In the Battlestar Galactica slot the Ion Storm Bonus makes five reels Wild!

I am old enough to remember the first Battlestar Galactica series of films that starred Dirk Benedict as Starbuck and Richard Hatch as Apollo, along with Lorne Greene as Commander Adama. Back then, the Cylons were a race of robots that had a voice like Metal Mickey.

The modern reworking of that 1980s classic has seen the Cylons take on a more dangerous role as the humanoid antagonists. Other than that, many of the main characters remain the same from the original films and as such, with the TV series proving to be a hit, Microgaming have released a fantastic slot based on it.

Packed to the brim with bonus features, this 5x3 reel slot is a medium variance game that offers the chance to win up to 70,000. So what else does this slot have to offer? We decided to take the fight to the Cylons ourselves and find out a little bit more about the game.

Overview

• Game: Battlestar Galactica
• Developer: Microgaming
• Reels: 5x3
• Pay Lines: 243 Ways to Win
• Minimum Bet: 0.30
• Maximum Bet: 15.00
• Jackpot: 70,000
• Free Spins Bonus: Yes
• Other Bonuses: Yes
• Progressive: No
• Volatility: Medium

Presentation

It has to be said that along with other film and TV tie in slots, like Terminator 2, Game of Thrones and Jurassic Park, the Battlestar Galactica slot is absolutely outstanding in terms of presentation. From the sound, to the graphics, to the video cuts taken from the show, everything in the slot oozes quality. The animations are slick and the game just clicks together like a well-oiled machine, which is rather fitting as that is precisely what the original Cylons were in the forerunner to this series.

There are so many nice touches including the ability to unlock more content as you gain in rank in the game that it is hard to fault any aspect of how this slot has been presented to customers. It is a feast for the eyes and ears.

What is on the reels?

There are the five lower value symbols on the reels, which are the playing card symbols. I would have preferred something a little more technologically advanced than this to be honest, but I suppose they are universally recognised as lower value symbols nowadays. Wins range from just a fraction of your total bet (1/6) up to 2.5x your total bet if you can land five aces across the reels.

The higher value symbols are all members of the Battlestar Galactica cast and there are eight in total, listed in order of the least valuable to the most valuable they are Tyrol, Ellen, Helo, Col. Tigh, Six, Baltar. The last two, Apollo and Starbuck are the two most valuable symbols in the game and pay more than 13x your bet.

There are a number of other symbols on the reel as we shall see in the sections below and all are linked to the main bonus features of the slot.

Wild features

The standard in game Wild is the Battlestar Galactica Insignia that the crew wear as a badge. This symbol serves two purposes, it can act as a substitute for the standard symbols on the reels and it can also be landed across all five reels to offer payouts of up to 20x your total bet.

One thing to note is that the Wild symbol is stacked on the first reel and as such, it can turn this reel entirely Wild. This is the case in both the base game and also during the Free Spins bonus round.

However, there is also another Wild feature which is the Ion Storm bonus. This is a randomly occurring bonus which can happen on any spin and when it does it can turn between one and five reels entirely Wild. Obviously, the more reels that you can turn Wild on the bonus, the better your chances are of landing a big value win.

Free Spins features

The spaceship Scatter symbol is the key to the Free Spins bonus round in Battlestar Galactica. You need to land three or more to trigger the Free Spins round which comprises of 15 Free Spins. In addition, you can win from 5x your bet up to 50 times your bet depending on whether you land 3x, 4x or 5x the Scatter on the reels on your trigger spin.

During your Free Spins, which can't be re-triggered, you will also receive a 3x multiplier on all wins in this part of the game, which is where some of biggest cash prizes can be landed.

The other bonus features to note, one of which can award Free Spins, is the fact that the game mode can be changed at any point during the game. The slot will start in standard mode, but at random points it can switch to either Run or Fight mode. Each of these modes has a different bonus applied to it.

In the Run mode, all wins on the reels will pay the usual left to right, but also right to left. Furthermore, if you can land the FTL symbol on the middle reel will mean any of the lower value symbols (10 to the Ace) will all be turned into a random higher value symbol to award more and higher value wins.

If your game switches into Fight mode, then Wild symbols can be added to the reels at any time. Furthermore, any Wilds landed on the reels can split into two to create more winning combinations of lines across the reels. Furthermore, if you can land three or more Scatters during this bonus, you will receive 5 Free Spins during the feature.

Once either of the Run or Fight features are completed, then the game will revert back into Standard mode.

The final nice touch on the Battlestar Galactica slot is that the more you play the more you will increase your ranking as an officer on the star ship. As you progress through the rankings as you play the game, you will unlock more video and sound related content linked to the show on the slot.

Best feature of the Battlestar Galactica slot

There are so many features in the Battlestar Galactica slot that picking just one at the best is a very tough task. The Free Spins bonus is great fun when you can hit it and the different game modes and the fact they trigger randomly, makes the game hugely different at times. However, my favourite feature is the Ion Storm bonus. It doesn't trigger that often but when it does it can make up to five reels Wild and lead to some fantastic wins in the base game.

Conclusion

This is another astonishingly good slot from Microgaming. The game looks and sounds superb and it has been crammed to the brim with top ranked bonus features. Allied to that, the base game has a number of features too, many triggered at random, and the chance to progress in rank unlocking new content as you go. If you love science fiction and slots, then Battlestar Galactica is a must play game.

You can play Battlestar Galactica slot at any of the Mega Moolah casinos.