack, ZeTomes.

Game added August 4, 1999. Last modified March 3, 2024.