Crusader's Heart Pokie
Head back in time to the Middle Ages and knights of old, when chivalry and honour were the mark of a true nobleman. Forget all that, it was full of filth, bloodshed and short, miserable lives, but Aristocrat have gone for the sanitised version of the times with their Crusader’s Heart pokie that features 5 reels and 243 ways to line up symbols for a win.
A handsome knight, beautiful princess and some fancy gold jewellery are all featured, along with free games, respins, wild substitutions and scatter payouts of up to 200x the triggering bet, while the actual reels are cleverly laid out in a castle shape, just to emphasis the theme.
Playing Crusader’s Heart
Like many pokies from Aristocrat, much care has been taken with the design and that extends even to the background image, which in this case sees the ivy-covered walls of a castle, along with various towers and battlements, all looking bathed in dappled sunlight for a pleasing effect.
There are 5 reels, with the outer 2 being 4 symbols high and topped off with decorative designs, while the inner 3 are just 3 symbols high, making them look as if they are part of a castle. It’s a nice touch that should help players to land more wins when 3 or more matching symbols stop in any positions on the reels, as long as those reels are adjacent and the line runs from the left side.
Aristocrat have played safe with the choice of symbols, using the playing card icons 9, 10, J, Q, K and A as the lower value ones, while bigger rewards come from the pictures of various jewels. Our hero and heroine each pay the same and can either appear separately for the biggest payouts in normal play of 100x, 500x or 1500x when 3, 4 or 5 land, or be mixed together across a line to be worth 50x, 100x or 500x.
Crusader's Heart
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Bonus Features
While some pokies just spin their reels and line up standard symbols, Crusader’s Heart has a few extra treats that come from landing wild and scatter symbols in the right places.
The wild is a big heart-shaped ruby that will substitute for the other symbols and help to complete winning lines. It only appears on the middle 3 reels however, but if 3 of them stop on the same one, that reel is held in place while the other 4 respin for free.
This could land players with another win, but it’s not the only bonus feature, as the castle in the clouds is a scatter symbol that also has some special attributes. If the castle appears in any 3 positions after a spin, it pays out 5x the total stake, while any 4 of them is worth 10x and anyone lucky enough to see 5 scatters at once is in for a reward of 200x the total bet.
Once the scatter pays have been dealt with, players enter a free spins round, where they get 15 games and extra wild symbols added on to the reels throughout them.
The respins can be triggered in this round as well, while having 3 or more scatters appear will retrigger the free spins and sees 15 extra ones added to the end of any still left in the current round.
A Heart Worth Fighting for?
This is another nice-looking pokie from Aristocrat, which may gloss over history somewhat, but a game where everyone is battle-scarred or covered in boils probably wouldn’t be so appealing.
The innovative layout of the reels has a practical effect as well as a visual one, as the extra symbols should result in more wins, while the bonus symbols will take players to some potentially lucrative rounds.
Respins are just a quick feature that may or may not result in a winning spin, but the free spins game with extra wilds across the middle 3 reels should almost certainly result in lots of winning combinations appearing throughout them.
Any issues? Well, the minimum stake is 0.30 which could turn off a few potential players, but other than that, it’s a great all-rounder that should attract plenty of fans.