Microgaming has released its long-awaited online slot, Ancient Fortunes: Zeus. The game, which takes players on yet another journey to ancient Greece, has been developed by Triple Edge Studios and comprises five-reels and 10 pay-lines.
Greek mythology is a particular favourite among online casino game developers. Indeed, the market is flooded with slots dedicated to the deities and gorgons of times past. Allow us to elaborate.
We have Apollo: God of the Sun, Age of the Gods, Age of the Gods: Goddess of Wisdom, Age of the Gods Roulette, Age of the Gods: Furious 4, Legends of Troy, Titans of the Sun, Zeus I, Zeus II, Zeus III, Zeus King of Gods, The Legend of Olympus, The Prince of Olympus, The King of Olympus, The Rise of Olympus, Gods of Olympus, Olympus Glory, Fortune of the Gods, Greek Goddess, Casino Gods, Pandora’s Box, Medusa I, Medusa II, Medusa, III and Medusa IV: Lost in New York.
OK, we made the last one up but you get our point. So why have the Greek God Botherers at Triple Edge Studios inflicted yet another mythological monstrosity on an unsuspecting public? Well, there are two reasons: they’re extremely popular with players and also afford developers plenty of opportunities to showcase their coding smarts (conveying the specials powers of Gods and Godesses via an online slot can be rather challenging). But is the game any good?
Gameplay
As mentioned, Ancient Fortunes: Zeus comprises five reels, three rows and 10 fixed pay-lines. It’s of medium variance so you can expect frequent, albeit smaller payouts. In terms of appearances, the game looks polished and sharp while in-game animations are suitably elaborate.
For the base game, the traditional reels are replaced with stone blocks. Each one is nicely decorated with assorted renderings of deities and mythological creatures including Dionysus, Poseidon, Hermes and Ares. Fittingly, Zeus acts as the wild while lightning bolts represent the scatter symbols.
Rolling Reels
As part of the slot’s Rolling Reels feature, when a player lands a winning combination, the symbols shatter to briefly reveal a golden temple before new symbols fall into place, thereby increasing the chances of further wins. Consecutive wins also increase a multiplier trail that can reward up to seven times the winning amount.
Free Spins Feature
One of Ancient Fortunes standout features is its free spins round which is activated by landing three or more wild symbols. The number of free spins awarded to the player depends on the number of scatter symbols that appear:
Three Scatter Symbols – 10 free spins
Four Scatter Symbols – 15 free spins
Five Scatter Symbols – 20 free spins
Landing another three scatters by way of a free spin can unlock another 50 free spins which means you’ve got up to 70 spins at your disposal. In such instances, the Rolling Reels feature again comes into play but with higher multiplier values that can of course generate bigger wins.
Conclusion
Ancient Fortunes: Zeus is actually a pretty decent slot game. Unsurprisingly, it’s fully responsive and operates well across all devices. Despite the lack of a jackpot, it’s possible to win regularly although don’t expect to pocket life-changing sums. The ability to re-trigger free spins is also a nice touch.
The only problem we have with Ancient Fortunes is its reliance on a theme that’s been done to death. So although gameplay is reasonably entertaining, there are other online casino slots that do a much better job of capturing the ethos of Ancient Greece including Apollo: God of the Sun, Age of the Gods, Age of the Gods: Goddess of Wisdom, Age of the Gods Roulette, Age of the Gods: Furious 4, Legends of Troy, Titans of the Sun………
You get the picture.
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