Gonzo’s Quest Megaways: Overview
When NetEnt bought out Red Tiger in a deal worth hundreds of millions; it didn’t take long for the iGaming world to envisage what mashups might pour forth from the amalgamation. NetEnt’s illustrious back-catalogue combined with Red Tiger’s Megaways license quickly sprang to mind.
High on the wish list for a lot of players was Piggy Riches Megaways, which turned out to be a highly playable game. Even dearer to many hearts is the second NetEnt classic to get the treatment – Gonzo’s Quest. Well, it has happened, one of the most popular slots on the planet has been beefed up, redesigned, remade, revamped, blessed a second life, whatever you want to call it, thanks to Big Time Gaming’s popular Megaways engine.
The first impressions are pretty much everything you would hope they would be. It’s Gonzo, but a more modern, attractive looking version. Everything is crisper, sharper, more defined, not to mention bigger. Thanks to Megaways, players get 6 reels, with 2-7 symbols on each. Win ways vary on every spin from 64 all the way up to 117,649. Megaways slots typically use some sort of cascade mechanic, so Gonzo’s inherent Avalanche feature suits it like a charm. Pour in some sweet jungle sounds, and the playful antics of Gonzo himself by the reels and you can’t help but smile at the prospect of firing the game up.
Doing so requires selecting bets first. There isn’t a huge range of options, but enough to cover most requirements from 10 p/c toR$/€4 per spin. What cause the next shiver of delight are the stats, starting with an RTP of 96% which is bang on average and actually higher than the original. Volatility is also suitably high and has been paired with potential in excess of 20,000 times the stake. When it comes to figures, Gonzo’s could hardly be any better.
In a nice nod to the past, most symbols are the same as those in the original. Though there are a few changes. For one, they look nicer. Secondly, a new mask has been added to the top of the paytable, which is worth 15 times the stake for six of a kind. This premium is followed by four more masks of lesser value, and four low pay animalistic looking icons. Two more special symbols round off the paytable, which are covered below.
Gonzo’s Quest Megaways: Features
Those who like features will be please to know there is a bunch available in Gonzo’s Quest Megaways. They frequently appear during the base game, keeping play nicely balanced while climaxing in a round of free spins.
Avalanches are the most common, so it makes sense to start there. Each symbol in a winning combination is removed from the reels, allowing new ones to fall into the gaps. This means multiple winners are possible on a single spin since Avalanches continue as long as winning combinations keep landing. When no more winners appear it is on to the next fresh spin.
Avalanches are intimately tied to the next classic feature, the Avalanche Multiplier. On each Avalanche, the multiplier increases from x1 to x2, x3, maxing at x5 during the base game. The multiplier resets to x1 on new spins.
Shaking up the game, literally, is the new Earthquake feature which drops in randomly at any moment. When it does, all low pay symbols in view disintegrate, allowing only high pay symbols to fall into the vacated spaces.
The question mark wild symbols are back. This time as Unbreakable Wilds. Up to 2 can land on a spin - one in the first three reels and one in the second three reels. As the name suggests, Unbreakable Wilds do not disintegrate when used in a win but stay on the grid to help pull in more combos.
Last up is a triggered round of free spins. You’ll need the golden Free Fall symbols to do so, where 3 award 9 free spins, plus 3 additional spins for every extra Free Fall symbol in view. During free spins, the Avalanche Multiplier is increased, having values of x3, x6, x9, and x15. Free Fall scatters still turn up too, so the feature can be extended with no set limit.
One nice touch is when free spins end, the last Avalanche Multiplier is carried over and applied to the base game sequence that triggered the feature.
Gonzo’s Quest Megaways: Verdict
Due to its massive popularity as one of the most played slots ever released, Gonzo’s Quest was always ripe for a makeover. When you consider Avalanches come preinstalled, then a Megaways version had a sense of inevitability about it. Fate is inexorable, as they say, but that doesn’t guarantee success, so how does the game fare?
Well, anxious fans of the first can breathe a huge sigh of relief, because the remake is a real treat to play. The development team have hammered out the details while nailing the big elements to make Gonzo’s Quest Megaways a superb sequel. Crucially, everything that made the first one so much fun has been retained, and the sequel builds on the original while taking nothing away from it. Megaways has simply enhanced the experience, in all respects.
If there are no major concerns over the gameplay, there are even less about the stats. Indeed, you could take the numbers, throw them into the air and it would turn to sunshine. Okay, a slight exaggeration, but the RTP is a-ok, and potential clocks in at 21,000 times the stake, making it really hard not to like the new Gonzo. It might have taken a few years, and a massive corporate acquisition to achieve, but Gonzo’s Quest Megaways was well worth the wait.
You can’t please everyone though, so if we had to stretch for a possible objection, maybe some critics will claim it’s too much like the original? Same symbols, same characters, and same mechanics, perhaps. However, enough has been changed, altered, or added for the vast majority of players to think otherwise.
Yet, it’s still Gonzo at its heart, with all the frivolity that entails. NetEnt and Red Tiger are to be commended for making full use of what Megaways offers while not drowning out what made the original special. So, now Gonzo is out of the way, any guesses what the next NetEnt classic in line might be?
