Robin Hood: Defender of the Crown
We take a look at the return of CinemaWare’s flagship franchise
Tags: Robin Hood: Defender Of The Crown Categories: PS2 Reviews, Reviews
Posted by Daniel "monk" Pelfrey on Oct 8th, 2003
| Title | Players | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Robin Hood: Defender Of The Crown (title page) | |||
| Developer | Publisher | Genre | Online |
| Action | No | ||
CinemaWare was a developer/publisher of games “back in the day” – the classic gaming boom of the late 80’s. In 1991, CinemaWare closed its doors, but was reawakened in 2000 to release some Game Boy Advance versions of some of the catalog titles. Now, Robin Hood: Defender of the Crown is released for the PlayStation 2. Originally released way back when (1986!) for the Amiga (then brought over to other platforms) the game is the flagship of CinemaWare’s product lineup.
 |
The first thing that should be mentioned is that this is more of a remake than a re-release. The basic gameplay elements remain, but the story and execution are all new. Think of this along the same lines as a film remake – George Lucas made his Star Wars Special Editions out of his original trilogy. Thinking along those lines would be a mistake. Robin Hood: Defender of the Crown is more along the lines of Down To Earth, a remake of Heaven Can Wait (itself a remake of Here Comes Mr. Jordon).
Which is all well and good, but where does that leave the game?
Players take on the role of Robin Hood as he attempts to stem the tide of civil war within England while King Richard is away in a cell after being captured during the crusades. Prince John has taken the throne and looks to take the rest of England with him. Other Lords of the land are looking to do the same – and Robin needs to put a stop to the whole mess.
 |
Starting out in Nottingham, the first area acts as a tutorial on how this action/RTS works. There are opportunities for Robin Hood to “acquire” some finances, either through swordplay or archery. Little John is in control of the troops – recruiting, movement, etc.
After conquering Nottingham, the game ramps up into full action. Different troop types become available (archers, knights, catapults, etc.) as well as fortifications for each territory captured. Instead of worrying about gathering resources, the only thing Robin Hood can do is lighten the load of a competing Lord’s coffers. This makes the game a perfect entry into strategy gaming, as only half the game is planning and executing battle scenarios.
 |
The controls during the sword fighting are very basic, with only three types of attacks and one defense. It’s also on a 2D plane, where the player needs to push Robin Hood left or right in order to advance. Problem is that sometimes Robin needs to go forward. A retooling of the sword fighting engine would have served the game well.
Robin Hood can either use his archery or swordsmanship to get some additional funds to recruit more troops and build fortifications. This is done by the player, as is jousting, a tournament style event adding more gameplay to, er.. the game. Cutscenese are interspersed to provide a background to the conflict throughout the land, as well as informing players of developments within the ranks.
 |
The armies march forth after Robin secures Nottingham rather quickly, so there may not be much time to go plundering and jousting. The other Lords are pretty aggressive in their conquest.
And this is the biggest problem – the adjustment from Nottingham to all of England is rather steep. The armies towards the latter part of the game get rather massive (comparatively) that beginners may not be able to keep up. The relatively short play time (around 15 hours) also shows that it would appear that the game can’t figure itself out: what does it want to be?
 |
Adding to the difficulty is the siege aspect. To ultimately defeat a lord by taking their home county and castle, first a siege must be laid, then if successful, a battle will ensue. Another of the action sequence, this would have been better served had this been folded into the strategy portion of the game.
The audio is good with decent voice acting and sound effects. There’s not a lot in the audio department though, since typically strategy games don’t need much. The music adds a bit of atmosphere and is quite nice.
 |
Graphically, Robin Hood: Defender of the Crown hits all of the marks it’s supposed to. The map is detailed when zoomed in, it’s clear to see what’s going on when zoomed out – environments during the action sequences have decent detail.
Many may balk at the short gameplay time, but there is replay value in that there are different endings to the game. Whether or not this is a selling point, however, is another matter.
While the game won’t tax RTS veterans, the difficulty may keep newcomers at bay. Classic games of the past may not always be popular, but Robin Hood: Defender of the Crown shows that a good game is still a good game, even if it is based on a game that’s over 15 years old.
| What Works | Score |
|---|---|
| - A fun little strategy game | 7.2 |
| What Doesn't | |
|
- Siege play and wonky sword play controls mar the action section - Short playing time |
|
| Under the Shrink-wrap | |
| Hopefully this isn't the last we see of CinemaWare. | |
[ Post the first comment | View related posts ]
Tags: Robin Hood: Defender Of The Crown
Posted by Daniel "monk" Pelfrey on Oct 8th, 2003 and is filed under PS2 Reviews, Reviews. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can post a comment, or trackback from your own site.
