The Final Frontier Slots
Blast off into space and set your phasers for “fun” in The Final Frontier, a 5-reel, 10-adjustable payline slot from the team at Merkur Gaming that gives more than a passing nod to Guardians of the Galaxy.
With its deep space aesthetic and a colourful cast of characters, the game looks entirely different from anything in the Merkur Gaming line-up, but still holds true to the software providers key brand values – that is to say, simple gameplay mechanics and the possibility of huge bonus round winnings.
Blast off
Like many other Merkur Gaming titles, there are only two adjustable buttons that players need concern themselves with in The Final Frontier, namely the bet size and the number of active paylines. Though the former allows players to choose a coin amount anywhere between $0.01 and $1 per line, the latter is more restrictive and only allows for 1, 3, 5, 7 or 10 paylines to be enabled each spin.
Once they’ve chosen a configuration that suits their playing style and bankroll requirements, players will have the chance of winning a maximum regular jackpot of 2,500x their line bet for matching five of the game’s wild symbols – a lion-esque ship captain – while regular payouts of between 5x and 20x your coin amount are also available for any three-of-a-kind combination on an active payline.
The wild symbol can also be substituted for any regular icon to help players complete additional paylines, while any pair of wilds on an active payline will automatically award 10x a player’s line bet. Beyond that, the only other symbol they need worry about is a galaxy scatter symbol, which is used to trigger a free spins feature whenever three or more appear anywhere on the regular gameboard.
Space invaders
As we mentioned earlier, The Final Frontier is a game that looks quite unlike anything else in the Merkur Gaming catalogue, and this is largely down to the fact that the regular playing card symbols are entirely absent. Instead, the game uses traditional fruit icons like cherries, plums and watermelons as its lower value symbols and – though not unique – this helps keep the game bright and colourful.
Beyond these slot staples, however, The Final Frontier really comes into its own with a line-up of symbols that includes exotic flowers and gems from deep space and three members of the spaceship’s crew. With each of these characters being based on an animal, there is the aforementioned lion captain plus a female cat character and a green bird-like creature, giving the slot an unusual visual quality.
The game is set to a galactic background that is entirely in keeping with the theme, while a number of payline animations are included to spice up the action. Wins are accompanied by suitably dramatic music and the free spins feature includes its own unique piece of audio, making The Final Frontier an engaging title from Merkur Gaming that really immerses players in its deep space theme.
A galaxy of wins
As with many Merkur Gaming slots, The Final Frontier is largely a pick-up-and-play title, with just one simple bonus round being thrown in to keep players on their toes. Triggered whenever three or more galaxy scatter symbols appear on the gameboard, this awards players with 10 free spins.
During free spins a multiplier is active and whenever players uncover a subsequent galaxy symbol, this multiplier will be increased by one and players will also receive an additional 5 free spins. As you can imagine, this added bonus significantly prolongs the feature and can result in some pretty hefty wins, meaning it holds far more value for players than the initial award of 10 spins would suggest.
After all free spins have been used and the feature has ended, players will be able to gamble their winnings for the round in a pick-style bonus game. This allows them to potentially double their prize up to the slot’s maximum jackpot award, but be warned – after the first pick, any subsequent non-winning gambles will reset the win to zero and see you return to the base game empty-handed.
To boldly go?
While it’s fair to say that there’s nothing particularly revolutionary about The Final Frontier, Merkur Gaming deserve praise for creating a game that feels very different from anything else in their line-up. Though a simple enough title to get to grips with in only a few minutes, the game’s look and sound make it an immersive playing experience and the big regular jackpot offers a decent top prize.
