Set against a golden sandstone edifice emblazoned with hieroglyphics and painted figures from ancient Egypt, Ramses 2 demonstrates the attractive design elements which developer Novomatic can always be relied on to include in its titles. The symbols are also rendered in fine detail and blazing colours on the pale parchment reels; all of them familiar scarabs, gods and suchlike from Egyptian-themed slots.
Apart from this impressive artwork and some fun animations after wins, however, Ramses 2 doesn’t go out of its way to include much of a storyline, or any bonus features directly related to this great pharaoh who ruled a massive Egyptian empire more than 3,000 years ago. The reels make a 5X3 grid, there are 9 fixed pay lines, and players can vary their bets from 1 to 100 coins per line. It plays like a fairly standard slot with no surprises, which makes the size and frequency of the prizes even more important.
Lots of Icons in Play
Ramses 2 uses 11 icons, apart from the Wilds and Scatter, which may disappoint players who refer fewer symbols, with consequent improved odds of scoring matching combinations. As poker icons in many no download slots, the six common poker icons, 9 to A, are present, rendered very plainly in gold-framed fonts and further distinguished by bold contrasting hues.
The 9, like the traditional cherries, wins a consolation prize of 2 coins for a match of two icons from Reel 1, but all the other poker symbols need three of a kind or better to win. For three, four or five matches, the 9 pays 5, 15 or 100 coins, as do the 10, J and Q. The K and A also net matching prizes: 10, 40 or 120 coins.
Eclectic Range of Egyptian Symbols
The medium-value and high-value icons in Ramses 2 are drawn from a broad range of Egyptian sources. The pyramids of Giza at sunset and the Sphinx by moonlight are two more symbols with identical prizes: 15, 60 or 250 coins. An uncharacteristically friendly camel at the oasis is the next medium-value icon, paying 20, 80 or 400 coins.
The high-value symbols are also of equal value. A falcon perched on a temple column and a statue of the god of the underworld, Anubis, each win prizes for two or more matches: 2, 25, 120 or 500 coins. The pharaoh Ramses 2, in his double crown and bearing the flail and reaping hook of his office, is the top-value symbol, and also starts paying prizes for matches of two or more beginning on Reel 1: namely 10, 250, 500 or 2,000 coins.
Ramses 2 Wild, Scarab Scatter.
The pharaoh also serves as the Ramses 2 Wild, doubling the wins of any pay lines in which it substitutes for any of the 11 ordinary symbols to create a combo.
A gorgeous jewelled Scarab is the game’s Scatter, which wins prizes for matches of two or more in any windows on the reels, regardless of the pay lines. These prizes are 40, 100, 500 and 2,500 coins. Three or more Scatters also trigger a bonus game of 15 free spins, during which any wins made are increased by a multiplier of X3. The bonus rounds are triggered quite regularly in demo play, so hopefully the same holds true when playing Ramses 2 for real money.