Game of Gladiators slot review

Before the emperor decides if it is going to be a thumbs up or down, you have to fight the Game of Gladiators like it is your last one... because it may as well be the last thing you get to do before they unleash the tigers.

Oh, it was a brutal world for the gladiators of Ancient Rome. They were rugged people who fought till death for their lives and in order to please the cheering and sneering throngs of the Colosseum.

Seen from this point in time, I highly doubt that I would ever want to witness a gladiator fight, regardless of the cool factor associated with it and the adrenaline rush of catching a glimpse of loose viscera.

A slot game called Game of Gladiators is more of what I would prefer for something as close to a mad dash through a gauntlet of armed lunatics because winning that ordeal could amount to cash prizes of up to 5000x your bet.

I like Game of Gladiators because Play'n GO did justice to the theme of gladiator fighting. This is one of the most energetic renditions that I've seen and one that comes with a superb set of extra features: expanding wildsand a free spins melee that can go on indefinitely, as long as you beat those enemies.

Those who are iffy about playing this game need to take into consideration all of the expanding symbols, the awesome graphics and the 20 fixed paylines for a high variance game.

Theme and Graphics

There is no need to mince words here - the game doesn’t leave much to the imagination. All of the gladiators have been drawn and rendered perfectly in order to strike their signature fighting pose, weapon in hand and a deadly smirk on the face. The different gladiator types can all expand across the length of the reel and thereby improve the chances for bigger winning outcomes, whenever conditions on the reel set are ripe.

Play'n GO has included an animal that is exotic to Ancient Rome - the tiger - as the game's wild, which is also an expanding symbol that can pay a top buck. Things can get really heated up on the reels during the free spins battle, where Game of Gladiators tends to throw in a greater number of expanding symbols, including the wild.

Winning outcomes are annotated by a flash of light through the payline, which adds another cool effect to the overall display on the reel set. There is also the epic musical score that I really enjoyed for its huge sound produced by a symphonic orchestra, which you can readily transplant into a movie of the same theme.

Extra Features

Game of Gladiators has one bonus feature and a few extras that are an integral part of that feature. Starting with the wild symbol, it helps make payouts by substituting for all standard symbols, both in the base game and during the free spins.

• The game can have you in the free spins bonus for eternity, as long as the adversaries are kept at bay by landing winning outcomes that are comprised of their respective symbols.

  But before we get to the free spins bonus, Game of Gladiator needs to open up three gates on reels one, three and five, which triggers the Battle Feature.

• Before the start of the bonus, I got to choose between Spartacus and Amazonia. These gladiators come with a distinct feature. Playing Spartacus enables the bonus spins to retrigger and playing Amazonia awards bet multipliers between 20x and 100x.

• I can say with certainty that most players will be tempted to play long enough until they try both features, even if the intent was just trying the game out. Regardless of the feature that you select, the free spins assume a speedier dynamic compared to the base game.

  This is because Game of Gladiators comes with a set of additional features that are part of the 'Primus' part of the bonus. There are three attacks that can occur on any spin - made with a spear, a gladius and a net - which adds a distinctive modifier, such as duplicating reels, sticky gladiator symbols and multiple wilds.

• The most exciting part of the bonus is the gladiator battle. There are four symbols that have their own paytable for the bonus feature, that pay according to the number of times they appear on the battle reel. Most valuable of these symbols is the golden-armoured gladiator; if this symbol appears 11 times on the battle reel, the player can pocket 10,000x coins.

Bets and Payouts

Much to my surprise, the paytable appears to be quite normal.

In other words, the multitude of modifiers and multipliers hasn't been compensated for by Play'n GO curtailing the symbol payouts.

A good sign of a favourable paytable is the amounts that you can make with the high-paying symbols. In that respect, there isn't a single symbol that pays less than 1x.

Five matching gladiator symbols pay between 10x and 20x your bet and the wild pays 25x. On the other hand, wins that consist of four symbols pay significantly less - between 2x and 4x your bet.

Conclusion

Game of Gladiators was released in 2019 and can still hold its own. Players who have tried gladiator-themed slots are aware that the graphics are all about action, while the gameplay fails to match that tone. In this example we have dynamic gameplay that is matched by good graphics, engaging music and a set of features that keep coming on during the bonus feature - which is the only reason why I returned to the game.