Defender of the Crown is.... not good. Specifically as it is on the NES (I'll argue it is quite a bit better on other platforms, but personally I have not played all of the ports.)

But even the NES gives us a great soundtrack, and absolutely beautiful still-frame pictures.
As a child, the only thing I ever liked about this game was the image of Robin Hood standing in the forrest.

On one hand we have a few "minigames" which range from "that was ok" to "what the actual hell am I doing and how did I die?"
The majority of the game doesn't feel too different from Risk or Settlers of Catan.

Unfortunately, no matter how you really spin it, Defender of the Crown is an impressive spectacle (especially as seen on the Amiga, I'd say) but leaves a lot to be desired in gameplay.

But man it sure is pretty.

I played the everlovin' hell out of this on Commodore 64, and it might still have my personal record in terms of sheer playthroughs. There were multiple endings where you could unify part or all of the UK in various ways, and I was fascinated at the way you dealt with alliances and rivalries locally and across the channel in Europe. You might make an alliance by marrying a French princess, but then a rival suitor my try to kidnap her from you. Or you'd deal with a rival but trying to conquer his castle directly. Each person had different political, siege, and fencing styles, and you had to deal with each on their own merits. It was all accompanied by great music and a sense of style. I'm sure the graphics would probably seem dire if I dare to look back at them, but you can't put a pixel count on memories.