Amaya Gaming has borrowed the idea of the Sirens from Greek Mythology, who lured unwary sailors to their doom through the beauty of their songs, to create their own magical and frozen realm, where the lure of fortune beckons others to try their luck, in the hope of rich rewards. The setting is one of traditional Cyrillic imagery: the information screen has an onion-domed castle, the screen is flanked by golden pillars, and the whole is dusted with snow. The 5 reels, three lines of which appear on screen, spin to an accompanying soundtrack that suggests something midway between a Rachmaninoff concerto andHollywood fairy tales, and click into place with a clockwork sound.
Symbols in the Snow
The low and high value symbols are all related to the theme: there are a number of these, since Siberian Siren does not use the traditional playing card symbols. Rather, the ice crystal, the pendant and the Faberge egg function as the lowest values; next in order are the bottle of potion, the samovar, the rose, and the small bird, nestling against the snow.
In addition to this, the Faberge egg can trigger Free Spins when 3 or more of them appear in a line: these can be stacked during free spins themselves, up to a maximum tally of 120.
The higher values are represented by the husky dog, which barks when it finds itself in the company of its fellows in a winning line, and the eponymous Siren. The maximum jackpot is one when the Siren appears in Line 1 followed by four white tigers. The White Siberian tiger is otherwise a Wild symbol, as one might expect of such a beast, and can substitute for any other.
There is also a Golden Tiger symbol, which only appears during Free Spin bonuses, on reels 2, 3 and 4: this can substitute for any other, as well as being a Scatter symbol, which earns free spins.
Bonuses
These are more of the “Free Spins” variety in Siberian Sirens, up to 120 of these if landing Wild Retrigger bonuses: the main lure of the game is the potential massive payout of 50 000 coins if playing maximum bet, and landing the Siren/Four Tiger combination in Line 1.
Lines are fixed at 40 per spin, but the stake on each line can be varied between 0.02 and 5, with 1 to 5 credits per line. A handy tally appears at the bottom of the screen and there is an Autoplay feature for those who like to keep several games on the go simultaneously.
Siberia Welcomes the Discerning Visitor
Siberian Siren is not the most visually entertaining of Amaya’s games, but it does carry through its theme nicely; the artwork is authentic, rather than eye-catching, and the animation is simple, but fun. It is available on PC, Mac or Lunux-based systems, and with its potential good payouts and ease of play, it is good for whiling away the hours in cosy game play.