Wild Wild West: The Great Train Heist Slots
A big game with a big name – this is the latest slot game from European slot giants NetEnt and it’s an instant hit here at the office. We love a good wild west slot here and we know the boys and girls over at Net Entertainment are fans of the genre, their Dead or Alive slot is one of the most played at break time here (Only on breaks boss we promise).
Much like the DOA slot and in a step away from recent massive success of the 50 line Theme Park slot game, Wild Wild West has a fairly simple 10 pay line formula. That isn’t to say the slot is simplistic overall – far from it, just easy to use. It has fantastic graphics and audio, all new animations and range of bonus features to ensure solid gambling action goes along with the entertainment.
If you’ve ever had the fantasy of robbing a steam train in the wild west, NetEnt have just tried to make it a virtual reality for you. Strap on your six-guns, mount your steed and ride in with the gang to take down train number 7 and its rich cargo!
Theme
Wild Wild West is clearly aimed at millennials and video gamers, the entrance script, bonus round animations and win sequences are all comic book style very reminiscent of Jonah Hex or the Red Dead Redemption games. This isn’t a complaint by any means as both of those styles are stunning examples of the modern western fan bases desires and Wild Wild West keeps right in tone with that.
The attention to detail is superb too, with a Johnny cash style music rhythm for the base game and a little more of an Eno Morricone themed anticipation builder for the bonus rounds. The spin button? A revolver barrel with an authentic spinning Russian roulette sound effect thrown in! Its touches like these that push NetEnt way ahead of many competitors in game design, the themes are absolutely immersive.
The four train robbing gang members form the high pay icons with 500x – 200x available, the only small critique I have is of the low pay icons which are, you guessed, playing card symbols. Ok, they’ve been lovingly crafted to fit with the theme, but with that much work done on them – could we not just have had another 4 bespoke icons?
Game Setup & Features
As the pay-lines are fixed, simply select a coin value and bet level before spinning away. You will find a spacebar activated spin option, graphics controls, and an auto-spin button if you just want to sit back, relax and enjoy the show. Minimum bet is just 0.10 credits and max is 100, it’s just enough to satisfy the high rollers and the generous RTP we are used to on NetEnt slots stands firm here at nearly 97%.
One you will want to steer clear of is the quick spin feature, this game has some of the quickest reels of any NetEnt slot I’ve ever played, its quick on the draw enough and doesn’t need any further speeding up. Though, it does seem to play a little slower and more fluidly on the NetEnt touch mobile version of the game than it does on desktop.
Feature wise, the first thing to watch for is three of the golden train safes, these grant you an instant click to win feature of between x5 and x50 your stake, it’s only a secondary bonus but it’s nice to have. You’ll be far keener of course to land the number 7 train, where 3/4/5 train scatters will land you 10/20/30 free spins respectively. The initial amount is already generous but they also come with an uncapped retrigger, there is potential here for one of those never ending bonus rounds players talk of with envy!
If your aim is good there are also four different wilds to hit, whilst a regular wild appears in the base game only, a wheel of fortune random pick decides what kind appear in the free spins round. When the wheel lands you will have either the regular fixed wild, expanded wilds, multiplying wilds or spreading wilds added to each and every spin for the duration of the round – no matter how many times you re-trigger. The Wilds also have their own win value and pay out at the same reward as the highest paying gang symbol with x500 on offer for all five in lieu of an actual jackpot on the slot.
Summary
This is a must play new online slot game and, so far at least, one of the best new slots of 2016. We were thrilled to get our hands on it and we are sure you will be too. It’s hard to gauge the variance on the game right now without some longer term play but, if the mix is right, this is a pioneering western game that can easily go down in legend. With both free to play and cash versions available, there’s just no reason not to take these reels for a blast.
