Do you know what a Bandolier is? I certainly didn’t before coming across this latest release by industry stalwarts Play’N’Go! It’s named Wild Bandolier and seemed to have a Wild West theme, so it seemed fair to assume that whatever this item may be, it would be related to some gunslinging action of some kind or another! Sure enough, a Bandolier is a pocketed belt for holding either individual bullets or belts of ammunition. This is a 20-payline machine that has a default RTP of 96% – casino selectable, however, as with all of Play’N’Go’s other releases – but it’s the exceptionally low maximum win of just 2,000x the total stake that is the real letdown in my view.
Can the feature set do anything to try and improve what is currently looking like a very average release? Well, we do get a Wild Bullet Modifier capable of adding up to six wild symbols anywhere on the reels before each spin – that’s a good start but certainly not enough, in my view. There are only three scatters on the reels, and hitting all of these will trigger a free spin bonus round that can award up to 40 guaranteed wild bullets – I do like this part, as many games require you to hit the maximum of five scatter symbols to receive the most generous set of bonus features. Every free spin also comes with a multiplier of up to 5x attached, and there’s even a Bandit Modifier which can award a set of free spins – no scatter symbols required!
Did you ever play that old laserdisc game Mad Dog McCree? It’s pretty shocking by modern standards, but it was a total money spinner in the arcades back in the day when so-called ‘Full Motion Video’ games were all the rage. I never really understood that term – what exactly is NON-full motion video? Anyway, I digress, but our free demo slot of Wild Bandolier does give me certain pangs of nostalgia for that ‘classic’ arcade shooter!
| Provider | Play'n Go |
| Reels | 5 |
| Rows | 3 |
| Paylines | 20 |
| Bonus Rounds | 1 |
| Bet Range | 0.10 - 50 |
| Volatility | Medium |
| Max Win | 2,000x |
| Bonus Buy | No |
| RTP | 96.00% |
| Our Rating | 6.0 |
Wild Bandolier Slot Casino Bonuses
Wild Bandolier Slot Free Play
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Wild Bandolier Slot Theme, Stakes, Pays & Symbols
So first of all, here’s a Wikipedia link to a page on Bandolier’s, complete with the guy with a moustache who looks rather proud of what I assume are probably like .335 sniper rounds or something… they sure as hell ain’t fitting in that 9mm that I keep under my pillow… for emergencies, obviously (Note to over-zealous police offers – I’m joking). The Wild West slot category used to be entirely dominated by Dead or Alive, but that situation has changed dramatically over the past couple of years as more and more high-quality games have been added to the category by a plethora of developers. Recent examples include Wild West Duels and the awesome Wild West Gold Megaways from Pragmatic Play. We were promised a Megaways update to Dead or Alive by NetEnt in late 2022, but unfortunately, that machine has yet to surface.
So, how many bandoliers does it take to change a light bulb? I have no idea, but I bet you could cause a lot to need replacing with just one of them! The wild symbol is the most valuable symbol on the paytable with a return of 100x the total bet for all five symbols, which is a hefty premium over the highest-paying regular cowboy symbol, which only pays 25x the total bet for a full payline of five of a kind. There’s another cowboy with a rather impressive set of sideburns, and he’ll get you 20x your bet should you manage to hit a full payline of five of his symbols. Three medium pays include a gun and holster with a return of 10x, a whiskey bottle at 9x, and a cowboy boot at 8x – some heavy originality on the choice of symbols there, Play’N’Go! As for the low pays, five aces or kings return 5x the total bet, followed by five queens at 4x, five jacks at 3x, and five tens at 2x for a five-of-a-kind winning combination.
Play’N’Go has scrapped their usual quick-bet selection bar in this release for some reason, but the minimum/maximum betting limits are still relatively sensible at €0.10 and €50.00 per spin, respectively.
Base Game & Modifiers
Wild Bandolier uses the traditional five reel, three row video slot layout, spanned by 20 fixed paylines. This combination is as old as the video slot genre itself and provides a sensible compromise between playfield size and the number of active paylines. This is important, as the more paylines you have, the smaller the prizes will always be when you hit a five of a kind combination – just compare the tiny wins for six of a kind hits on your typical Megaways slot for conclusive proof of this!
Wild Bullet Modifier
At the start of any spin, up to six wild bullets may be fired at the reel set in random positions. Wherever these bullets land, the regular symbol that lands in that position will be transformed into a wild symbol. During the bonus round, a sure-fire number of wild bullets is guaranteed to hit the reels.
Bandit Modifier
This is a cool little modifier – look out for the bandit before any base game spin, as when he appears, he will automatically grant you a set of free spins without needing to catch any of those pesky scatter symbols! I only saw the bandit appear once during my testing of the game – I’m not sure if that was lucky or unlucky, considering that I played the game for well over an hour during the time that I was writing this review! Either way, though, you really can’t argue with a ‘free’ set of free spins!
Wild Bandolier Slot Bonus Features
Bonus scatter symbols appear on reels one, three, and five only, and you’ll need to hit all three simultaneously to trigger the main ten free spin bonus round. Alternatively, the bandit may decide to show up, as I mentioned above, and award you a set of free spins without any scatters necessary whatsoever!
Free Spins
After the free spins have been triggered via the scatter symbols or the bandit modifier, your next task will be to select a wanted poster to determine the minimum number of guaranteed wild bullets that will hit the reels during the bonus round!
The available choices are 15, 25, or 40, but these are only minimums – it’s actually possible for even more wild bullets than this to hit the reels whilst the feature is active. Unfortunately, the free spins cannot be re-triggered, though!
If you get lucky enough to hit the maximum of 40 wild bullets, this effectively guarantees you either four wild bullets on all ten of your spins or at least six with a maximum of six wild bullets. The best part is that every free spin in this mode will also have all winnings boosted by a multiplier of up to 5x!
Pros
- Very low top win cap of just 2,000x the total bet.
- The bandit modifier is awesome; it’s just a shame that he doesn’t seem to show up very regularly!
- Free spin multipliers of up to 5x combined with up to six wilds per free spin present great opportunities to hit big wins.
Cons
- The feature set offered here just doesn’t seem to work with such a low jackpot.
- Casino selectable RTP, which can be shockingly low.
Final Thoughts
Ah, what a shame – Wild Bandolier has a great feature set, a couple of fantastic modifiers, and an exciting and fun bonus round. The tiny jackpot of just 2,000x lets the game down massively, though, and as much as I’ve enjoyed playing the game whilst writing this review, I can’t recommend that you play this one for real money unless you are a particular fan of low-volatility machines.
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