HYPERNOVA MEGAWAYS™ SLOT
It’s been difficult to discern excellence among the 2019 Megaways™ slots. Initially, Big Time Gaming was cautious with their crown jewels, and we all eagerly awaited their other releases like Extra Chili, but today you can’t move for expanding reels, multipliers, and free spins. And in their haste to release the next game, some game makers have lost the value of uniqueness. There are lots of Bonanza clones, but none of the early BTG spirit.
Apprehension when we launch Hypernova Megaways from Reelplay, who use their agreement with Relax Gaming to license the iconic game engine. Will this Australian developer have something fresh to offer or is this just another conventional Megaways™ slot?
To be fair, Reelplay has kept the six reel, 117,649 ways to win concept but has removed the free spins round and replaced it with a jackpot feature. It’s new, but it removes one of the highlights and major win drivers that made Megways so wonderful. So it won’t please everybody.
Let’s learn more.
Megaways Gameplay, Symbols, and Payouts
The reels float on a backdrop of deep space, with whirling blue and orange supernovas and galaxies to the left and right. The reels are delineated by neon blue lines, with rows expanding from two to seven for a 117,649 max win game. On the top of the main reels is a 4×1.
These are the low value symbols on the reels, whereas the high value symbols are sapphires, rubies, jades, and diamonds. Six diamonds on a payline pay 100x. A wild only appears on the top 4×1 reel set.
Hypernova Megaways
This game, like most Megaways™ slots, features cascading winnings, which means winning symbols are deleted and replaced after each winning spin. Iterate until no more win lines are formed.
Look out for the supernova scatter symbol, which has a monetary value. Six or more of them in a row activate the Jackpot Respin feature, Reelplay’s version of the Megaways free spins round.
The Jackpot Spins feature is a decent alternative to the free spins, however, it offers fewer winning possibilities. You get 3 spins with ALL the scatters held. Scattered symbols are kept and respins are reset to 3 if additional occur after a spin. Repeat until no more scatters land OR the grid is full of scatters.
During the jackpot feature, ALL scatter values are tallied together to give you your total prize..
NOTE: Scatters pay 1x to 100x OR a set jackpot of up to 2,000x.
VERDICT
I like Hypernova is a good slot game. The cascading victories feature keeps the action running well in the main game. Opinions on whether Jackpot Spins are a good substitute for free spins are divided. Whatever your stance, the possible gain of nearly 8,000x won’t deter you. To be honest, we like anything that deviates from the tried and true MegawaysTM format found in many other slots.
