When Microgaming released their 108 Heroes Video Slot, Asian-themed games were having their 15 minutes of fame – Fu Er Dai, Samurai Split, Thai Flower, Fortune Temple… just to name a few. With so many easily recalled from memory, the total must have been in the dozens at the very least! Such a short window, and so many similar releases – it seems logical to ask how does this one compare? It’s a 15 payline game, and the RTP is high at 96.56% – but the maximum win is low at just 1,875x.
As far as mods and features go, 108 Heroes main offering is a bonus round that awards 15 free spins at a 3x multiplier. There is an additional pick-me bonus too, awarding between three and five random cash prizes depending on the number of triggering symbols. If that sounds a bit too familiar, you aren’t imagining it – this is yet another clone of Microgaming’s Tomb Raider game from way back in 2004.
This is an interesting fact because 108 Heroes was originally released by IGT as a land-based game before Microgaming licensed the name from them to create an online version. I’ve never seen the IGT version, so have no idea if it was completely different, but it does seem highly unusual that Microgaming would buy the rights to the name of a slot based on its popularity among patrons of both the Las Vegas Strip and the casinos of Macau, only to then use the name to create a lazy clone? Whatever the case, we do have the free demo slot of 108 Heroes available below:
| Provider | Microgaming |
| Reels | 5 |
| Rows | 3 |
| Paylines | 15 |
| Bonus Rounds | 2 |
| Bet Range | 0.15 - 75 |
| Volatility | Low |
| RTP | 96.56% |
| Our Rating | 7.7 |
108 Heroes Slot Casino Bonuses
108 Heroes Slot Free Play
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108 Heroes Slot Theme, Stakes, Pays & Symbols
Okay, so as we have yet another Tomb Raider clone here behind the scenes, we might as well talk a little about the legend from which the 108 Heroes Video Slot gets its name. The tale goes that an old Chinese novel written describes the 108 heroes of the Suikoden – honourable bandits, supposedly, I guess you might compare them to a Chinese version of Robin Hood. The story became very popular in Japan around the turn of the 19 century, which seems to contradict the stated date of publication of 1830 written in the same article. Nevertheless, the story was immortalised thanks to a Japanese artist named Utagawa Kuniyoshi, who made a series of twelve prints based on the tale which are now extremely valuable works of art. Sadly, none of those artworks is featured in the slot, and the music is a fairly generic oriental sounding theme. It feels as if Microgaming could have made more effort here in every area.
At minimum bet, the bonus symbol has a payout of €3, €4, or €5 matching the number of bonus symbols hit. Five scatters pays a respectable 400x stake, but this drops to just 50x for four. The wild symbol takes the top spot at 500x stake for five of a kind, but the games main symbols top out at only 17.5x – not very exciting by modern standards.
The betting range begins at €0.15 and maxes out at €75.00 per spin – an enormous range of 500x! This, along with the above-average RTP of over 96.50%, surely demonstrates the low variance of the slot. Still, there must be a lot of people who enjoy this type of lower variance game considering how many times this engine has been repurposed over the past decade and a half!
Base Game & Modifiers
After a short time playing this game, I was already feeling pretty disillusioned – I don’t feel that the underlying engine and math model has stood the test of time as well as Microgaming does. The standard 5×3 layout with 15 paylines is fine, but the bonus symbols needing to be on a pay line constantly catches me out whilst playing, leaving me feeling disappointed. Worse still, the fact there are both scatters and bonus symbols mean that often you will have one set blocking the other, resulting in a high number of dead spins.
The Kings Treasure Feature
Line up three or more treasure chests on a payline and you’ll be taken to a fresh screen with a pick-me bonus for your enjoyment. You get to open more chests if the triggering spin includes more chests, and it also appears the prizes increase in value for four and five symbol triggers as well. Unfortunately, the result is often underwhelming – apparently, it is possible to win up to 2,500x from this feature, but I have never seen anything close to this either personally or recorded by other players.
108 Heroes Slot Free Spins Feature
The free spins haven’t been given any kind of fancy name in the paytable, and perhaps that is because there isn’t very much to get excited about. The standard paytable is enhanced with a 3x multiplier, and you can even win the bonus game during the free spins too. The winnings do not get multiplied by three when this occurs though, which seems a bit unfair of Microgaming to me!
108 Heroes Slot Review Final Thoughts
Tomb Raider was a fun game for its day, and there is nothing wrong with reusing an old engine so that a new generation of players are more likely to give your older games a shot. The trouble is, 108 Heroes seems just too underwhelming compared to the games being created from scratch in 2022. If you enjoy low variance games, give this one a try – you’ll get a good nights play out of it provided you use a little bankroll management. If you are looking for huge wins though, look elsewhere.
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