Play The Last Crusade for Free

The word ‘crusade’ is a highly charged one in the present day, eliciting images of Christian wars waged against Muslim invaders in The Holy Lands. This is a video slot, not a UN summit on fostering international relations through multiculturalism however, so let’s cut to the chase.

The Last Crusade obliges you to play the role of Knight’s Templar, sent to Jerusalem to fight in the name of Christ. To achieve this brave and noble feat, you’re required to press a play symbol repeatedly until a digital display informs you that you have won a prize. It’s the terror of the 13th century all over again minus the terror. It’s a fun way to make money, that’s what it is.

Roll the reels and you’ll be greeted by the satisfying thunk of swords on swords. No-one can say for certain if swords clashing actually sounds so pleasingly metallic in real life, but if the movies are to be believed, they sound like a blacksmith’s anvil being smashed against a blacksmith’s anvil. Thunk. Thunk. Thunk… It’s a pleasing noise that’s complemented by the roar of crusaders charging into battle, all set against a soothing hum of religious harmonies. It’s all very Christian, from the crucifixes that adorn the shield symbols to the crucifixes that adorn, well, pretty much every other element of the game.

Credit where credit’s due: WorldMatch have surpassed themselves with the graphics here. The detail is superb, as is the animations, the pick of the bunch being the longsword that glimmers invitingly in the sunlight, urging would-be crusaders to seize it and use its sharpened steel to behead the infidels.

The graphics might be gorgeous, but WorldMatch appear to have been suffering a paucity of imagination when designing the game’s key symbols. The worst offenders are wild, which simply comprises a stone tablet with the word WILD etched onto it, and free spins which follows an identical formula. It ain’t pretty but it works.

The game’s other symbols are more pleasing to the eye: a robust stone crucifix, a gold coin, a shield bedaubed in a crucifix, a knight clad in armour replete with a crucifix, and a black flag bearing yet another crucifix. It’s a fun side mission to play while you watch the reels spinning in The Last Crusade: count how many crosses you can spot.

Don’t forget the double crucifix on the right of the reels, one sewn into the conquering knight’s garment, the other a wooden one hung around his neck. In the background, a 13th century fortification looms while in the foreground flames flicker. The Middle Ages were a time of looting, pillaging and desecrating, and never was this more manifest than during the crusades, a period of terror wrought in the name of God the Almighty.

The Last Crusade might invoke every stereotype ever associated with the crusades, but then the Indiana Jones movie was arguably worse for perpetrating tropes and myths. What matters here is that this WorldMatch video slot is a lot of fun to play. Score three, four or five symbols in line to notch up a win, with the wild substituting for any of the the regular icons.

Free spins will multiply your wins further and allow you to flee the Holy Lands nursing armfuls of plundered loot. It’s not your job to agonise over the moral implications of slaughtering thousands in the name of God: you’re just here to do your job, which just so happens to be putting men to the sword till the rivers run red with blood and your pockets overflow with priceless treasures. Deus vult.