Go into battle with a band of mighty ancient soldiers in the Shields of Rome video slot. Created by Playtech, it’s a 5 reel, 40 payline game that comes with some top extras. Every 10th spin is a Wild Fire spin – any position where a shield has landed in those previous spins will turn wild. There’s also a bonus round where you’ll be offered the choice of 4 different free spin and added wild combinations. With bet sizes ranging from between 10p and £500 per spin, it’s a good pick regardless of your bankroll.
Epic design
There’s a suitably epic quality to the sound and visuals in Shields of Rome. With a sweeping orchestral score playing in the background, you’ll head to an encampment of Roman soldiers, waiting for battle. On the regal purple reels are A to 10 symbols, a goblet of wine, a blood-soaked sword, a helmet and a breastplate. The best symbol is the Roman soldier. This can appear in stacked formation. Land 2, 3, 4 or 5 for a payout of 0.1, 1.5, 2.5 or 6 times your bet.
Wild Fire spins
Keep a special eye out for the red shields. When 1 of these lands, the symbol position is marked in fire. On every 10th spin, all the symbol positions that are marked in fire turn wild and a new payout calculation is made – this is called the Wild Fire Spin feature. All the positions reset after a Wild Fire Spin plays out. Wilds can only land in the Wild Fire Spins and the free spins feature. 5 wilds on a payline pays 8 times your bet.
Free spins with added wilds
The other main extra is the Great War Free Games feature. It’s triggered by landing the Bonus symbol on reels 2, 3 and 4 on the same spin. You’ll then have the pick of 4 different amounts of free spins with the number of wilds guaranteed to land on each of them:
- 15 free spins with 5 random wilds on each one
- 10 free spins with 7 random wilds on each one
- 5 free spins with 10 random wilds on each one
Pick the Mystery Shield and you’ll be awarded a random pairing of 5, 10 or 15 free spins with 5, 7 or 10 wilds landing on each of them.
Buy the feature
If you don’t want to wait to trigger the Great War Free Games feature you’ll have the chance to buy it for a price of 80 times your bet. Just click on the Buy feature tab in the top right-hand corner of the screen.
Epic ancient adventure
We enjoyed Shields of Rome. The sound and visuals are impressively done and the range of extras, though not massive, can still deliver some pretty varied action. The game is all about the wilds throughout – however, it offers payouts of 320 times your bet on every spin or free spin which is rather disappointing.
The Roman theme is one of our favourites and this is a good example of the genre. Combining classy design with some cracking extras, Playtech has missed a trick here as making the symbols for valuable would have resulted in a much more appealing slot – for bigger wins and the same theme, Gladiator Road to Rome (by Playtech) would be my top choice.
