Commander of Tridents

Commander of Tridents: Slot Overview

Hacksaw Gaming's buddies Backseat Gaming have taken to the seven seas to design an underwater online slot titled Commander of Tridents. Taking centre stage in this aquatic sojourn is the Greek god Poseidon, here brandishing a golden trident – hence the name. From there, the game starts to get a little odd, for a lot of things about Commander of Tridents are strikingly familiar from elsewhere. While borrowing ideas is nothing new, the specific way Commander of Tridents commandeers parts from other slots borders on the comical at times, even if it manages to successfully build on them at the same time.

Commander of Tridents takes place in Poseidon's domain, deep beneath the waves in a murky bottom of the sea environment. The deity himself floats to the side of the grid, Gates of Olympus-style, joined by fish, rocks and weeds. A columned structure opposite Poseidon reinforces the theme's Greek heritage, while a harp-heavy ambient tune floats around in the background like a Disney film soundtrack. It's all very soothing, but cutting through it all is a high-paying shark symbol, which looks a little bit; okay, it looks a lot like the non-metal-mouthed version of the shark symbol in Push Gaming's classic Razor Shark. Mark this as a portent for things to come.

It's not all floating freely around with the weeds down here as Commander of Tridents operates with a medium-volatile math model. It's available in four RTP models, defaulting to 96.28%, rising to 96.36% when buying the bonus round. At this level, players can theoretically expect a hit frequency of 35.04%. Played using 5 reels and 5 rows with 19 fixed paylines, a win occurs when matching symbols land along a bet line, left to right, starting from the first reel on the grid. When selecting a bet, the choices go from 10 p/c up to $/€100.

The Razor Shark chappie is joined on the paytable with, from low to high, coral, sea urchins, a trap, an anchor, a Nemo-like fish, what might be a lionfish, a green fish, and then the shark. Landing a winning combination made up of 5 matching symbols is worth from 2 times the bet for the 4 lower paying symbols to 4-15 times the bet for the 4 premium fish symbols. The golden Trident symbol is wild, meaning it substitutes for all regular pay symbols. In addition, when a Trident symbol lands, it expands to cover the whole reel if the expanded symbol would be part of at least one win after it expands.

Commander of Tridents: Slot Features

Other features to behold while you're down here in the deep are Mystery Gates, Poseidon's Treasure, and free spins.

Mystery Gates

Mystery Gates are full reel symbols that nudge to cover a reel if they land partially in view. Mystery Gates reveal either regular paying symbols or a Golden Chest. If 3 or more Mystery Gates land at the same time, they become golden and spin to reveal a pay symbol. This is known as the Scrolling Tile Animation. After the Scrolling Tile Animation has picked a symbol, there is a chance Poseidon may upgrade it. Symbols revealed by the Scrolling Tile Animation pay left to right no matter where they land on the grid, even if non-winning symbols are between them. All Mystery Gates in view reveal the same symbol.

Poseidon Treasure

This feature triggers when Mystery Gates reveal Golden Chest symbols. All Golden Chests open and spin to reveal either a Bronze Coin, Silver Coin, Gold Coin, Multiplier symbol, or a Gather symbol, behaving like so:

• Bronze Coins have values of 1, 2, 3, or 5.
• Silver Coins have a value of 10.
• Gold Coins have values of 100, 250, 500, or 1,000.
• Multipliers have values of x2, x3, x5, or x10. This value applies to all Coins and Gather symbols.
• Gather symbols collect the value of all Coins and other Gather symbols. After gathering, another spin occurs on each position except activated Gather symbols. This means new Coins, Gather symbols, or Multiplier symbols can appear. The Gather symbol will take on the values of all gathered Coins as well as other Gather symbols. Gather symbols cannot activate more than once.

When the feature ends, the summed value of all Coins and Gather symbols is multiplied by the bet and awarded.

Bonus Feature

The bonus feature is triggered by landing 3, 4, or 5 scatter symbols, awarding 10, 12, or 14 free spins, respectively. During free spins, Mystery Gates are sticky when they land for the duration of the feature, and they turn golden when at least 3 have hit. Above each reel in free spins is a Reel Multiplier starting at x0. When a Golden Temple symbol lands on a reel, it displays a value of x2, x3, x5, or x10, which is added to the Reel Multiplier. All winning combinations are multiplied by the Reel Multipliers above each reel included in the win. If more than one multiplier is used, the values are added together first. Reel Multipliers also apply to Coin and Gather symbols from the Poseidon's Treasure feature.

Free spins cannot be retriggered, but they can be bought for 150 times the bet. Bought free spins are highly volatile.

Commander of Tridents: Slot Verdict

If imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, then Push Gaming should be blushing over this one. Maybe someone at Backseat Gaming liked what they saw in Mystery Museum and thought they could do a bit more with it. This controversial 'acquiring' of features is nothing new. Game designers borrow ideas all the time, yet what makes it extra brazen this time is the way Backseat Gaming has stuck that shark symbol in there, clearly referencing Razor Shark, as if sticking out a middle finger while declaring, 'Yeah, we've done it, and?'

Moving on from one of Commander of Tridents' biggest talking points, we get to the actual gaming side of things. Just how well have the features fared in this mythologically minded crossover? On the whole, the results were mixed. Commander of Tridents doesn't have the same punchy visual execution that Mystery Museum had. The graphics aren't so boldly eye-catching, and while the music was a little too much on the ambient side at times, even that brought back memories of Mystery Museums' sweeping tunes. Backseat Gaming has broadened the experience by including things like Reel Multipliers and the Poseidon Treasure feature. Even then, Poseidon Treasure might have impressed more if coin/instant prize reveals weren't also a Push Gaming staple, adding another layer of imitation over Commander of Tridents like a crusty old blanket.

Funny one, this. When viewed in a vacuum, Commander of Tridents is a decent game with absorbing features and a solid max win figure of 15,000x the bet. The parts which Backseat Gaming has borrowed, like the sticky Mystery Gates in free spins, are able to be boosted by Reel Multipliers, adding an exciting new dimension, as does Poseidon's Treasure, though it didn't trigger super often. On the other hand, knowing a lot of what Commander of Tridents has to offer came or was obviously inspired from elsewhere dilutes the experience. Maybe not to a deal-breaking degree for players curious about Commander of Tridents' feature mix or prefer less volatility, but the whole project feels a tad cheeky.