Aurora Wilds slot is Neon Valley Gaming's first for Microgaming

A game about the fabulous Aurora Borealis? I have to admit, that I was all-in on this brand new game from Neon Valley Studios, who have produced it as part of their exclusive agreement with Microgaming, as I am something of an Aurora fan.

This wonderful natural event occurs when charged atoms and particles from the sun interact with the Earth's magnetic field. These interactions cause the Aurora and it is the different elements within the atoms from the sun that give the Aurora it's different colours. Oxygen tends to give off yellow and green colours, while Nitrogen produces more reds, violets and on occasion blues.

You have to be at certain latitude and have a bit of luck with cloud cover and sun activity, in order to spot Aurora, but now you can experience them in a different way as part of the new slot game from Neon Valley.

So, let's take a closer look at the game itself and see whether this win both ways slot is as spectacular as those famous lights themselves.

Overview

• Game: Aurora Wilds
• Developer: Neon Valley Studios
• Reels: 5
• Pay Lines: 10 (non-selectable)
• Minimum Bet: 0.10
• Maximum Bet: 60.00
• Jackpot: 2,000x
• Free Spins Bonus: No
• Other Bonuses: Yes
• Progressive: No
• Volatility: Medium

Presentation

The Aurora Wilds is set against the backdrop of North American countryside, with big skies and of course, the Aurora Borealis flaring up in the skies. The graphics are nicely done with the ever-changing nature of the Aurora captured nicely at the top of the reels and the varying colours also clear to see.

Beneath this are the four jackpot prizes. These are the Mini, Minor, Major and Grand and these are not progressive prizes but offer a range of wins from 15x your stake up to 2000x your stake.

The main controls of the slot are at the foot of the reels and the sound is somewhat generic and I can't quite make out what atmosphere it is trying to create. To me it sounds rather like an early Jean-Michel Jarre piece and I am not quite sure it works well with the slot. However, you can hit mute if you want to turn it off.

What is on the reels?

When it comes to what is on the reels, there are some interesting symbols to take note of. These are designed to look like a variety of animals and other items from nature but have been designed to be made up of shapes and I have to say, the outcome is rather attractive on the eye and somewhat unusual.

There are five of these more "natural" symbols on the reel and this includes a rabbit, fish, turtle, moose and a bird of some form (although what type of bird, we cannot quite fathom out). Each symbol is a different colour to help with differentiating them on the reels.

There are two high value symbols, the 7 and the bar and these offer the largest value wins in the game, up to 26x your total stake if you can land 5 of the bar symbols on any one of the ten pay lines in play.

There is just one other symbol on the reel, which is the in game Wild which leads us to the main bonus features of the game.

Wild features

The gemstone is the in game Wild symbol and this can appear on the middle three reels. When you land a Wild on the reel, it turns into an Expanding Wild, moving to cover the wheel in full. This can trigger one or more pay line wins if you are lucky.

In addition, you get to re-spin the other reels once again when you land a Wild which can of course land you further wins. In addition, if you land another Wild on the reels, this will also hold in place and re-trigger another re-spin. You can do this until you land all three Wilds on the reels, or your turn finishes.

Free Spins and Other features

There is no Free Spins feature on the Aurora Wilds slot but what there is instead is a Jackpot Wheel bonus game. Overlaid on some of the symbols in the game are a small golden jackpot wheel and if you can land three of these symbols across the reels, then you will trigger a spin of the Jackpot Wheel.

In this game, you will get to spin the Wheel to land a cash prize. These are the Mini, Minor, Major and Grand Prizes listed above and these offer wins of 15x, 50x, 100x and 2,000x your total bet if you are lucky enough to spin the reel and land the bonus. Of course, the Mini jackpot is the one that pays out most often, with the bigger value jackpots paying out considerably less frequently.

However, it can take a fair amount of time to trigger this bonus and as such, it tends to be the Expanding Wild and Re-spins bonus that offers players the best chance of a win in the game.

Best feature of the Aurora Wilds slot

The best thing about the Aurora Wilds slot is that it has a win both ways structure. By this we mean that you can win left to right across the reels on any of the ten pay lines, but also win right to left across the reels too. Essentially, this means you get 20 lines in play although you only pay for 10 on your spin and that is a decent deal for slots players.

Conclusion

If you have a sense of déjà vu with this Neon Valley Gaming release then that is because it shares some similarities to the Banana Odyssey slot that was released a few days prior to this and both these games may be based on the classic slot Starburst.

What I like about Microgaming's efforts is that they have added to the basic game that Starburst provides with some additional bonuses, in Banana Odyssey it is Free Spins, in Aurora Wilds, it is the Jackpot Wheel bonus.

Essentially, if you enjoy games that offer Expanding Wilds, Re-spins and Win Both Ways, then you will enjoy what Aurora Wilds has to offer. It is a fun and enjoyable slot and its extra features makes it perhaps more appealing than the original game it was based on.

You can play Aurora Wilds slot at any of our Mega Moolah casinos.