Just Hot Slot Machine

In the midst of a scorching summer, Just Hot is a reminder that it can be fun to be in the heat all year round. Who doesn’t love a bit of spice? Does this caliente slot game from WorldMatch get the taste buds going?

The Non-Spicy Heat Is On

The first thing you’ll notice is just how red hot it is. It’s a dark red background with flames at the bottom of the screen and a title that burns with passion at the top centre. The fact that the flames go behind the 5 reels ensure that the heat theme really does come through. While there’s less going visually than in other games, it is a more noticeable and clear theme than others.

Strange then, that the symbols don’t go for the same theme, either in relation to colour or spice. There are oranges, strawberries, cherries and a lemon, but ignoring the red, orange and yellow colours, there are surprisingly no red apple, tomatoes or banana. There are also the green fruits of kiwis and a grapefruit, but nothing spicy like a jalapeno, red pepper or chilli. The game could do with more.

The scatter symbol is rather surprisingly a diamond, and one of the icons is a 7. Lucky for some, but it’s certainly random here.

The fact that the same backdrop image is used for every screen is a pity. The main music doesn’t help as it’s really annoying. While the winning music is different, it isn’t long or distinctive enough to grab your attention. When the game is on pause, the greying of the screen is very neat though.

Not Quite Hell-Raising

This is a 5-reel, 5-line game that has simplicity as a big selling point. While you can’t change the lines, there’s plenty of flexibility with the betting options. Starting off with 1, you can choose to go to 2, 5, 20 or 50, 100 or 200 or use Max Bet to go straight to 200. These are measured in Euros. The same flexibility is evident when using the Autoplay. Rather than just start and stop, you can put set it to 5, 10, 25, 50, 100, 500 or 1,000.

The rules as explained are even simpler. So much so that the rulebook within the ‘i’ section can be skipped. The scatter, represented as a diamond, has its winnings worked out by the total bet amount as multiplied by the value of the symbol. The scatter symbols pay in any position and that win is added to any line wins. Only the most valuable line wins. As well as the bonuses, getting 5 of the scatter is worth 50, 4 is worth 10 and 5 is worth 2 credits.

In terms of which symbol you’ll most be looking out for, you could call it seventh heaven. The 7 is the highest by some distance, with 5 worth 5,000 credits, 4 worth 1,000 and 3 worth 100. Next in line are the green fruits of watermelon and kiwi that have a maximum value of 500. Strawberries, oranges and lemons are worth the same, with cherries being the least useful.

Not Hot Enough

Unlike most World Action games, it isn’t visually striking, but it does share the company traits of being extremely easy to navigate. Indeed, the paytable is only two pages, the second of which actually shows the five winning lines. Despite there being little else on the page, it is shown in a tiny size. The text is similarly small. If it was pivotal to you playing the game, you might want to get your magnifying glass handy.

It might not seem the kind of game where you want to share your score, but the options to do so are very easy. What you may find more impressive is being able to use the game toolbar controls. While initially it may appear to just be a shortcut to play the game, it also saves you using the other buttons to change the settings. This includes allowing you to set limits on wagering and open your private cashier depending on your licensee settings.

Just Hot Blows Cold

While you can win up to 5,000 credits, this game could do with more chance of rewards, or more bonus options. While the opportunity for more striking visuals and more apt symbols falls short, the lack of extras is really where it could do with improvement. Just Hot may go for fiery, but it ends up being more lukewarm.