Defender of the Crown logo CDTV

£29.99 CINEMAWARE

This is a prime example of an Amiga game that has been ported over to CD-ROM. It's also a very old Amiga game. As you would expect, the main enhancement is a hi-fi audio soundtrack, which means that the very pretty and pleasant Amiga graphics which made a name for this one when it first appeared some four years ago are enhanced by some very pretty and pleasant music done on a synthesizer and sounding just about medieval enough to suit the atmosphere of the game.

There's also some audio by an actor as the narrator who comments on your progress through the game. This is the voice of an American pretending to be English and sounds like a cross between an insurance salesman and an Australian.

The game itself is a simple strategy game set in Merrie England of the medieval knights and jousts period. Its based on building up the strengths of your army to acquire land and take castles until the whole of England falls under your sway. Battles are just commentaries in which you are told whether you've won or lost, with only the simplest of decision-taking involved and no real information on which to base directions.

This is interspersed with joystick-waggling sessions (taking part in a joust, swordfighting while taking a castle, etc.) which on CDTV becomes furious Button A pressing sessions and on Amiga CD-ROM will be mouse-button bashing sessions.

To be honest though, there's not an awful lot of game here, though what there is is enjoyable enough. Some of the static screens with CD music are delightful, but even these get annoying after a while as they hold up the gameplay. But this does come over as a professional CD presentation that bit extra than the Amiga version.


Defender of the Crown logo CDTV

CINEMAWARE * £29.99

A strange game, the main appeal of which is attractive graphics, now enhanced by real sound off CD. It was considered a classic four years ago but hasn't stood the test of time simply because the gameplay is somewhat feeble.

You play a knight wrestling with a combination of strategy/management tasks (looking after food, training armies, invading neighbouring English countries) and arcade-style action, with some rather dull little joystick-waggling sub-games in which you battle into a castle or compete in a jousting tourney. Defender of the Crown 2 is soon to follow, and will cost you a fiver more.


Defender of the Crown logo CDTV

Grafik und Gameplay sind bis auf's I-Tüpfelchen identisch mit der regulären Amigaversion des Cinemaware-Klassikers. Dafür gibt's jetzt einen starken Titel-Soundtrack, tolle Musik während der Animationssequenzen und Sprachausgabe in Super Qualität. Es hilft aber alles nix, die strategische Ritter-Arie ist nach wie vor viel zu leicht - einmal durchgespielt, ist die anfängliche Begeisterung schnell dahin.

Und noch ein Wermutstropfen: Zwar spart man sich hier natürlich die leidige Disketenwechselei, aber die unglaubliche Nachladezeiten, mit denen man es zu tun bekommt, lassen Sehnsucht nach den guten alten Disks aufkommen!