Released in tandem with Wild Spirit to put Playtech Casinos’ stable of games over 50 in total, 5-reel 9-line Silent Samurai is a decent game for those whose inner ninja is a bit relaxed.
The design is nice, even if the characters are predictable enough, with familiar earnest young samurais (get ‘em in rows one and five to trip the bonus round), the inevitable geisha, the square-holed coin, the golden dragon, the A-K-Q-J-10 run ... incidentally, if anyone can enlighten LCD as to the meaning the sixth-lowest paying character, please do; LCD's Japanese is a bit rusty.
The music is pleasant enough, with understated ethereal vaguely Asian-sounding cascading tones as the reels spin; and the payoffs are decent, with 100/1 odds on five geishas appearing. And as anyone who’s read Arthur Golden’s Memoirs of a Geisha (read it, that is, not “seen the diluted movie”) knows, five geishas in one place is a heckuva lotta fun.
Advance PR for Silent Samurai boasted “an action-packed ninja-slaying round,” and the bonus round’s OK to be sure, but LCD was kinda hoping for something like this. Or maybe that’s just sour grapes ‘cause the Evil Ninja was ubiquitous when LCD-san played.
Oh, and beware the now nearly mandatory bonus round, apparently herein called BONUS. If you must bet, remember what LCD always says: go red. In this case, blood red. LCD rating: 8 kills out of 10.