Gladiator: Road to Rome Online Slot
Once again, we meet various familiar faces of the previous Gladiator slot in Road to Rome. Instead of Gracchus, this time, Tigris of Gaul (Maximus' previously unbeaten opponent) can look forward to a place on the reels. Of course, Commodus is not missing, but Lucilla and Proximo are also on board.
Like its predecessor, Gladiator - Road to Rome plays on five reels with 25 paylines. With stakes between $0.25 and $125 per spin, you swing the blade. Once again, Russell Crowe, aka Maximus, is not directly involved in the game - disguised in his gladiator armor. However, he once again jumps into the role of the Joker. This time in the form of a 3-fold stacked wild. Furthermore, the wild already pays when it appears two times and is also the most valuable symbol on the gladiator reels with 1,000 times the line bet win.
But watch out: The stacking wild is only counted as a wild if it also completely covers the reel. Even if several legitimate winning combos with the help of wilds partially land on the reels - no - this doesn't count and consequently leaves a somewhat insipid aftertaste. Who on earth had this idea at the Playtech game designers?
The Signs Bonus Round - a copy of the Colosseum Bonus
At least three scatters on any position trigger the free spins round with five free spins. On the other hand, four or five scatters will give you 8 or 12 free spins to start with (though the scatter does not refund the round bet on a 2x appearance, as is the case with the original).
Via the sign bonus round, practically a copy of the Colosseum bonus round of the predecessor, you are awarded all special features. This means (potentially) more free spins, an additional wild, and up to a 5x win multiplier. Furthermore, as with the Novoliner Book of Ra or Merkur's Dragon's Treasure, you can grab an expanding bonus scatter, which evaluates winning sequences regardless of its position on the reels (scattered online). Regarding the bonus scatter, in this Gladiator variant, it can be any symbol in the paytable.
As a final feature, the Maximus Stacked Wild advances to a so-called Nudge Wild. This means that if it appears only partially on the reels, it will still push itself fully into position to increase the chance of further winning combinations (the aspect completely omitted in the base game). Note, however, that all the aforementioned extra features are awarded one by one. So you don't automatically play with all the extras at the same time during a free spins round.
Nine golden helmets hit the jackpot
As far as the jackpot bonus round is concerned, everything has stayed the same compared to its predecessor. Three Maximus helmets on the middle three reels trigger the Gladiator bonus feature, in which nine helmets are shown to you on a 3×3 grid. These are gold, silver, and bronze and represent varying cash prizes (relative to the round bet).
However, if you hit nine golden helmets at once, you'll hit the Gladiator jackpot, which is usually worth millions. By the way: If the jackpot was won, it is set again at an initial winning amount of $50,000.
The up to 5x multiplier and the fact that the game is linked to the same jackpot network as the Gladiator jackpot edition are quite something. From there, Road to Rome can certainly keep up, but as is so often the case with sequels or second installments: this format needs to reach the charm of the Gladiator original.
It's little things like the animation of the stacked wild, which plays even when it doesn't lead to a win, that get annoying. A definite negative for us here is that the stacked wild has to cover the reel to be considered wild at all completely - after all, the wild at least pays if it already appears 2 times next to each other. Be that as it may.
Gladiator Road to Rome offers you a lot of fun, variety and winning options. The design of the slot is appealing, even if some symbols are slightly blurry. There is also an animation that highlights the remaining spinning reels on each spin where there is the prospect of higher wins or bonus features. This, with the appropriate sound effects, adds to the excitement. The bonus games are also very enticing and the progressive jackpot ensures a chance at extremely high win amounts. All in all, the Gladiator Road to Rome slot convinced us during our test. The only thing we noticed is the high volatility of the game. Thus, in addition to the many winning opportunities, there are also longer periods with only low or normal wins. However, this in no way reduces the fun and potential of the slot machine.