Cops and Bandits has a pretty common theme, the robbers and the police being part of a lot of slot machines these days. Players seem to like any games that involve large amounts of money, even those where they are obtained in a less than honest manner. Besides having a common theme, the game also looks average at best, though I’d say it’s below that line. The basic looking graphics in use here don’t do a lot of things for the slot’s attractiveness, with a bit too much brown and dark colors being used in it, while the drawing style for the characters isn’t helping either.
It might not be the most modern slot you will ever see, but it does have a large number of paylines inside, 30 of them available on the 5 reels. A $100,000 top jackpot might be the best it has to offer, but there are some unusual features as well, like the locked wilds present during the free spins, the line-up bonus game, wilds and scatters.
Features of Cops and Bandits
The slot gives you a couple of good features, with a wild symbol that also gives the top jackpot, with a bonus game, with scatter symbols and with free spins that have locked wilds.
To start with, we’ll cover the wild symbol. It has a brick wall in it, with Wild written as a logo in front. You’re probably familiar with this symbol and what it can do for you. You can get a new combination of symbols formed, as long as the wild is in the right position on the reels, with other matching symbols already on the same payline as it is. You don’t get paid every single time the wild appears, but it does help out on a regular basis. It’s also the case that the wild can form its own combinations in this slot. When at least two wilds appear on the same line, and in order starting from the leftmost reel, you will get paid, the amount being between 25x and 4,000x (five wilds). As a wild, this symbol doesn’t help the bonus or the scatter symbols to do their job.
Another big part of the game is the scattered Police Badge, made out of gold and with the word Scatter at the top. Scattered symbols don’t need to form regular combinations, instead awarding prizes by being present in sufficient numbers. These prizes go from 5x to 300x the bet value, so they can be even better than the top jackpot.
Free Games Feature
When you have at least three Police Badges scattered on the five reels, you get to pick one badge (for three scatters) or two badges (for four or five). The picks you make will reveal the number of free spins (up to 65 possible).
As the free spins are used, if the Policeman shows up next to a thief symbol (or both thieves), the thieves become wild symbols that are locked in place for the duration of the free spins.
Line-Up Bonus Game
Get this bonus game triggered by having the Line-up icon on the 1st, 3rd and 5th reels, at the same time. You are presented with a line-up with suspects and you have to guess which one did it. You get an initial bonus amount, which gets reduced each time you pick the wrong guy. When you find the correct guy, the feature ends.
Betting options and jackpots
You don’t get a lot of options when you’re building up your bets in this slot. You use one coin for each payline, nothing to change here, so the only option available to you is the total value of the line bet. This one goes from $0.01 to $25, with the total bets going from $0.30 to $750.
There is a 4,000x prize offered inside, with up to $100,000 being its maximum value. The 300x multiplier of the scatter symbol can mean up to $225,000, since it applies to the total bet.
Design and symbols
The theme is OK, even though it’s so often used, but the realization of the game is below average, and there are a lot of titles out there to compare it to. The action revolves around a policeman and two thieves. Neither character is that well drawn or attractive, sporting the kind of look that might’ve been fine for a cartoon drawn in the first half of the 20th century, not for the 21st. The dark atmosphere doesn’t help it too much either, a bit too much brown and black being used in it for my taste.
Symbols: Wild Logo (wild, 4,000 coins), Police Badge (scatter, 300x the bet), Line-up Silhouette (bonus), Policeman (1,000 coins), Green Bandit (500 coins), Red Bandit (500 coins), Handcuffs (250 coins), Bag of Money (250 coins), Ace (150 coins), King (120 coins), Queen (100 coins), Jack (75 coins) and Ten (50 coins).
Is It Worth Playing?
Its prizes will say yes, and I tend to agree because of them and the features that it provides, but the part that is highly disappointing is the design that was chosen for it.
Cops and Bandits can be found at any Playtech casino, where you get a chance to play it for real money or in free mode.
