Le Bandit Slot Review

We recently looked at the Hacksaw Gaming Drop ‘Em slot, noting it was a pretty decent game that did not meet our expectations. In that review, we mentioned that Hacksaw had just entered the US market. From that point to our publishing of this Le Bandit analysis, Hacksaw also made its way into the province of Ontario. Plus, it expanded its reach in Lithuania, Italy, and Greece. So, this Malta-headquartered company is making big moves everywhere.

Well, Hacksaw also is maintaining a steady release schedule, setting loose six games in August 2023. Le Bandit got unleashed in the middle of this month (on the fifteenth) and did good business, trending in the top twenty most-played games in Canada, India, Brazil, Poland, Greece, Turkey, and a few other regions. It may not be a smash hit, but we noticed more than a few players praising it, so here we are, trying to assess its worth ourselves.

Theme & Design

What is the theme of Le Bandit? We are not 100% sure. Given the name, we assume it is a crime in France, illegal activities conducted by a fierce mustached raccoon we have read some players call Smokey. We are unsure that this is this animal’s official name, but we can tell you he has a crowbar and looks mean. In our opinion, the sub-genre here is the robbery one, where games like Midnight Marauder from Relax, Bust the Bank by Games Global, and RealTime Gaming’s Cash Bandits Museum Heist dominate. Also, the visual style used in Le Bandit is reminiscent of the retro cartoony feel that Drop ‘Em from Hacksaw incorporates. The same goes for the ole-timey piano music featured here.

The setting in Le Bandit is likely a back alley in Paris, with the reels spinning in an ornamented grid in front of a parked car and a trash can. By the look of it, the gameplay transpires in an early-1900s timeframe, and this slot’s protagonist is incapable of speech. He just lets out weird noises from time to time. The graphics in Le Bandit incorporate solid shading, and Smokey’s movements have that rubber-hose animation vibe. Audio-visually, this spinner stands out, but it is too similar to Drop ‘Em, and realistically speaking, its presentation, for all its novelty, is not very immersive. That said, we like the change of scene in the bonus features and Smokey’s Irish-themed mask.

The button configuration on Le Bandit is the same one Hacksaw Gaming has used for years now. Therefore, you will find the spin functions and bet adjuster on the right side of this section, with your balance info and the hamburger icon resting on the left of it.

Specs & Gameplay

Where do we stand concerning the specs of this Hacksaw product? The action of this cluster-pay game transpires on a 6×5 grid. The variance level in play here is medium, and the RTP is 96.34% at default. Though, it can drop to 88.36% at distinct hubs. The max win gets advertised at x10,000 on a max bet of $100, but the probability of you landing this win is one in fourteen million. Hacksaw’s team lists the hit frequency as 32, and the lowest wager anyone can make on this spinner’s reels is one of $0.10.

As mentioned, this is a cluster-pay slot, where the low-pay symbols are classic 10-A royals, producing wins of x15 for landed groups of thirteen or more matching tokens. The premiums are a hat, baguettes, a beer mug, some cheese, and a bear trap. Thirteen or more from this batch yield wins ranging from x25 to x100. Note that you need at least five matching symbols that connect to claim a reward in Le Bandit.

A wanted poster is the wild of this game, and it replaces all the regular pay tokens. Also, we should not fail to mention that this is a cascading slot, meaning winning symbols get removed, leaving room for new ones to fall onto the grid on the same spin sequence.

Bonus Features

Following a winning combo, golden squares appear on prize-producing spots, and if a rainbow pops in on the grid at this time, it will activate these squares to reveal cash reward coins (bronze, silver, gold) and open the door for the pot of gold or four-leaf clover tokens to appear. The coins have multiplier values from x0.2 to x500. These get divided hierarchically into sections of x0.2 to x4, x5 to x20, and x25 to x600. After the coins have been revealed, the clover can multiply them and the pot of gold symbols on adjacent squares up to x10. Pots of gold get triggered after the clover has activated, and they gather the coin and pot values, totaling them to theirs. When the final pot triggers, the other golden squares again activate, unveiling new tokens, and this goes on until no novel pots pop in.

The Luck of The Bandit mode is the free spin round, activated via three landed scatters, awarding eight on-the-house reel rotations. The All That Glitters Is Gold mode can get triggered inside the Luck of the Bandit round with four landed scatters, or it can get activated in the base game when four hit. Here, the golden squares get highlighted, staying marked until the end of the feature. With two landed scatters, two more free spins get supplied, whereas three get you four.

If five scatters materialize in view in the base game, you will get awarded twelve gratis spins. Also, the golden squares will stay highlighted with a guaranteed rainbow on every spin, with only the possibility of silver and gold coins appearing, no bronze ones.

All the cited features can be bought, with the All That Glitters Is Gold one boasting a price tag of x250.

GOSU Verdict

Hmm, we like this game a tad more than Drop ‘Em. It is a bit complex concerning extra features, so if you did not get our explanation of them, do not worry. You are not at fault. For brevity, we tried to be as concise as we could. Hence, we know we did not do a terrific job on this front. Yet, we will tell you that Hacksaw did an excellent one with this game. It is a cluster-pay title that becomes super-exciting when you get on a hot streak. Its presentation may be cool, but the bonus mechanics in play make this slot stand out. These are responsible for it being one of the more dynamic releases in recent times. And those modes, coupled with the unique look and feel that Le Bandit has, make it a true winner in our book.

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