As the title would suggest this game revolves around the Legend of Sherwood in which you play Robin of Loxly. It is a classic story in itself with good against all odds triumphing over evil and we would have to say Spellbound have managed to capture its very nature in a computer game.

In the game you get to control individual characters or teams over a 2D isometric world. Each of your team has differing abilities and weapons in which to fight or out-wit the Sherrif's men. Essentially the game is very much a puzzle game much in the mode of Desperados and Commandos where you have to use the abilities of your team to be successful in each mission. Unlike its predecessors however there is also a degree of role playing thrown in with each team member gaining more skill the more they fight and the more you train them.

Your camp in Sherwood is where you not only train your team but also gather and make the necessary resources to carry out your missions. You can make the basic kit of arrows and sling stones as well as healing herbs. There are also some more exotic weapons such as nets to ensnare, purses of loot to distract and tomatoes to cause fights. In effect then you have a puzzle element, role playing, resource gathering and an action element all rolled into one. Despite this identity crisis they have managed to weld it into a very playable game.

The game ships with 30 single player missions that involve the usual robbing of tax collectors and noblemen, to castle infiltrations to rescuing party members and looting coffers. Each is a challenge with more than one way to complete it. Frontal assaults with arrows flying will result in you losing the mission every time. The game requires you to use your team's abilities to complete the mission with a minimum of deaths. The less people you kill, the more the people like you. The premise is that every soldier you kill leaves a widow behind and puts you more into the bracket of a common rogue than a lovable hero of the people.

There are some real tough puzzles to work out the paths of least resistance although sometimes it is inevitable that you have to take out some of the sheriff's men. Where possible though you evade them, net them, knock them out and tie them up. One of your team members is especially strong and if needs be, can pick up bodies (both warm and cold) and hide them. This is especially useful as patrols can stumble on recumbant men and wake them or in the case of a dead one run screaming about alerting the other guards. This is a real strength in the game with the AI not just playing dumb. If the sheriff's men do find something amiss they send out patrols all over the place to hunt you down. There are some tricks up your sleve however with the ability to chuck a tomatoe at a guard while he's standing next to children and this will set them off chasing the kids or a purse thrown into a group of grunts will see a fist fight break out with only one left standing at the end. There are more but we won't spoil some of the surprises.

As we said at the beginning, the game is a work of art. Just look at the screen shots and you will see what we mean. There is an incredible amount of detail and craftmanship gone into each area and a lot of time can be wasted in just scrolling through the area admiring the artists handiwork. Sure it's not three-dimensional but nothing in the world of 3D today would come close to what has been created here. Castles in the light of day are rich in detail and scale, while at night they have managed to take the same scene and fill it with foreboding and mystery. Stunning is a word often heard around this game. The only issue we came up against is when you use zoom mode the graphics on the figures become pixelated horribly while the backgounds remain just as detailed.

The animation is done equally as well with the river going through Sherwood being one of the best water animations we have ever seen. Character movement is fluid and natural with some great animations in the fight sequences. Our favourite was seeing a pikeman popping his cork at the top of the stairs and rolling all the way to the bottom. A great little touch.

The one thing that lets this game down is its control system. You are required to select a character by clicking on it and then pointing at the thing or person you want it to react on. Quite simple and straight forward however often it is difficult to find the character you want as they ofter disappear behind the scenery. The only way to select them is by clicking on their portrait or by clicking on their menu picture. In the heat of battle this can be frustrating and some sort of highlighted outline of each hidden character would have been helpful.

Robin Hood features great sound effects and speech. The children can be frustrating when you are sneaking about as they say 'look it's Robin Hood' at exactly the wrong time. Music and dialog are very much in the vogue of the period and there is some nice vocal touches put in throughout the game.