Space Battle Slot Machine
Online casino games developer Fugaso, or Future Gaming Solutions has taken their name quite literally with their futuristic slot machine, Space Battle. Not only is it filled with out of this world symbols, like spacecraft, robots and laser cannons, but it’s also got some amazing features such as respins with sticky wilds and free spins with rising multipliers to blast winnings into orbit. Outstanding graphics, some all-action gameplay and a high return to player percentage of 96% are just some of the attractions of this great-looking game. It sets the five reels and 20 paylines in a head up display to make players feel like they are piloting their ship towards the colourful backdrop of planets and gas clouds.
Fugaso might not be the best-known developer of casino games, but this Russian company has been in the business since 2001. Since then, their odyssey has seen them build up a good reputation for releasing slots under their own brand, co-creating games with others and providing an all-encompassing white label solution for operators who wish to start their own online gambling sites.
Their slots are all optimised to play on Apple, Android and Windows smartphones or tablet computers, as well as on desktop PC’s. Space Battle looks just as good on the smaller screens of these devices although the eerie sci-fi soundtrack, interspersed with loud laser blasts and explosions could be a bit distracting if you’re playing in a public area. It’s quite effective at home though and unlike many online slot machines which are improved by muting the volume, this one works pretty well at creating an atmosphere. Well, it would if there was an atmosphere in space, but you know what we mean.
Having a Blast
Despite the futuristic looks, standard gameplay the Space Blast video slot works in a traditional way, with gamblers needing matching symbols in an unbroken sequence across a payline from the left side to win prizes. How much they win depends on which symbols are seen. The high-card 9 and 10 icons, are given a blocky design that actually makes them hard to read, but are each worth 5x, 20x, or 75x the amount staked per line when they stop on three, four or five reels.
J’s and Q’s are worth a little more, while the K and A symbols each pay 20x, 30x, or 120x the line stake. Picture symbols only need to land on two reels to be worth something. Players will see grenades and a laser cannon paying out between 2x and 250x the line stake,plus a space station that’s worth up to 500x. Landing one type of spacecraft across a payline will see wins of between 10x and 750x the line bet paid out, while the other is valued at 15x to 1000x.
The top-paying symbol is a mean looking robot, perhaps the baddie of this space tale, but he’s on our side as the wins form this symbol range from 25x the line stake right up to 5000x depending on how many reels he’s across. This guy is also the wild symbol, so if he’s in the right places to complete winning combinations, he will substitute for all others, apart from the game logo and you still get paid out for a line of matching symbols.
Space Station Respins
Any win that includes picture symbols or the wild is accompanied by some outstanding animations, with various explosions and firing cannons and sound effects to liven things up. But if the space station appears in any positions a unique reel respins feature is triggered and the small spacecraft that players will have seen poised at the sides of the game come flying into action as radar waves spread out across the screen.
One of the spaceships will fire at a random reel position and if they hit any space station symbols, it turns into an extra wild that sticks on the reels for a free respin. This can get repeated if more space stations turn up in the extra spin, with more and more wilds getting added to the reels.
Moving Multipliers in the Free Spins
The game logo is a scatter symbol that’s worth 2x the total bet when it’s in any two places, while three, four, or five will pay 3x, 20x, or 100x, followed by ten free spins. In these games you have a couple of ways to claim more prizes, with each successive winning spin raising a multiplier for the next spin by 1x. On any losing spin it moves back down a level, but if you land a few wins in a row, it’s a great way of multiplying prizes, and in a perfect run, it can rise to 9x the base level.
On top of this, the space radar scans the reels in every free spin, turning random symbols into extra wilds, so it’s easier to get those winning lines in the first place. More free games can be won with three or more game logo scatter symbols, potentially over and over with no high limit.
Galactic Gambles
Coins values can be adjusted from 0.01 to 1.00 and you can play between one and ten coins per line. All ten lines are active at all times, giving you a bet range of 0.10 to 100.00 per spin, which should suit all but the highest of high rollers.
Fugaso also have a free Space Battle video slots mode, but to win anything you’ll need to play with real cash and with a return to player percentage of 95.99%, it makes sense to skip the freeplay mode.
Slot Trek
If you want to trek over to similar games, then there’s lots of choice as outer space themed online slot machines are always among the most popular. The Space Adventure video slot from Rabcat is a case in point, where players spin the reels in orbit and blast their way into several bonus features along the journey. These include free spins and a fun mini game, where you pick asteroids for prizes. A 50/50 gamble feature can see wins rocketing in value. With high-quality graphics and symbols such as astronauts, aliens, meteors and robots, Space Adventure is an atmospheric game that plays out over five reels and 25 paylines.
Williams Interactive have released a number of Star Trek themed games, including a version called Red Alert. Based on the original 1960’s TV show, Red Alert takes gamblers on an adventure that beams down an incredible number of bonus features. These include Scotty filling reels with wild symbols, Spock multiplying wins by up to 10x and an unlimited number of free spins in the main feature. This exciting online casino slot goes through several levels of gameplay when players collect medals.
A Game with Universal Appeal
Although some people will be new to slots from the Fugaso games developer, with titles like Space Battle in their range we think their time has come for much wider recognition. Assuming you like the theme, and if you’ve read this far, we think you do, it’s an outstanding game in just about every respect.
From the excellent animations to the rewarding bonus features that boldly go where no slots have gone before, Space Battle is an outer space themed slot game like few others. The worst thing we can say about it is the playing card symbols aren’t very clearly designed, but that’s hardly a deal breaker.
