It’s time to rise up and stake your claim to a place in history, and well as staking a claim to magnificent fortunes. The title is Rome: The Golden Age, and as far as the best online slot games go, this one is trying its hardest to create some mega hype to draw in the crowds. You’ll find perhaps the biggest win multiplier you’ve ever seen while also encountering a few epic bonus features for good measure. The winning chances are definitely there for you to make hay while the sun shines, but does Rome: The Golden Age have thrills to rival those of the circus maximus? Let’s take a closer look.
The Rome, or Roman, theme isn’t one that’s never been tackled before, with various studios having incorporated it into online casino games. Blueprint Gaming has perhaps landed the biggest success with their title Rome: Rise of an Empire, which happens to have a very similar title to our subject. Rome: The Golden Age was developed by NetEnt, one of the biggest and most accomplished casino software studios out there, and they’ve definitely gone more with the Circus angle than anything else. One thing that stands out is the number of rows per reel, which starts at three and ascends to 5 rows on the third reel, and then descending back down to 3 by the fifth reel.
Now, you are reading correctly – NetEnt states that you have the opportunity to win 100,000x your bet on a single spin and this has to be the biggest multiplier we’ve ever seen – excluding progressive jackpots. The chances of actually winning this is slim, but never say never! The most you’ll be able to wager at any point in Rome: The Golden Age is £50 per spin, while the minimum possible bet amount is only 10p per spin. The volatility does border on the higher side, but this means the wins pack more punch when they land.
There isn’t too much that you haven’t seen before when it comes to the symbols that make up winning paylines. As is standard in the online casino industry, the icons are split into lower value, higher value and special symbol categories. The lower value icons are the same ones you see in almost all slot machines online, being playing cards 10, J, Q, K and A. The higher value icons you would prefer to make up your wins consist of swords, a gladiator helmet, a ring, a gold eagle, and a tiger. The symbols, in general, do seem to carry reasonably low values.
The unique icons start with the wild, and this is the icon that will act as any regular symbol in the game to make up winning lines. There is also a scatter in Rome: The Golden Age, which means bonus features.
With a base game that at times can feel a little underwhelming, it’s a bit of deluxe time when you hit the bonus feature. It isn’t nearly as revolutionary as Julius Caesar’s battle tactics, but it certainly does its job in helping you land those sought after wins. Landing scatters on reels 2, 3 and 4 triggers a free spins feature with three free spins, as well as a multiplier based on a meter that ascends when Golden Age symbols appear. During the free spins, you’ll see that only Rome symbols will land, and the ones that are highlighted reveal a multiplier amount to the eventual win. Should any regular symbols land in the free spins the number of spins will be reset to 3. The feature will end when no spins are left or when the reels are filled with Rome icons.
We’re not too sure that Rome: The Golden Age is all it’s billed to be, with a free spins feature that most players will wish just followed a more conventional formula due to this one being quite convoluted. The symbols also don’t seem to carry very high values meaning low value wins in all probability. You can play online slots here, so if you want to see how this slot handles then take it for a spin in free mode and see if you think competing in the Circus for real money is worth your while.