In a Nutshell
Microgaming, the developer who have brought you fantastic slots such as Secret Santa, Immortal Romance and The Dark Knight Rises, have brought another exciting comic book character to life — this time it’s the turn of the Hell Boy slot machine to wreak havoc on the slot reels.
A Closer Look
Despite not being a part of the stable of either of the two comic book giants, Marvel and DC, but rather the smaller Dark Horse Comics, Hellboy has gained a profile which is up there with Batman and Spiderman (even though he’s only a boy!), primarily because of the success of the 2004 and 2008 films. Microgaming’s Hellboy video slot has followed on from this since its launch in 2010.
Even if you’re not a fan of Mike Mignola’s hellish creation, we think you’ll like this game. It’s pretty straightforward and no nonsense, with a movie-based soundtrack, comments from the ‘Boy’ himself, and some cleanly designed symbols against a red background (in normal play, that is).
The game has a maximum of 20 Paylines (you can select as many as you want from 1-20) and 5 reels with 3 symbols on each reel.
There’s a coin selector (1-10 coins) and a bet max function, but it seems like there’s no autoplay, although the game is such fun we can’t imagine you’d be needing that anyway.
The symbols on the reels of the Hellboy slot include his colleagues from the Bureau for Paranormal Research and Defense, Abe Sapien, Elizabeth Sherman, Johan Krause and Professor Trevor Brutenholm, as well as more conventional 10, J, Q, K, A symbols.
Wild symbols (the Hellboy logo) substitute for all symbols except the Scatter. 5 Wild symbols on a payline net the jackpot of 10,000 coins.
Scatter symbols -Â Hellboy’s red Right Hand of Doom - multiply wins according to the total bet staked. They also trigger the underworld bonus, on which more shortly.
Free Spins
This is where it gets interesting. Supermode is a randomly-triggered feature of the Hellboy slot, so it can happen at any time. When it happens, the background turns white, which thus reminds you that you’re in Supermode and not normal play (the symbols stay the same).
You get 10 free spins during Supermode — on the first of these free spins, Hellboy will randomly leg it across the reels, dropping 3 Wilds randomly as he goes…
…and yes, these Wilds remain on the reels for the duration of your Free Spins (in fact, the only very small downside that we can see is that the Free Spins cannot be re-triggered).
Bonus Features
Get 3, 4 or 5 Hellboy scatter symbols anywhere on the reels and you’ll be whisked to the Underworld round.
This is what really sets Hellboy apart as a video slot. There are 4 levels, with the ultimate goal of reaching the Chamber of Fire to claim the poetically-named Relic of Power, and huge winnings.
It’s gonna be hard though. Your way will be blocked by baddies including wolves, which you have to shoot at, and you only get one pick of which way to go per level (a blocked tunnel results in being returned to regular play).
On the other hand, releasing your trapped colleagues (noted above) will grant you bonus rewards.
On that note, what happens if you are in the enviable position of having both the Supermode AND the Underworld mode triggered at the same time?
Well, the Underworld mode will be played out first, so don’t be too disappointed if you don’t complete all levels, as you’ll immediately go on to the Supermode (though the Underworld round can’t be triggered during Supermode — that would be being too nice!)
Special Features
As if everything else isn’t enough, as well as, hell, having a Hellboy-themed slots game, for God’s sake…
…when you do make any winnings, you have the option to double or even quadruple your winnings.
Simply click ‘gamble’ rather than collect, and you’ll get the option to choose a card color (either red or black) and if you’re right, you double your winnings, or suit, in which case you can quadruple them!!!
Be careful though — get it wrong and you lose everything! On the other hand, if you feel like going for it, you can continue to double/quadruple or quits until your gambling limit is reached!