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| Game: |
Robin Hood Defender of the Crown |
| Genre: |
Adventure |
| Developer: |
Cinemaware |
| Publisher: |
Capcom |
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| Related Links: |
Coming Soon. |
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Developers of Robin Hood Defender of the Crown Cinemaware released the classic original Defender of the crown title way back in 1986 its combination of strategy, RPG and action was an over 1 million selling success for the developers, Now it’s time to rekindle those memories and the head back to the forest with the all new and improved Robin Hood Defender of the Crown.
Players will assume the role of Robin Hood (prince of thieves) and must set about taking down the evil Prince John who has appointed himself ruler in the absence of King Richard and re unify England. Robin is Added by his trusty merry men and naturally the ever so lovely Maid Marion.
As the game unfolds you will need to build up and army with which you will be able to win back England’s various counties. The game play is varied as you will need to throughout the game, lay siege to Castles, man the trees to ambush the riches from the travelers through Sherwood forest, storm the prince’s strong holds and compete in jousting tournaments.
The game is controlled primarily through the use of a map where you select missions and objectives, the game features varied gameplay styles as with the original and using a turns based system for land capture and a FPS type gameplay for ambush when Robin takes to the trees.
Once the archery is completed you are taken to your home base where the game teaches you the arts of war and introduces the player to the various characters (via an animated image) I can say that the voice acting is both amusing and well performed. Each character has his or her, own uses such as Little John is the man for hiring troops and invading lands and Marion is a gatherer of information. The first stage really is a tutorial and only a hint as to what is to come next. Your first task being that of conquering the surrounding areas of Sherwood Forest and capturing one of King Johns castles. This is performed using basic troops which the player must point and click on a map who they are going to attack. This is very easy at first but requires a lot more strategy later on .
As I mentioned before, money is key to the whole game and by conquering counties will provide an income. However other counties that are not under your control and are owned by rival lords etc, can either try and rob you or attack. This is where the games strategy comes into play. As the counties become filled with enemies, as leader the player must weigh up the costs for placing troops and castles in your own lands to attacking neighbors or even raiding rivals for cash depending on what is needed. As you progress through the story more plot elements are added offering some objectives such as capturing a particular county which in turn will yield better prices for standard troops or having to sword fight those who wish for Robin to be dead.
The mini games are a welcome addition to the game and help break up the strategy sections. Jousting is fun and requires the eye of an eagle to strike your opponent in the head for maximum points. The sword fighting is interesting with some fun moves thrown in, such as jumping over a sword swipe which opens a window of attack for yourself. Overall these are welcome additions to a game which could have solely relied on its strategy elements.
All right, I know what you’re thinking – this perhaps sounds a little cheesy for your liking and you’d rather keep to your guns rather than your swords? Well, okay, you may be correct in thinking that, but when you actually see what the game looks like, you can’t help but stare at an image of two people jousting without thinking “Ohh, I wanna have a go!” For the PS2 this game looks quite good but for Xbox maybe could do with some touching up here and there. Either way this game is set out to be full of action all the way through as you travel around the country invading castles, and err, fields. Seriously though, it does offer variety and fun and looks to be a worthy title for the thinking games player.
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