Defender of the Crown

Review

by Jeff Irwin

Defender of the Crown takes you to a Britain wrapped in a civil war. The year is 1149 with moving medieval music and big Old-English fonts to support the setting. You choose from four distinct Saxon heroes such as Wolfric the Wild and Cedric of Rotherwood in an attempt to unite Britain under the righteous power of a Saxon King. Your enemies, the Normans, have wealth and breeding to use against you. What they don't know is that an elderly Robin of Locksley is waiting in Sherwood Forest to aid you.

As a turn-based strategy game, Defender of the Crown doesn't rely on flashy graphics and brilliant action sequences. Most of the gameplay depends on the decisions you make as head of your castle. You must manage and make money in addition to saving the Saxon maiden. To win you must march on each of the Norman strongholds and bring down their walls with your mighty catapults.

Despite the strategic focus, a surprising number of action sequences govern your success in this game. The gameplay in these action sequences is quite simple. For instance, in a joust you control only the lance, with the sole object of hitting your opponent square in the shield. All of this simplicity is positive in Defender of the Crown. You wouldn't want to focus on the finer points of the morning star when all the lands of England are at stake. Another advantage of this simplicity is that the graphics can focus on well-made backgrounds rather than on a poor attempt to capture the essence of medieval swordfighting.

Defender of the Crown is an enjoyable and challenging game. There are number of paths to victory, but none are easy.