Romeo & Juliet Slots
The story of the two lovers has always been a major theme in Western culture and is part of our collective memory. Plays, films, books, and even now video slot games have had a shot at the Romeo and Juliet story.
This time, it is Pragmatic Play that takes on the challenge to adapt such an iconic story to the reels. The task is not easy, as all players probably have some expectations regarding how such a tale should look like. Ultimately, it will be up to you to decide whether or not Romeo and Juliet lived up to the task.
Read our full review of the game to gather all the elements you need to take a good start on the reels.
Classic Setup for a Classic Story
Romeo and Juliet sticks to the basics of the genre in terms of game universe, with decent graphics – but not much more.
The background of the game shows a beautiful night sky under the full moon, with a few fluffy clouds floating around. The reels are set in a simple dark, rectangular frame that floats on top of the background. Nothing more, nothing less. As we said, quite a basic setup.
Romeo and Juliet remains classic in terms of background music as well, with a rather uninspired melody playing relentlessly throughout the game. In a nutshell, this Pragmatic Play creation does not particularly stand out nor impresses in terms of pure game design.
How to Play
With such a start, it should come as no surprise that the gameplay of Romeo and Juliet is also very classic.
You have five spinning reels featuring three symbols each to bet on, with a total of 25 fixed paylines on screen. The only customizable setting is your bet per line, which you can adjust thanks to the (+) and (-) buttons located in the lower right-hand corner of the game screen. Click Play once you are ready, and cross your fingers for many winning combinations across the reels. Keep in mind that the paylines are fixed, which means that you have no choice but to bet on all 25 of them at every turn.
Alternatively, you can try out the Autoplay game mode by clicking the corresponding button. The reels will spin automatically, placing your personalised bet over and over again. You can come back to the regular game mode at any time, but rest assured that your winnings in Autoplay mode will be automatically added to your credit total as you score them.
A Low-Key Paytable
The symbol menu of Romeo and Juliet follows a very classic pattern, with which most players with a little experience playing slot games are probably already familiar. We can split the ten basic icons into two groups.
The number 10, Jack, Queen, King and Ace are part of the first group. These symbols are obviously inspired by playing cards and only bring modest cash rewards to the table. To compensate for that fact, they will appear often on the reels to give you more chances to trigger winning combinations with them.
The second group of symbols contains a White Rose, Sword, a Bottle of Poison, and two mysterious characters from the famous play. Things get a little more interesting here, with higher rewards and a little more excitement on the reels. The graphics stay, however, rather basic.
Special Features
Romeo and Juliet includes a handful of Bonus symbols, ready to add a little extra to the game and raise the stakes at the same time.
Those two symbols are both Wilds, represent the two protagonists of the story. Romeo appears on reel 1, and Juliet on reel 5. Once they are in play, they will replace any other symbol to create more winning combinations, and they will also slowly move towards the centre, one spot at a time.
If the two Wilds meet in the middle of the screen, they will turn the entire reel into a solid block of Wilds that will remain in place during the 25 Free Spins that ensue. A welcome add-on to an otherwise classic gameplay.
An ambitious project that somehow fell flat
Just the name of Romeo and Juliet is enough to evoke plenty of memories and expectations amongst players. Love, hate, betrayal, tragedy, drama, and yet not much of all these concepts could be found in this slot game.
Pragmatic Play’s take on the famous story ends up being a rather generic slot game, with standard features and real winning possibilities of course – but just not as exciting as you might think it would be. The Bonus feature is original and gives access to plenty of free games, but sadly also hard to trigger.
