The 300 Shields series of online slots has been a source of nightmares for a huge section of high variance slot lovers over the past decade – I suspect that many of you reading this will understand exactly what I am talking about without any further explanation! These games promise ridiculous returns, but those returns are so rare and require such a long and difficult set of circumstances to occur before they can be won that anybody who begins to play these games is almost sure to find themselves screaming in frustration eventually! This latest incarnation of the franchise, titled 300 Shields Mighty Ways from SG Gaming, is a 729 pay way game with a 95.99% RTP and a maximum win cap of €250,000.
The feature set is short yet sweet – a “Mighty Ways” payout mechanic is used, increasing the number of pay ways from the initial 729 up to a maximum of 262,144 if you hit enough consecutive winning combinations, whilst the shield symbol returns as the bonus scatter, awarding an initial 5, 7, or 10 free games depending on the number of triggering symbols. A bonus buy facility is also available if those features are permitted within your jurisdiction.
Most of you will already be familiar with the 300 Shields games, and I suspect those who are will skip the review and go straight to the free play version of the slot. If you haven’t seen these games before, why not have a read up first? Then you should go and spin the reels on our free demo slot of 300 Shields Mighty Ways below… we’ll warn you, though – these are extremely fun online slots!
| Provider | SG Gaming |
| Reels | 6 |
| Rows | 3 |
| Paylines | 262,144 |
| Bonus Rounds | 1 |
| Bet Range | 0.20 - 20 |
| Volatility | High |
| Max Win | 250,000x |
| Bonus Buy | Yes |
| RTP | 95.99% |
| Our Rating | 8.5 |
300 Shields Mighty Ways Slot Casino Bonuses
300 Shields Mighty Ways Slot Free Play
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300 Shields Mighty Ways Slot Theme, Stakes, Pays & Symbols
The 300 Shields franchise is loosely based on the Roman Empire, or perhaps it is the Nordic period… it’s hard to say, actually. I guess the most definitive explanation of the theme would be any ancient warrior culture, so similar games might be the Thunderstruck games from Microgaming or a grid slot such as Play’N’Go’s title Rise of Olympus. I’m sure you can picture the general idea from this basic outline – think bows and arrows, knives, spears, longboats, and other similar imagery, and you will be right on track. The graphics are reasonably attractive, but I wouldn’t give the presentation full marks, especially considering that all of the symbols are re-used from a game that is over a decade old.
On the other hand, the paytable is where things start to get much more interesting. The highest paying symbol is a guy with his bow and arrow primed in your direction, and he is worth 10x the current bet for a full pay way of six-of-a-kind. That might not sound like much, but keep in mind that there are 729 payways right from the start, and that number can grow by several orders of magnitude if you hit several consecutive wins. Many other games that work this way pay just 2x or 3x the current bet for a full pay way, so 10x is a very reasonable sum for a game with this type of structure. The mask symbol takes the second-placed spot with a return of 5x for all five, followed by the longboat at 2.5x, and finally, the knife and arrows, which pay 1.5x for five-of-a-kind. All the lower paying royal symbols pay less than the current wager for a full pay way, and there is no special payout for any of the wilds or scatter symbols. Don’t worry about these latter points, however, as this game is all about luck (and an absolute tonne of it, to be precise) and the bonus round.
As for the betting range, the minimum amount permitted per round is €0.20, whilst the maximum has sensibly been limited to €20.00. Considering the insane volatility of this game, this seems like a sensible decision on the part of SG Gaming.
Base Game & Modifiers
The standard game looks just like the earlier 300 Shields game at first glance; however, upon closer inspection, you should notice that this time around, there are six reels rather than the usual five. Previous 300 Shields games used traditional pay lines, whilst this one opts for payways instead; this means that you can score a win by hitting matching symbols anywhere on the reels starting from the left, rather than needing them to be in specific locations.
Games that feature pay ways allow you to win a little more often, but generally, those wins will be worth less than they would in a game that uses pay lines. As far as 300 Shields – Mighty Ways is concerned, things certainly seem to pan out this way. The game delivers a few dead spins, but you will often find yourself hitting three low-paying royal symbols and winning less than the value of your wager.
Mighty Ways
Many online slot developers seem happy to pay the licensing fee for Big Time Gaming’s industry changing “Megaways” payout mechanic, and indeed SG Gaming has done this themselves several times in the past. For this game, however, the developer has come up with a new payout mechanic called “Mighty Ways”.
After any win, the symbols that form the winning combination will be immediately removed from the reels, just like any other rolling reels/cascading reels slot. The difference with Mighty Ways is that after this takes place, every symbol which forms part of the winning pay way will increase in height by one symbol, and this process can continue until every reel has a height of eight symbols for a total of 262,144 pay ways.
The current number of pay ways is displayed above the reel set at all times and will be reset back to 729 after there are no more cascading wins to be awarded and a new paid spin is required to set the reels in motion once again.
300 Shields Mighty Ways Slot Bonus Features
The shield symbol acts as the scatter in the 300 Shields Mighty Ways online slot and appears on all reels during both the base game and the bonus round. Hitting three, four, or five scatter symbols will award five, seven, or ten free games, respectively, whilst hitting all six scatters will grant you the “Super” free games.
All wins that include at least one wild symbol are doubled in value during the free games mode. The free games feature works exactly like the base game in that the size of the playfield will grow with each consecutive winning combination, but the real aim now is to collect as many shields as possible.
After collecting at least two shields, the game will award you an additional five free spins with a 5x multiplier. Collect four more shields after this, and a third set of free spins will be awarded – this time with a 25x multiplier. If you can collect 12 shields in total, you will see the final phase of the bonus round, where all wins are multiplied by an insane 300x.
If you are lucky enough to hit three shields on a single spin at any point during the free spins feature, the game will automatically advance you to the next stage of the bonus round, although I never saw this during testing.
Super Free Games Feature
The “Super” free games feature can only be accessed using the bonus facility or by hitting all six scatters during the base game. You will receive five free spins with all warrior wins multiplied by 300x right from the start. Other than this, the super free games work exactly as the normal free games feature.
Bonus Buy Feature
You have two options in the bonus buy feature of 300 Shields Mighty Ways – for 50x the current stake, you can purchase a regular bonus round, with the number of free spins being randomly decided depending on the number of triggering scatters that fall after purchase.
Alternatively, you may pay an unbelievable 1,566x the current bet to go straight to the super free games feature. You only get five free spins, so it’s an incredibly risky proposition, although I did seem to make a profit roughly 50% of the time that I tried this option during testing. Despite more than three dozen attempts, I never made it past the second stage of the bonus, so be warned – getting to the later stages is extremely difficult.
300 Shields Mighty Ways Slot Review Final Thoughts
This is everything you would expect from a 300 Shields game – insane volatility, unbelievable winnings up for grabs, and a frustratingly difficult bonus round that you are almost sure to be desperate to see the later stages of but likely never will. The worst thing is that when you finally get there, you may end up winning nothing, making the whole thing futile.
Still, high variance slot lovers won’t be able to resist giving this game a try – I speak from experience. Have fun, folks!
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