Alive! Megaways

Alive! Megaways: Slot Overview

Mention the two words 'It's alive!' and images of a wild-haired scientist pulling an electric lever to animate some fleshy creation instantly comes to mind. It must have done at Skywind Group, who has used the concept of Victor Frankenstein and his monster to base their slot Alive! Megaways on. The game bears a closer resemblance to the Gene Wilder film or the Boris Karloff classic than Mary Shelly's gothic masterpiece and comes replete with a stock Megaways features plus a newer Play It Your Way gamble feature to test out.

An eerily lit stone constructed lab is where Alive! Megaways plays out. Okay, it's not the most original of locations, but Skywind has presented it quite well, loading the scene with mist, electrical discharges, and lab accoutrement. It all adds up to a pleasingly scientific atmosphere, very Victor Frankenstein, and amplified by a thrilling soundtrack that gives the game an enjoyable Lovecraftian feel. Taking centre stage is the game grid, made up of 6 reels, holding 2-7 symbols each, plus a horizontally spinning reel holding 4 symbols. Each spin reveals a different number of symbols on the reels, giving players up to 200,704 ways to win.

Much like the monster on the slab receiving the gift of life, Alive! Megaways is a highly volatile game that produced some tough moments during testing. This was especially true of the Play It Your Way feature, which requires some thought because you can end up risking a lot for minimal reward. Another thing about Alive! Megaways that needs some planning is bet selection. Base bets may be set from 20 p/c to $/€200 per spin, yet this is only half the puzzle. The other half is whether to activate the Double Chance feature. Doing so literally doubles the chance of winning free games but increases the stake by 25% in the process.

In total, 10 pay symbols appear throughout the game of varying types. First are four club suits, then nuts' n bolts, and pink potion bottles. Higher value symbols are four characters where you'll bump into an assistance type, a dame, a scientist chappie, and the monster as the highest payer on the table. As to values, winning combinations comprised of 6 premium symbols are worth a payout of 1 to 10 times the stake. One more symbol for here is a Descartes-style brain in a vat wild, landing only on the upper reel to substitute any paying symbol.

Alive! Megaways: Slot Features

When it comes to features, Alive! Megaways mixes up the old and the new, so there will be bits you've seen countless times in a Megaways game, others not so much. One stalwart is titled Dynamic Action Symbols, which is basically mystery symbols. When these hit, they transform into a matching pay symbol for a win calculation.

Getting some coins out of Alive! Megaways starts by landing matching symbols left to right from reel number one. Wins trigger the cascading Extra Chance feature, clearing winning symbols from the board giving players a second chance to win by dropping new symbols into the gaps. Cascades roll on until no new win hits.

The highlight is a round of free spins, known as Unlimited Multiplier Free Games. This is triggered when 3 scatters land to award 8 free games, while any additional scatter in view adds +4 more spins. During this bonus round, a win multiplier is used. The multiplier starts at x1 and increases by one after a symbol removal by the Extra Chance feature. Extra free spins can be won during the feature, when 2, 3, or 4 lever symbols land on the upper reel, awarding 2, 4, or 8 additional free games.

When free spins conclude, players can participate in the Play It Your Way feature. Here you get 3 choices;

• One is to collect the winnings and head back to the base game.
• The other is to gamble the winnings on 1, 2, 4, 8, or 16 extra free games, where the more spins, the less likely you are to win them. Keep in mind that losing forfeits all of the winnings – though there is a chance of winning a consolation prize. Don't expect much, though.
• The third option, however, lets you gamble for more spins, but you can bank some of the winnings first. Doing so reduces the chance of winning free games.

One last feature before ending this section is the bonus buy function. If available, players can buy 10 free spins for the cost of 100x the stake.

Alive! Megaways: Slot Verdict

Being Skywind's third Megaways game, you can see a progression as their expertise has grown, which is a positive sign. So far, they have used fairly common themes, though, from the start, the studio has also shown a creative feature flair. The first was the Tom Hardy lookalike-led Book of Gems Megaways, which cleverly married a 'book of' bonus game to the Megaways engine. The next, wildlife-filled Big Buffalo Megaways was less adventurous yet did interesting things with multipliers.

Now we've got Alive! Megaways to dissect. Again, a lot of Alive! Megaways is pretty predictable, what with its cascades, mystery symbols, and free spins + win multiplier. The game has been presented in a nicely atmospheric way, however, so it offers classic Megaways gaming with a dash of style.

Alive! Megaways is really a game for players who like to try their luck via the add-on gamble feature. Play It Your Way is the bit that may grab these sorts of players' interest. Be wary, Play It Your Way can be absolutely ruthless and losing everything for the sake of a few extra free spins is a real kick in the nads. Maybe banking a chunk and yoloing a portion on the 16 free games bet might be a thrill for some? It's something to demo first to see if it fits your temperament.

Other than Play It Your Way, Alive! Megaways is pretty much business as usual, though it is packaged rather neatly. It has all the necessities for an entertaining Megaways session, including a max win of 20,000x the bet, plus there are a few gambling instruments for players who like to push their luck to experiment with.