Metamorphosis Slots
Merkur casino games are big news in Germany, but you mightn’t have heard of them in your neck of the woods. Metamorphosis is one of their 5-reel video slots, a title that’s all about the chrysalis turning into the butterfly.
This one’s been developed by Edict Gaming, which is a subsidiary of Merkur, and can be played at a host of online casinos since launching in December of 2015. Play with fake money, with 1,000 dummy credits, or using real cash: the choice is yours. Metamorphosis is an instant-play, nature-themed title that features five reels and either 5 or 10 paylines, with the choice being made by the player.
As far as features are concerned, Metamorphosis includes many you may have come to expect from years of playing video slots. There’s an autoplay mode, for instance, useful if you want to browse the net, eat dinner or watch TV while you try your luck on the pokies. There’s also a wild symbol, which can expand, and a double-or-nothing gamble mode. All wins pay left to right and also right to left. Winning combinations can also be formed on the middle three reels. Only the highest combination is paid per line, and the return-to-player percentage is 96.15.
Set-up
The set-up of Metamorphosis is rather simple, with the purple-edged reel grid appearing against a dark blue backdrop. The game title, in pink, sits above the reels, and there are buttons for Spin and Max Bet in green at the bottom. There’s also an AutoStart control and a Settings tab, as well as running tallies for Deposit, Bets and Wins. You can regulate your coin size or number of paylines using the standard + and - icons.
Spring-time flowers
Most of the symbols in Metamorphosis are related to spring, the season when the leaves crisp and the sun begins to emerge from its wintery haze. I’m no botanist, so We’ll just tell you that there’s a blue flower (a lily perhaps?), a red flower (a hibiscus?) and a cream-coloured flower. The blue flower pays 20 for three, 120 for four and 1,000 credits for five. The red-petalled flower is linked to the same values, while the cream-coloured flower pays 40 for three, 200 for four and the top 2,000 credit top prize for five in a line. The cream-coloured flower can also appear stacked on the first and fifth reel.
Playing card icons make up the least-valuable symbols in the game. There is a Jack, Queen, King and Ace. The Queen and Jack pay 10 for three, 40 for four and 200 for five. The Ace and King pay 10 for three, 80 for four and 400 credits for five.
There are also some basic animations during wins, with symbols revolving in their squares. There are also celebratory sound effects when you land a win. When a combination of cream-coloured flowers is found, the camera zooms out to show that the flower is worn as a garland in the hair of a pretty brunette.
Butterfly wild
The blue butterfly symbol acts as wild, but as well as being able to substitute for all others in the game, the butterfly actually transforms adjacent symbols into wilds too! As such, you’ll have more opportunities to form matching combinations of symbols. Sadly, the wild is not linked to any values in the regular pay-table.
The risk factor
Players can opt in on a risk game after every successful matching combination. Choose whether the next card drawn from the deck will be black or red and keep your fingers crossed, because if you win, you’ll double your money. Guess wrong and you lose the lot.
Room for improvement
Metamorphosis is a fine slot game from a little-known German developer. While it’s certainly simple – it looks like it’s been designed on Microsoft Paint – the presence of expanding symbols, a ‘corrupting’ wild and well-paying icons make for decent gameplay.
While some more symbols connoting the nature theme would have been welcome – playing card icons are old-hat – Metamorphosis is a game which it’s possible to enjoy over the short-term, particularly if you’re on a hot streak. Give it a go and see whether you can turn that humble chrysalis into a big bag of cash.
