The legendary time of running old oil rigs in the American west has been distilled into a well-known online slot by StakeLogic. This is a full Megaways game that can trigger winning outcomes of up to 21,195x your bet across a maximum number of 117,649 win-ways.
Slot players have a chance to benefit from seven odds-boosting reel modifiers, including win multipliers. The action unfolds through the cascading wins mechanic which is quite famous to regular slot players. If you are ready to work the rig and pump out some crude oil into cash winnings, you can claim a new casino bonus or read our full Black Gold 2 Megaways slot review.
For players who aren't familiar with it, the cascading wins or avalanche mechanic is a gameplay feature that extends the possibility of landing additional wins from the same bet.
When a winning outcome has been made, the symbols are cropped out of the layout and replaced by new symbols. For most of the symbols you need at least three of a kind for a win.
Winning combinations must land on adjacent reels starting with the leftmost reel. Black Gold 2 Megaways slot has a wild symbol that can substitute for any symbol and a scatter/bonus symbol that can trigger the main feature.
StakeLogic, the maker of the game, has included the Super Stake option as part of the action. You can toggle the respective button to double the cost of your bet in exchange for a higher frequency of reel modifiers and scatter symbols.
You can begin to play the game by pressing the round button on the right - the one consisting of two arrows. Before you go for the first spin you may want to check out the default bet.
To change the bet simply press the minus and plus buttons until you arrive at your desired value.
Black Gold 2 Megaways comes with a range that is quite limited, between 20p and £5.00 per spin. That is, between 40p and £10.00 if you decide to play with the SuperStake option.
You can set up the Autoplay option to play the game with automatic spins and you can also add an optional spending limit or a single win limit.
To view the paytable press the menu button, as it takes you straight to it. In this area you can see the symbol payouts and few other details regarding the gameplay, but nothing that we don't cover in our Black Gold 2 Megaways review.
In terms of graphic design the Megaways layout can only allow room for some special effects and just a little bit of symbol animation. Nevertheless, looking at how the gameplay can unfold, we are rather happy with the visual end of things.
One of the modifiers causes oil to gush out from the bottom and onto the respective reel. The symbol swap feature does that ellegantly and the tiles, which are made of parched western earth, crack and explode when they are cleared during a cascade.
The background is also well-made and complements the premise with parts of the rig moving and pipes letting out steam. Overall, Black Gold 2 is fun to play due to the design.
In terms of payouts, we have a game that has an exciting win maximum but the symbols on their own struggle to make an impression. This is typical for slots with a standard Megaways gameplay and layout but mostly it is because of the cascading wins mechanic.
The symbols are divided in two categories. The values of the low-paying cards range between 0.1x and 1.25x your bet. You'd have to get six symbols of the same kind to return your full bet on a winning spin, however.
The above doesn't include any proceeds from potential cascades/avalanches. Black Gold 2 Megaways slot has four standard high-paying symbols. The lantern, the helmet, the donkey and the proprietor can pay between 0.25x and 50x.
Most valuable symbol of the game is that of the proprietor. You can win 2x your bet by landing two of a kind or 50x your bet for a full sixer across the reel set.
In terms of volatility, the game has a highly volatile probability engine. Playing the game, we got the impression that you can land all kinds of winnings, from small to big, but it takes time for the big wins to appear and they do so on few occasions.
All this is to say that, lucky players can land big wins in the base game but with the help of the reel modifiers or free spins and modifiers combined.
We said at the top that the game comes with seven reel modifiers. These are triggered from the Bonus Reel which sits atop the standard six-row reel set.
A reel modifier is triggered when one of the respective symbols stops in the center of the Bonus Reel.
The following are the reel modifeirs that can make Black Gold 2 Megaways an unpredictable gaming experience.
Four scatter symbols (tower) starts you with a choice from three bonus modes:
12 free spins plus 3 extra spins for each scatter that lands; cascades start with a win multiplier of 1x.
8 free spins plus 2 extra spins for each scatter, but the win multipliers begin with 5x.
5 free spins plus 1 extra spin for each scatter; win multipliers start with 10x.
This is one of the two main features. When it triggers you can get three or upgrade to four respins. This is essentially a Hold & Respin feature but one that can add a special symbol for the respective reel modifier.
The coin/bonus symbols do the usual, they carry a prize that gets added together at the end. The special symbols do the following:
Even if you don't like action movies, the guys in this game can give the enemy a bloody nose and land winning outcomes as big as 20,000x your bet. StakeLogic released a second game under The Expendables title, again, with a Megaways engine, medium to high volatility and RTP of 96.08%. One thing is for sure when it comes to this reel adventure - it can take many sharp turns and arrange for surprises with the help of more than a few extra features.
Online slots that have a Megaways engine can be either mediocre or superior in terms of the amount of excitement they can arrange for the player. This game is definitely not mediocre. With so many extra features in tow, you can get a good boost in your chances for a win but, be warned, this is a high volatility game so you need to pace your bets and make your budget last for at least one bonus feature to trigger to see how you fare.