Dragon Warrior Slots
Is there any topic for casino slots to follow that’s as popular as Chinese culture? Probably not, as there’s a massive range of games that are filled with images that hark back to the times of Imperial China, and it seems as if punters still can’t get enough of them, so even more are being released.
Travel back in time to ancient China and join the battle for riches in the Dragon Warrior video slot from Novomatic. It’s a five-reel game, where you win prizes by landing matching symbols from the left side across any of the 30 paylines and where handsome rewards of up to 1,000x your line stake are waiting to be claimed. The whole slot machine is handsome actually, with the hugely popular Asian history theme and beautifully animated symbols of three brave characters, plus the dragon, combining to create a fantastically stylish game. As well as extra winning combinations created by the dragon, you can also reap the rewards from stacked symbols and a free spins feature, while prizes can be doubled over and over in an exciting gamble round.
It’s all the work of Novomatic and their Greentube subsidiary. With decades of experience in producing slot machines for land based, online and now mobile optimised casinos, Novomatic have become one of the top developers in the business. Their portfolio consists of hundreds of games and while many of their slots have been relatively simple fruit machines, with Greentube, they are now releasing multi-round games with strong storylines and sharp graphics. Read on to see if Dragon Warrior is a hot slot that’s worth playing.
Imperial Riches
While most slot machines have a background image to highlight the theme, the designers of Dragon Warrior seem to have done overtime on the stunning artistry of a Chinese city that sits behind the reels. Elaborate dragon statues, pagoda roofed building and a brightly lit palace are all seen, along with an intricately carved frame that surrounds the main game. The soundtrack is exceptional as well, with seemingly an entire orchestra playing a dramatic tune as the reels spin.
If there’s one issue that divides opinion, it’s the use of playing card symbols to create the lower-value combinations. Dragon Warrior features the J, Q, K and A icons, which have nothing to do with the topic and while some players are happy to see these familiar icons, we would have liked to see all symbols related to the theme. It’s just a matter of preference though and feel free to disagree with us. The picture symbols are all superbly presented, with a traditional paper fan and a treasure chest joined on the reels by the three warriors who are the most valuable standard symbols.
A sword-wielding woman pays 64, 160, or 320 coins when she’s seen on three, four, or all five reels across an active payline, while the female archer is only needed on reels one and two to pay out 32 coins. Land her right across a line to collect a prize of 360 coins. The male warrior returns between 48 and 400, depending on how much of a payline he’s seen across. Symbols can sometimes be stacked several high on a reel, which makes it easier for them to complete combinations and full reels of three matching symbols will turn into giant 3x3 images.
Stacks of Bonuses
The dragon is a wild symbol that will always appear stacked on any reel it lands on. It acts as all except the bonus symbol to complete lines and also returns the best prizes, with the 1,000x the per line bet claimed when the wild is seen right across a payline.
Although it only lands on the middle three reels, the Bonus symbol also appears stacked and pays out double the total stake when it fills seven, eight, or all nine spots on them. You also earn eight, 16, or 32 free spins, during which a randomly-selected symbol will also be stacked each time it appears. Novomatic call this the Xtra Stax feature and it’s in effect during the free games, also ensuring that the wild and bonus symbols are stacked in a way that completely fills any reels that they are seen on.
Dare to Gamble?
Wins can be gambled in a feature that’s common across the Novomatic range. It’s an optional 50/50 guessing game that doubles wins if you predict the color of a playing card as it flashes from red to black. Get it right and you can either collect the prize or go on to double it again until you reach the gamble high limit. Any wrong picks will lose the initial prize, along with any gains made so far in the gamble round.
Betting Options
Unless all 30 paylines are active, you won’t be able to claim for all winning combinations that appear on the reels, so it’s usually best to activate all lines and raise your stakes to suit your budget. Just 0.30 is needed per spin, or you could simply try out the free Dragon Warrior video slots that are available at Novomatic powered online casinos.
An autoplay function is a useful feature if you like to just watch reels spin without having to do anything each time and you can choose how long these go on for, or set win/loss levels that will stop them when either limit is reached.
Dragons Galore
There’s seemingly no end to the number of slots that feature dragon motifs. or brave warriors from ancient times. The Red Dragon video slot from SimplePlay has similar symbols to Dragon Warrior, but with a more light-hearted, comical style. It’s a five-reel, 30-line game where you follow three warriors as they move through a magical kingdom of fire and ice, each side guarded by cute dragons. During a free games feature, special wild symbols will double prizes when they complete combinations for the first five spins. This multiplier rises throughout the feature, to a limit of eight times and an unlimited free spins mode can give you more free games when the right symbols appear.
Dragon Hunter is a Manga-style slot from Ganapati which plays out on a 5x5 grid of symbols. A cascading reels feature sees symbols that make up a win vanishing and new ones dropping down to fill the voids, while bonus features include a Dragon Fight round. This pitches the hunter and his assistant against three dragons in an epic battle, plus you can enjoy in-game features like sticky wilds and expanding wild symbols.
A Game for Mobiles and Desktop Computers
This attractive game looks just as good when you play on iPads, iPhones, Android, or Windows phones and tablets, although some of that beautiful background image is lost on the smaller screens.
If you like slots with an Asian theme, and let’s face it, there’s a huge number of players who do, then Dragon Warrior could be an ideal choice. The wild symbol substitutions, stacked images and free games are all ways that you can benefit from extra winnings and it’s a low to mid-volatility game that comes with a high return to player percentage. Like all Novomatic slots, it’s fully licensed and certified for fair gaming so spin these classic Asian-inspired reels and you can be sure of reliable results.
