Sparta's Legacy Slots

The tale of the 300 Spartan’s, who held off the vastly superior Persian army at the Battle of Themopylae in 480BC has been told many times before, notably in the 2006 movie ‘300’. A look at the history books reveals that a lot of what happened was based on fact, although we doubt if the Persian leader Xerxes was really about 9ft tall, and it’s also unlikely that the battle played out in slo-mo CGI. That aside, it’s a tale worth telling and online casino games developer Gamingsoft has told it in their own way, with the Sparta’s Legacy video slot now available for history fans, slots enthusiasts, or just those who like to see classic images of ancient Greece.

Loading up the game, there’s a fantastic animated sequence that anyone who has seen the movie will find strangely familiar, with King Leonidas walking slowly into view, looking very mean and moody as his cape flaps in the breeze. The scene then cuts to a hail of arrows and a view of the aftermath of battle before the main game opens up. This reveals a 5-reel, 40-payline slot, that has symbols of the main characters, along with playing card icons and some great bonus features, such as free spins, where players can activate two modes, wild symbols, scatter pays and a 4-stage progressive jackpot.

Malaysian-based Gamingsoft provides online casinos with a full suite of slots, table and card games, plus a range of support services that clients can pick and choose from. They even provide a Turnkey casino solution, where customers just need to provide a logo (and lots of money, of course), and Gamingsoft does the rest. All of the range has been certified for fair play and trustworthiness, with each game independently verified to give high returns and to generate random results.

This is Sparta’s Legacy!

A review of the paytable shows that the classic Greek style extends to the design of the playing card symbols that will tend to make up the most frequently occurring win-lines. Players will want to land 3, 4, or 5 of a kind across any of the 40 paylines to win a prize, although the symbols will need to be seen in an unbroken sequence, from the left side. Unusually, all playing card icons pay the same amount, with spinners winning 25x, 50x, or 250x the line stake, depending on how many reels they are seen on.

Higher value symbols are more directly related to the popular ancient Greece slot machine theme, with a couple of crossed swords returning prizes of 50x, 125x and 300x the line stake, while a soldiers’ helmet pays out 75x, 175x and 375x. The top symbols are all of King Leonidas and only have to land on reels 1 and 2, starting with a dramatic image of him shouting at the enemy, that’s worth between 10x and 500x, while a closer picture of him with spear and shield is valued between 10x and 750x. Landing a close-up of his face, in what is the signature image of the Sparta’s Legacy video slot, and you win from just 10x the line stake, all the way up to 1,250x.

While standard winning lines are made with matching symbols in an unbroken sequence, there’s a couple of useful wild symbols that will be able to act as any of those listed above. In this way, they can complete a combination, or extend the line of symbols for a higher prize, although the standard wild against a purple background isn’t worth anything on its own. The special Spartan Wild however, pays between 150x and 1,250x the line stake if fills between 3 and 5 reels across a payline.

Special Battle Formations

A couple of unique in-game features can be awarded when the right symbols appear. If King Leonidas fills reels 1 and 2, the Group Formation is triggered and all of the Kings will stand up, staying in place while the remaining reels spin. Should any consecutive reels also fill with the King, multiple winning lines will have been created, but the process repeats, potentially filling reel 4 and then reel 5 with this high-paying icon.

In the Stealth Formation, at least 6 King Leonidas symbols will land in any random positions, potentially creating a few more high value winning lines.

Into Battle with free Spins

Queen Gorgo (attractive woman, terrible name), is a scatter symbol that triggers a free spins bonus round when she’s seen on reels 3 and 5 at the same time. Before these bonus game begin however, players will see 6 coins running along the top of a second screen and will be asked to click to get them moving horizontally across.

Whichever coin stops in the middle of the screen will show an additional award, that can range from 3, 4, or 5 extra spins, to special features such as locked Spartan Wild reels, 2 locked wilds that will double any payouts when both become part of a winning combination, or a simple 5x the stake coin award.

There’s even more special features during these games though, as any high value King Leonidas symbol will stay in place as arrows fly into his shield. Any surviving King will become another locked wild for the remainder of the free spins, which can add up to a whole lot of winning lines being completed before the round ends. Like many of the features in the Sparta’s Legacy video slot, it’s all accompanied by some great animations, complete with a little bloodshed for added effect.

Progressive Jackpot

In common with all slots in the Gamingsoft range, this one has a randomly awarded progressive jackpot feature. There are 4 levels to the jackpot and players will see 12 shields lined up for battle. Clicking a shield will fire arrows at it, revealing either the Mini, Minor, Major, or Grand jackpots and once 3 of a kind has been found, the corresponding prize is awarded.

Betting Options

All 40 paylines are always activated, so the low limit needed to play for real cash is set at 0.40, which can be raised to suit bankrolls. Free Sparta’s Legacy video slots are available for punters who like to test games out, but it’s a reliable game that most people will want to just dive into and start claiming wins and triggering the unique bonuses.

It’s all Greek to us.

There’s plenty of slots based around ancient Greece, and even a few themed around the legend of the Spartans. The 300 Shields video slot, from NextGen Gaming is a good example, where good King Leo slashes his way to free spins with multipliers, and anyone who retriggers the bonus games by landing 12 shields will see wins 300x above their base values.

Age of the Spartans, from Saucify, is another slot game that’s very similar and takes it’s style from the 300 movie. King Leonidas is a wild symbol, who can return wins of up to 10,000 coins, while a valuable shield will pay out up to 500x the stake, also awarding a free spins game where all wins are tripled.

Worth Fighting for?

The fantastic animations and popular theme are just the initial attractions of Sparta’s Legacy, as this slot also has some impressive gameplay and features. We particularly enjoyed the Stealth and Group Formations, which are exceptionally well animated, and the extra wild in the free spins bonus rounds can turn this into a highly rewarding, mobile optimised slot.