Imperial Opera

The trend of Asian slots has begun a few years back and it shows no sign of stopping, becoming one of the hallmarks of game themes. That said, unique takes on the formula are always appreciated, and we are pleased that Play’n Go has chosen to go the extra mile rather than simply coating the reels and symbols red and gold and tossing in some easily recognizable symbols. Instead, the setting is that of an opera held for the imperial family, in which many actors partake in telling a story dressed in elaborate costumes. And while the theme is great, the gameplay portion does not lag behind at all. High volatility titles usually revolve around a single feature that leaves you chasing bonuses while the base game falls behind a bit. That doesn’t happen in this Play’n Go release which has so many random reel augmentations, every spin feels that little bit different because of it. It can’t transform a losing streak, unfortunately, but it makes it much less likely when at any given point, there’s a chance you could trigger a reel full of Wilds, or for several reels to synchronize and show the same symbol.

The graphics look gorgeous and smooth animation while you’re playing really helps the slot stand out. There’s not a lot going on, but the reels move quickly enough to make things feel fluid and not keep the suspense up. Where the graphics really shine is when the human characters appear as mega symbols, and you can tell all the detail that went into the artwork done for this game. We quite enjoyed looking at it, but that’s only half of the story.

The other half of Imperial Opera is in the gameplay, and while we can’t say we’ve had a lot of luck when it comes to wins, we also had fun all the way through. You have several bonuses that can occur, and all of them do their part in diversifying the gameplay even when you aren’t winning any free spins. Our usual experience with slots is that your budget slowly drains until you hit special features – here, it jumped up and down without any set rules, making each spin a thrill as you never knew what you would end up getting and how it would pay off. Credit where it’s due, Play’n Go outdid themselves with this title and with a 96.5% RTP, it’s only looking more attractive the more you play it.

You can play this game for as little as $0.20 or as high as $100 per spin, which makes sure both high rollers and lower end gamblers can equally enjoy Imperial Opera. Higher risk equals higher reward, as always, and the highest win you can take away is 2,500x your wager per turn. Of course, getting that high of a number requires a lot of luck, as the highest single win is 25x the wager for a single five-of-a-kind Wild win, which is where the high volatility and the many bonuses come into play and define this slot.

The symbols are split between decorated poker card icons such as 10, J, Q, K and A, and actual human icons which depict several actors playing different roles in the opera. The letters aren’t that impressive, with only minor décor added on top to make them fit a bit better, but the human symbols are hands down really great, particularly the green-clad actor.
As for bonuses, there are four not related to the free spins. Harmony randomly activates and binds two or three adjacent reels to display the same symbols at once. Crescendo turns one or two reels at random and turns them Wild. Showcase guarantees at least one symbol will appear stacked in a reel, and all human characters can appear as Mega Symbols, taking up multiple reels at once.

The free spins work as you would expect. Instead of having multiple icons, you have single, massive 3×3 Scatter, which rewards ten extra turns. While the free spins are active, the second, third and fourth reel all display the same symbol, which allows you to potentially retrigger the feature. Furthermore, Showcase remains active during this bonus, which more or less guarantees some solid wins to come out of it.