G.R. Issue #20 (GBA)
Sorry for the delay, things have been busy for us what with the server switch & all that gubbins. Better late than never eh? Welcome to GBAtemp Recommends! Our popular weekly magazine feature in which we, the GBAtemp staff, recommend classic Game Boy Advance titles!
GBAtemp Recommends!
Defender of the Crown
Defender of the Crown has been on many gaming systems, starting on the Amiga 500 way back in 1986 and since then it has been ported to PC, C64, NES, ZX Spectrum, Atari ZX, CDi, Amstrad CPC, Mac & the Apple llGS. In 2000 a couple of chaps bought the rights to the Cineware name and all of its games and went about making some remakes and sequels and also porting a couple of its titles to the Gameboy Advance in 2002, one of which was this very game.
The game is set in the 1100s and the Norman invaders have killed King Richard. The Normans have taken the throne. You play as a Saxon, your intentions are for the good of England, not for the good of your wallet (or cloth sack). You start off trying to rid each territory of England of Norman invaders to try and slowly take back the country. Its not a simple case of attacking your enemy and hoping to win, oh no you have to manage your resources well! You'll have to decide what you spend your gold on and in turn become a strong enough leader that the men of England will want to fight for you. The gameplay is sort of like a version of Risk, you have to take turns with each action you take and each turn can either mean getting closer to the throne or losing the confidence of your men. Between turns there are mini games to take part in, each suit the theme to a tee. There is jousting & mace combat which can help you win favour with your men as well as land, you can raid castles, either for money or to rescue a Maiden is distress. Each mini game is easy to get into and helps break up the board game like structure of the gameplay, though none of them are very deep.
Although at the time the game was 15 years old, it still looked good on the GBA. Movie like quality presentation (which was the standard for Cineware games), well drawn sprites and backgrounds & great sound effects (for the time). The GBA port was pretty much identicle to the original Amiga release AND you didn't have to wait for it to load! Sadly being identicle means that there are no multiplayer which is a missed opportunity as it would have been great to play against another player. Some may not like this due to the hard difficulty at the start but once you have got use to it, it becomes addictive and because the enemy AI is different with each turn, its one of those games you can just whip out whenever, even once you have become King.
Game Synopsis said:Perhaps the most popular of all Cinemaware franchises, Defender of the Crown pits the player against the evil Normans who are intent on invading and taking over England. Competing on tournaments of joust, epic castle sieges and swashbuckling swordfights, the player must make use of dexterity and strategy to find the Crown of England and wrestle power and dominance away from the scheming Normans.
Originally released in 1986, Defender of the Crown enjoyed worldwide success on many platforms, including the NES, having sold over 1,000,000 units across a variety of formats. The addictive gameplay of the original is making a comeback in both enhanced and entirely new gameplay modes, and is ideal for the GBA system, taking full advantage of the hardwares capabilities.
#0653 - Defender of the Crown (Venom)
#1779 - Defender of the Crown (Batman)
Genre: Strategy
Publisher: Metro 3D (M3)
Dump Date: 10/10/2002
ROM Size: 32 Mbits
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