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Returning to France from brave exploits in the Holy Crusades, the Iron Lord finds that things have not gone well in his absence - his favourite uncle has nabbed his throne!

He immediately decides to retake the throne and bring peace back to the land. The question is how? His tyrant uncle has many forces to hand and the only people who can help are those in the surrounding villages, and even they aren't that friendly.

Within the locality are seven locations to explore. Exploration is conducted by moving the character around a scrolling overhead map of the location. The villages are strangely devoid of people wandering about, but searching the buildings can reveal such characters as a herbalist with items to sell or a swindler ready to con you out of your hard-earned gold coins.

An archery contest is to be found nearby where the reward for a keen eye is lots of cash. In the gambling hall more money can be won in the arm-wrestling and dice-throwing contests. All this cash is used for hiring soldiers and weapons to fight the uncle in a multi-loaded wargame.

Throwing a spanner into the works are a number of knights prepared to kill Iron Lord if they sight him. The knight fight is played out in 3D - strike when the shield appears and deflect any skull-splitting blows.

If the Lord manages to make enough money to buy an army, and also proves his worth in combat, then it's off to the Chateau to command the forces of good. Victory leads to a final chase through a massive underground labyrinth.

From what I'd heard about Iron Lord, I was expecting a very deep Defender Of The Crown-style game. It's a surprise then to find the first half so barren, with just a few locations in each town where you meet people, take part in rather simple events, or go on mini-quests.

The C64 version is well presented with a pleasant tune, very professional start-up, and an excellent, authentic graphic quality throughout.

The Amiga game's graphics aren't as impressive for the machine and the first part of the game is identical to the C64, taking no advantage of extra memory to provide more depth. Still, there's plenty of game variety and both versions prove playable.

"Defender Of The Crown strikes again!" is one of the first thoughts you may have upon seeing Iron Lord. And indeed, some superb Cinemaware-style screens together with realistic sounds effects, a mini-wargame and maze game all bodes well.

Interest falls away when you realise that there's little more than a dozen locations in the first level, and you begin to ask yourself, "Is this all there is to it?".

Disk drive-less players could be in for more problems as the multi-load is very heavy on the C64. The Amiga game gets away with infrequent disk swapping but there's still quite a lot of disk accessing.

Presentation 84%
Poster in the box, good inter-location screens, but annoying multi-load.

Graphics 84%
Oddly defined charcters but excellent static screen.

Sound 78%
A stirring main tune with authentic effects adding atmosphere.

Hookability 79%
The promise of exploring a large French region grabs the attention...

Lastability 74%
...but level one might put some players off persevering.

Overall 75%
A very well presented Defender Of The Crown-style game which seems rather disjointed.

Presentation 70%
Poster, nice map screen and some neat inter-level scenes.

Graphics 77%
Once again, some of the people you talk with look rather odd, but otherwise very good.

Sound 78%
Atmospheric medieval sound tracks help get you into the game.

Hookability 71%
Gameplay is identical to the C64 game - where are the 16-bit improvements?

Lastability 72%
Again, one expected more of the Amiga.

Overall 71%
A nice-looking arcade/adventure/strategy/maze game!