Personal testers’ opinion about Space Enigma slot
Despite the win both ways technique, this game couldn’t gather fans and can certainly be considered a mishap of the Studio-creator. For comparison, another 10-liner with the same win system, the Star Gods slot from another Microgaming’s partner – Golden Rock Studio, also with the same release year, is reaping the rewards of success for its producers (ranking much higher in the global casino market) even with less theoretical return and lower maximum win prospect (95.97% and 600x the total bet prospect for the Chinese gods-themed slot).
It is not an enigma how a potentially good game can fall into oblivion just a year after its release.
The obvious reasons are:
- Clone of the iconic Starburst slot (2013 – NetEnt);
- Missing Free Spins;
- Very low hit frequency;
- Uneventful (swiftly getting dull) gameplay.
Because a usual machine has around 25-30% hit probability, you might think that winning both ways will produce a double so many hits. Nothing is further than the truth. Here the frequency of falling any combination is so poor (around 19%) soon after launching, you will start to search comfort no matter how much you win; just any win will do!
Plus, we need to specify a difference between the win left-right and in the middle – ‘win every way’ model and win left-right + right-left strictly. One such ‘win every way’ slot is Microgaming’s Sassy Bingo slot (a 9-liner from 2013), while a contender from the second group is Microgaming’s Crazy Chameleons slot (a 5-liner from 2015). Check them out to see the diversity.
Although the icons and the visual effects are decently executed, no one from our test team fell in love with the Space Enigma slot, mostly because of the mediocracy in every aspect: theme/design/payout/thrill. Almost all contemporary slots in Microgaming’s library have more impressive graphics. The paytable here contains 7 paying symbols + 1 non-value symbol.
It isn’t easy to establish how gratifying the paytable of win-both-ways slots is. The numbers we see are not generous (from 50x to 2.5x the total bet for 5OAK for all the symbols), but we need to consider the symbols can form combinations left-right and right-left. The non-paying symbols – the Wilds, are the glamour sell-out here. They come only on the central reels but will always expand and take part in consecutive Re-spins (max 3).
During testing, the Space Enigma machine regularly delivered 1 Stack of Wilds (we have never gotten 3 Stacks yet), and in most cases, 1 Wild reel doesn’t generate big wins. The common payout, in this case, is 2x to 12x the bet. 2 Stacks of Wilds and 2 Re-spins, however, can once in a while produce larger wins – 15x to 35x the total bet. The Re-spin action is exciting, giving you the perception that you are on a winning streak, but ends too quickly, and in fact, it is all the slot offers. Nothing more.
Altogether we leave a neutral suggestion to play here with bonus money or with real deposits. Unfortunately, the slot swiftly jades itself to a drab colourless dreariness, so only short sessions could be some variant for betting here, and after 1 good Re-spin, you better escape this space.
Features
- Wild – Multicolor star – is not paid, but as common replaces all other symbols. It can drop only on reels 2, 3, and 4.
- Re-spin – If a Wild falls, it always extends to a full reel. The formed Wild Stack first pays the given combination (if any) and then immediately triggers Re-spin. Any extra Wild landing also expands and grants another Re-spin. The ultimate combo is with 3 Wild Stacks and 3 Re-spins.
Settings
- Provider – All41 Studio (Microgaming)
- Payment lines – 10-fixed (both ways)
- Volatility – Medium
- The default range of bets – 0.10 to 100 CAD
- Playing field – 5×3
- The maximum winning is – 1000x the total bet
- Bonuses – Wilds, Stacked Wilds, and Re-spins
- Free Spins – No
- Progressive Jackpot – No
- Gamble feature – No
- RTP – 96.27% (allows getting a positive expectation of winning at the casino)
