Named after the style of sword used by Samurai warriors, Katana is a 5 reel, 20-payline video slot from Novomatic. Featuring a Japanese theme, this highly volatile slot comes with a free spins feature that can offer rich rewards. Join the combat from between 40p and £80 per spin.
Slots created by Novomatic are often simple but hypnotic affairs and Katana fits that billing – eagle-eyed observers will notice that it bears a striking resemblance to the bricks and mortar casino slot Shogun. The reels feature a variety of Japanese temples, pagodas, archers and warriors, set against a misty mountain backdrop.
The Japanese woman is the biggest payer of the standard symbols offering 40 times your payline bet if you find a five symbol combo. The imagery is more arty than cartoon with the reels springing to life in mini animated clips with winning spins.
The head shot of a fearsome Japanese warrior is the game’s wild, substituting for all symbols apart from the scatter. Find a winning combination of five warriors and a payout of 50 times your line bet will be heading into the cashier.
The only feature on offer in Katana is the Free Spins feature – this is triggered when 3 or more Shogun Scatter symbols appear anywhere on the reels. You’ll be awarded 10 free games to start with. What makes the round extra interesting are the wilds – when the Japanese warrior wild hits in a winning payline, it will become an expanding wild and fill the entire reel.
These wilds can hit on any reel and if you find a multiple wild spin the results can be extremely impressive. It’s possible to retrigger more free spins if the scatters appear during the feature too.
Katana is something of an all or nothing slot as the variance is very high. Deep pockets, careful management and the patience of Job are required as the free spins don’t appear that often. When they do though, the rewards can be spectacular, especially if you manage to find multiple expanding wilds and can retrigger the free spins.
If you’re feeling bold, and have the resources to match, Katana can be an exciting proposition. I personally love highly volatile slots though as they keep me coming back in search for that monster win – if you like this kind of thrill, Dead or Alive by NetEnt is very good as to is Viking Vanguard by WMS.
