Defender of the Crown

Cinemaware set new standards for computer game graphics with the release of this their first title back in 1996.

There's the war of attrition to be won to gain dominance over the land. You need to balance the books and choose your expenditures wisely.Andy Pryer

The company would continue to showcase the finest graphics throughout the Amiga's life, while delivering the unique epic 'Cinemaware' experience of spectacular and immersive interactive movies.

Defender of the Crown is a strategy game set in England in the middle ages and sees you as one of several swashbuckling Saxons in a turf war with the invading Normans. Each of the playable characters have their strengths and weaknesses so players can pick the one which suits their own style. Geoffrey Longsword will forever be my go-to-guy here, none of the others seem like the right one for me somehow. Damn, he's handsome.

In your struggle for dominance over the fair English isle, you have many decisions to make about who to attack, how and when. As a true hero, you'll be leading you men from the front much of the time, manning catapults to destroy the walls of enemy strongholds or leading a small raiding party into an enemy's keep. There's more that gold to be gained from these outings, you may be lucky enough to find a fair maiden looking for a brave fella to whisk her away. Some are more attractive than others, so the player must decide if they can do better for themselves at a later date.

This being the middle ages, all aspiring noblemen are expected to prove their mettle by taking part in jousting tournaments. These lavish affairs are an opportunity to gain ground and respect, but they aren't easy.

Aside from these adventures, there's the war of attrition to be won to gain dominance over the land. You need to balance the books and choose your expenditures wisely. Will you buy cavalry, archers or foot-sloggers?

Cinemaware ran out of cash while making this game and so were forced to release it without implementing all their planned ideas. This normally wouldn't be a good thing, but in this case it seems to have been a benefit. The resulting game is a nice relatively straightforward affair in comparison to other strategy titles but is no less engaging for it as the world is so imersive. My 11 year old self would never have played this game had it been more stat heavy. Some of the missing elements made it into later conversions, but the original Amiga version remains the pure experience.

The game was a real showcase for the graphical oomph the Amiga. The gameplay graphics are nice to this day and totally transport you into the feudal world when combined with the excellent soundtrack. I can't think of a better harpsichord soundtrack to an Amiga game and only Cinemaware make the loading screens something to savor.

The game achieves true greatness in all areas, but the graphics and accessibility were groundbreaking at the time. Fortunately for us all, the huge success of the title meant we were to be treated to many more Cinemaware games of similarly top drawer quality.

Review by Andy Pryer - @clammylizard

Amiga Longplay Defender Of The Crown CLICK the carousel below to see the gaming pics and videos:

[AMIGA MUSIC] Defender of the Crown - Intro