Defender of the Crown

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.

The Good
Defender of the Crown has, for years, defined for me what a game should be: simple, challenging, beautiful, and most of all - memorable. I have first seen this game at the age of 5 or 6 on a neighbour's Amiga 1000; seeing as what I had 'till then was a Spectrum ZX80 and an IBM PC-clone (with CGA graphics), this was leaps and bounds beyond everything I've ever seen, and the experience has left its mark in me. Even today I can't help but gawk at the graphics, a piece of genuine art by James D. Sachs, and get bleary-eyed at the sound of the game theme, written by the brilliant musician .

Defender of the Crown brings a genre-defying mix of strategy and action; dubbed an "interactive movie," though this may now sound corny it was definitely a novel concept when the game came out; Cinemaware's impressive knack for pulling the impossible has coined a legendary remark from one of the spectators where the game was on display, who has said: "So where is the laserdisc?" The game really is that good.

Starting with an overview of the map of England, you must proceed to build your army and use it to take over as much territory as possible. Five computer opponents (two Saxons, three Normans) will not miss an opportunity to hinder your advancement; they will attack and take over your territories, steal your taxes (check out the screenshots), call you out to a jousting match to demonstrate their superiourity. You will definitely want to strike back! Aided by Robin of Locksley (who will aid you up to three times), you can launch raides to steal gold from other Lords, attack their territories and lay siege to their own castles. There is always the possibility that a distressed Saxon Lord will send you to raid an enemy castle to rescue his beautiful daughter (and you will be rewarded with one of the most memorable scenes in computer gaming history).

Defender of the Crown looks and plays much like a movie, and the atmosphere of this game is simply astounding, as is its technical marvel. It is a piece of gaming history that for me will always define gameplay for the rest of my life.

The Bad
An old game though Defender of the Crown is, it is easy to forgive its various shortcomings (most of which were addressed on the PC version, but are overstated in the other versions).

To begin with, the jousting scene is ruthlessly difficult. I can manage one out of maybe ten jousts on a lucky day; on the PC it's more like one of three (and on the PC, it's not only a matter of luck). The battle options are few and far between, and I sorely lack the warfaring characters of the PC's battle interface. The greek fire and disease options are missing from the Amiga version, which is unfortunate; also, there are two major problems in the battles: the larger army wins 99% of the time with ridiculously low casualties (even if the winner's is only 2 soldiers more than the loser's), and as for the other 1%, you can attack a 10 soldier garrison with 200 soldiers and lose. Last but not least, the swordplay scenes are generally ridiculously easy - just pick Geoffery Longsword, point your mouse to the right side of the screen and click away.

Defender of the Crown on the Amiga is also notorious for its loading times; I've never had a hard drive or an extra floppy drive for any Amiga I've used (none of mine [2x A1000 and 1x A500+] have any and neither does my neighbour's) and the constant disk switching and loading do get annoying after a little while. Also the game runs differently on the various machines; the music timing is vastly different between my A1000s (Kickstart 1.3), the A500+ with its default 2.04 ROM and the A500+ softkicked to 1.3. Still, seeing as I have the exact machine this game was meant to be run on (A1000 with 512k memory) I guess it's alright.

The Bottom Line
A game like no other, an amazing ride for those who have been in the right place at the right time. I only wish people nowadays would be able to have this almost religious experience, but unfortunately Cinemaware's "new and improved" Defender of the Crown just didn't deliver. I still play this game in its various incarnations over 15 years after it first came out, and I don't think I'll ever stop.

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?