Wild Jack 81 Slot
We thought we’d heard the last of Mega Jack, but Wazdan have brought him back from the brink of death to terrorise the town once more. The sheriff is going to have a lot of hard work on his hands reeling this one in!
Wild Jack 81 can be seen as the new and improved version of the original game, though in truth not a lot has changed, with the only major difference being the 81 paylines. That means there’s a lot of ways to win, which means that newbies stand to strike gold regardless of their inexperience. Maybe Jack isn’t such a naughty boy after all…?
Okay, scratch that. He is. He may be a rodeo but he’s a rogue one, and it seems he won’t rest until he’s stirred everyone up into a frenzy, the bull included. And an angry bull isn’t a happy one. Before the sun sets on this quaint little town, it’s going to have experienced transformations that’ll leave it unrecognisable, all peace destroyed.
Bringer of Fun
If you’ve got the controls from the last Mega Jack game memorised, then you won’t need to read this section at all – you probably don’t need to read any of this! That’s because everything is the same bar the size of the matrix, it’s now 3x5 with 5 reels.
To shape up your bet and steady your nerves, there is a low wager entry of 0.10, which is much lower than the original game that had a min bet of 1 credit. Also more intriguing is that the maximum bet has been capped off at 100 credits as opposed to the 1,000 in the first instalment. Players can set this via the appropriate buttons or select the max bet option, whatever suits them.
The winlines are fixed, but as the bet you place isn’t placed upon every single one (can you imagine), you won’t have to worry about too high a bet. Moreover, there’s less widgets to fiddle about with, another win win for us gamers.
Fresh Faced
Mega Jack looks like he’s recovered from his last episode of mayhem, and it seems the grid that he inhabits has undergone a makeover of a kind as well. The symbols on the reels themselves look identical, but it’s the background that has been altered. Now it looks less amateurish, the sun having been given crisp and clear rays, with golden stars floating upwards into the sky.
It still doesn’t look like a western, not in a conventional sense, but it looks better and that’s the most important thing here, for you won’t find much change elsewhere. Especially when you look at the payouts; sorry, folks, but they’ve remained just as small.
Pauper of the West
Jack isn’t a very financially stable chap by the looks of things, even with his status of being the wild. He only has 12 credits to offer you, which is 4 less than the original game. Times have been hard, clearly.
What makes matters worse, and we’re sorry but it does get worse, is that all the other tiles have taken a hit in their monetary rewards as well. This is probably because of the increased number of winlines, with the logic being that you’ll consume more wins over time at a lower rate, but won’t lose out much in the way of winnings. It does make sense, but for those of us that like to see the potential, it’s lost in the sea of disappointment.
The redeeming feature, if there is one? The progressive jackpot. It was seen in the first game and it has returned to sprinkle some much needed pep on this slot machine. The value of the jackpot can change dramatically; when we played the jackpot was at 57 credits and climbing, but it has been known to reach higher totals.
How Do We Solve a Problem like Jack?
Sorry, Wazdan, but Wild Jack 81 just wasn’t needed. The increase in winlines hasn’t helped make us feel any differently, and nor does the return of the progressive final payout; this slot machine is so unnecessary. Even if players had wanted more reels on top of the first game, they can find plenty of more successful and rewarding alternatives outside of the Wazdan brand.
We don’t like to be grouches when it comes to games, but this title put us in a bad mood.
