Overall 8.1 Graphics 7 Sound 5 Addictive 7.5 Story 8 Depth 7 Difficulty 7
8.7
Defender of the crown still king of the heap lesbianwitch
This game is a classic I mean what can you really say about it except it is a hard core strategy game. Its set in England during to times of robin hood and the crusades. You take over as a minor lord of a castle fighting for supremacy against your neighbors. With the king away you have many different tools at your disposal to over take the island battles, raids, kidnappings, marriage's and tournament's provide many different avenues to victory and depending on which lord you start with your strategy will have to change. It could be argued that you have allies in the other character's you don't choose however this tends to be just the ability to peacefully cross a land or 2. Even if they had just attacked you and taken that land the turn before. So don't count on much support from "allies". Its best to find the most lucrative areas but be warned everyone else will be gunning for these as well. Setting up castles on important lands can help as defense of a castle can be much easier once you get the hang of it. If your lord is week in tournament's then make sure you always choose fame it wont hurt you if you loose but it wont help much if you win. If your a jousting powerhouse call all the tourneys you can and go for land every time it can be the most powerful tool you have. Money is always a problem and raiding can solve this, However if the person you attacked spent all his gold or you choose a secondary castle you might end up with little or nothing even if you win. In battle play around with the formations and learn which give the most advantage with what army and against what army and eventually you will be able to roll over any army. However it can take time to learn them all and there is never a guarantee. Things can always go awry on the battlefield. There are plenty of ways to win the game and even more ways to lose it. While it is a difficult game its not impossible and don't cheat unless you have already beaten it. This is one of those games that you will feel a sense of accomplishment if you do it the straight and narrow. My advice take some time to enjoy a gem from the NES. Use skill, brains, and bravado just like you would have if you have a time machine instead of a PC.. I hope this review helped let me know if you have any other questions.
Graphics 6 Sound 5 Addictive 9 Story 9 Depth 8 Difficulty 8
Review Rating: 4/5
Submitted: 10-26-12
Review Replies: 0
6.5
Medieval 'Tines' endings
Defender of the Crown is an early military strategy game for the NES, it had some of the first close-up portraits and full-scene colorization I had ever seen. The reason the game had these cut-scenes is because its a port of a computer game, by Cinemaware, and it is their efforts that make this game at times, seem almost like a interactive movie.
In this game you are an English lord, that you get to choose from several contenders that have different skills in 3 areas, Leadership, Swordplay, and Jousting...all attempting to secure the throne for King Richard's return. This game is during the time that Robin Hood, Maid Marian and the sheriff of Nottingham were also set in, though the only one you might see is Robin Hood- and then only barely. Your goal in this game is to raise an army, and crush all the (red) Norman lords to secure Saxon victory. You can crush the Saxon (your side, the blue) but its not necessary, since you have the same goal. You will find your allies; the other two lords of blue, honestly are very little help, and mainly serve to get beaten up by the enemy.
Graphics: 8
Those cinema scenes were quite eye catching by early graphic standards. this was the day of 8-bit and look at that a whole picture! Unlike most NES games at the time, what makes these graphics stand apart (besides the movie like images) are the size. When you go raiding, your character dueling the foe is huge on the screen, it draws the eye. The jousting tournament and catapult siege especially boasts great graphics this early in the NES life. The field battles, where your army runs into another army until one of you stops moving, are not so great unfortunately, most of the figures just standing in place and jabbing.
Sound: 4
A audio powerhouse, this game is not. There isn't a lot of music in the game, and even less sound effects. The only tracks one would be likely to remember are the ones that involve long sequences, like the raiding or the field battles. The ye olde music of the title screen and tourments are pretty good. I found the field battle (already graphically unimpressive) to have the worst music, not fitting in with what i'd expect.
Addictiveness: 6
You want to watch the cut-scenes. But playing it does have a bit of random luck and learning curve, which can be annoying. The lords you choose from don't seem so different at first, and nothing is really explained ingame for their stats as why that would help you. The most important attribute, is the most vague, Leadership, which actually helps your troops move faster in defense and offense. Whats more you are able to raise Leadership through jousting for fame. Swordplay, you would think helps you in hand to hand in jousting.. but it does not. Meh!
Story: 7
Its a famous era, and you get to be the hero, working with Robin Hood (if you click on the forest and talk to him.. he never bothers to talk to you on his own). I did like that the cpu would also do things like call tournaments, and the random encounters, like rescuing an ally's daughter, are really neat. I wish there were more of them. I also liked that you and the other 2 blue armies are already allies, and you can walk through each others land (unless you want to get hostile).. it helped sell it was more BLUE VS RED than YOU PLAYER VS ALL THE CPU. That said, the computer allies are quite rubbish, its hard to go a full game with one of them left around, let alone both of them.
Depth: 6
This game can seem complicated, but in some ways its a good beginner strategy game. Your home castle easily tells you the information you need, how much gold you have, how many troops.. its your job just to take troops out of your fort and put them into a walking army. That army you march all over the country, gobbling up territory.. and after buying some catapults.. taking out the enemy leaders in their home castles! You have only 3 stats to mind; Leadership for moving your troops faster, Jousting to win land or more leadership points, and swordplay to do that minigame where you raid the enemy people with your stick sword and run off with their money. You have to balance your standing army who gains you territory, with keeping your home base (or other bases if you build them) garrisoned, so your foes don't just walk up and take over your castles!
Full disclosure, I've beat this game about a dozen times.. but I don't really understand the field combat that much. I've had 5 guys vs 30 and just soundly beat them with 4 guys left. I've had 80 soldiers and 8 knights and got beat by 20 regular soldiers.. it just seems you want enough troops but not TOO many. And knights seem to not do much but give you options to order troops, which I never did.
Difficulty: 6
This can be a short game, in that its easy, or you can get flattened quickly. Not all starting locations are the best, as you click on the map you can see each gives you a certain amount of money each turn.. and they are hotly contested. Surprise, the red guys surrounding areas are usually worth more money. And your allies can hardly be troubled to put up much of a fight, they mainly serve as early game distraction for your foes. But once you throw your troops into your army and get a catapult. its surprisingly easy to pull off a very early siege of a red lord who has spread himself too thin. Once you take out one of the Norman red guys, it really gives you an opportunity to mount a steamrolling offensive, just keep those troop numbers up.
Overall: 6.5
Come for the graphics! Enjoy the novel jousting elements (DO NOT PUT THE LANCE OVER THE OPPONENTS HORSE! SHAME ON YOU!), and catapult shooting! Turn down the pedestrian midi music! And if you never played a strategy game before, well, you could do worse, here is one you might beat in 40 minutes, if you get lucky and play well.
Graphics 8 Sound 5 Addictive 6 Story 7 Depth 6 Difficulty 6
Review Rating: 4/5
Submitted: 03-13-18
Review Replies: 0
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