Gladius Death or Glory: Slot Overview
Depending on the situation, it doesn’t get much more antithetical than glory or death, huh? Either you achieve the adulation of your peers, capture the imagination of the public and get showered in riches, or… you die. Not too many people these days would be keen on rolling the dice to decide which of those contrasting outcomes plays out. Fortunately, we don’t have to be quite so dramatic while indulging in an all-or-nothing fantasy by taking part in slots such as Backseat Gaming‘s release Gladius Death or Glory. In this unique coin game, steeped in Ancient Rome, Shield symbols reveal Coins or special symbols in both the base game and a hold ‘n’ win bonus round.
Unlike Hacksaw Gaming‘s similarly themed Reign of Rome, reviewed around the same time, Gladius Death or Glory isn’t a slot that goes heavy on atmosphere. Where Reign of Rome was like stepping onto a smoky battlefield as enemy warriors stumble out of the mist in confrontation, Gladius Death or Glory has more of an Asterix and Obelix cartoon feel to it. It is pleasantly clean, to be sure, but lacks the same emotional reaction and depth. However, variety is no bad thing, and as well as graphical variety, Gladius Death or Glory operates in a fairly unique way, too.
Gladius Death or Glory is a highly volatile gambling machine that takes place on a 5×5 matrix. Contrary to a regular slot that creates winning combinations with the aid of paylines, ways, clusters, or scatters, Gladius Death or Glory steams off in another direction. Not only are those pay systems absent, but so are winning combinations as well. Instead, on each base game spin, only Shield symbols, scatter symbols, and valueless crossed sword symbols may land. Shield symbols reveal Coins or special symbols that are used to award monetary rewards and trigger the bonus round. When betting 10 c to $/€100 on each spin, the highest of the two RTP configurations is 96.26%.
Gladius Death or Glory: Slot Features
Going deeper, Shield symbols reveal Bronze, Silver, or Gold Coins, Multipliers, Collectors, or Bonus symbols. Bronze Coins have values of 1 to 4, Silver Coins have values of 5 to 50, and Gold Coins have values of 100 to 1,000. These values represent multiples of the bet.
After all Coins and special symbols have been revealed, empty Collector symbols activate to collect the values of all Coins, storing their total value. Collector symbols do not collect the values of other Collector symbols. Collected Coins transform back into Shield symbols again and reveal new Coins or special symbols. This repeats until no empty Collector symbols are available on the reels.
After all Coins and Collector symbols have been revealed and collected, Multiplier symbols activate to multiply all Coins and Collector symbols by x2, x3, x4, x5, x10, or x20. At the end of the spin, all Coins and Collector symbols are added together and multiplied by the bet to calculate the final win.
Death or Glory Bonus
Getting 3 bonus scatters triggers the Death or Glory bonus round. Bonus symbols may be revealed by Shields or land organically (they do not appear during the actual round, however). During the bonus, Shield symbols are sticky, and they reveal new Coins, Multipliers, or Collector symbols on each spin. A total of 3 lives are awarded, and they reset when a new Shield symbol lands. Each life represents 1 spin. When all 3 lives have been consumed without a reset, the round ends.
Bonus Buy
BonusHunt Feature spins costing 2x the bet make each spin 3 times more likely to trigger a bonus round, while Shield FeatureSpins costing 100x fill the entire grid with Shield symbols. It is also possible to buy the Death or Glory bonus round for 150x the bet.
Gladius Death or Glory: Slot Verdict
There was more than a whiff of Relax Gaming‘s Money Cart range to Gladius Death or Glory, though with a handful of key differences. Not least of which is a theme change that sees Ancient Rome return to the reels instead of trains. Rome is a long-standing stalwart of the online gambling scene, and Gladius Death or Glory makes fairly decent use of the subject matter. As alluded to, the look is a clean, clear, sharp one, and while the theme presentation doesn’t exactly take over the senses to pull you deep into a richly absorbing gaming world, it’s fine enough.
Like Money Cart, the base game is, in some ways, an antechamber for the bonus round. However, one critical difference is that in Gladius Death or Glory, it is also possible to win dough while battling through the base game. A substantial amount of potential dough, too, as the 15,000x the bet win cap is achievable in both phases of play. The base game may suffer from dead spin syndrome at times, though this can happen in any slot, but it can also surprise with solid Coin symbol values, boosted when lucky by Collector and Multiplier symbols. Triggering the bonus round might be less frequent than a Money Cart slot, but the wait time between rounds is generally more eventful and potentially quite profitable.
And, while there might not be a long list of special symbols to be on the lookout for during free spins, the way Shield symbols not only stick but activate on every single free spin is quite an entertaining idea and helps Gladius Death or Glory stand apart from regular hold ‘n’ win slots. All in all, when designing Gladius Death or Glory, Backseat Gaming has brought together several interesting elements to create a fairly decent Money Cart/hold ‘n’ win coin game alternative.
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