Invaders Megaways

Invaders Megaways is one WMS’s latest interpretations of Big Time Gaming’s ubiquitous engine. Released in mid-June, the game still ranks highly in terms of online exposure and popularity. We wrote a brief review upon its release. But given that it continues to attract considerable attention among players, we thought we’d go into a bit more depth as part of our slot of the month feature.

Theme/Visuals

Invaders Megaways is strongly influenced by 1950s sci-fi movies and flying saucers. The game background also bears a very close resemblance to the promotional poster used for classic arcade button-masher, Space Invaders. The reels are set against farmland which is populated by an illuminated clapboard house, a crop formation and brooding sky.

Play is accompanied by a passable synthesised score that’s more 1980s than 1950s. Think Depeche Mode, Erasure and Yazoo all rolled into one (sorry Vince). It doesn’t really fit with the overall theme in our book, but then who cares. There’s a mute button after all.

How to Play Invaders Megaways

Low value symbols are represented by playing card letters (lord help us), while medium to high value symbols include cartoon renderings of an alien, a mad scientist, a cow, a ray gun and a frog. To win, you’ll need to land three or more from left to right on adjacent reels. The game logo is the most ‘valuable’ paying a paltry 4x your stake should it land six times.

Cascading Reels

As with most Megaways slots, the cascading win mechanic is active. Thus, all winning symbols drop off the game area to be replaced with new ones which fall from above the reels. The process continues until winning combinations are no longer possible.

Wild Selector

For each base game spin, a symbol is chosen randomly to serve as a wild. This is performed by a UFO which flies left and right across a row of symbols installed above the main reel set zapping one of them. Should the zapped symbol appear on the second, third, fourth or fifth reels, it will become wild for that particular spin as well as any cascades that might follow. These substitute all others to help form winning combos.

Mythical Unicow Feature

For this feature, a cow with wings randomly flies across the game area during a base game spin shooting rainbows onto the reels, making them display between 7 and 10 symbols. As a result, the standard 168,070 win ways increases to 1,000,000. Sadly, you’ve got as much chance of encountering this feature as you would an actual flying saucer.

Free Spins Bonus Round

The free spins bonus round is triggered by landing four, five or six planet scatter symbols in any position. The earth-like background then switches to an alien planet and you’ll receive 7, 10 or 15 free spins. Unveil scatters during the bonus round and you’ll receive up to 15 free spins. For the duration of the round, the UFO will randomly select from the five high value symbols – this becomes a wild and includes its own modifier. These are as follows.

Free Spins Bonus Round Modifiers

Should the Invaders logo be chosen as wild, the symbol expands to cover an entire reel. The Scientist comes with a multiplier which is doubled with each win, beginning at x2 and increasing to x256 if you’re very, very lucky.

The Alien increases the number of symbols for the reel on which it lands as well as the reel adjacent to it. Because of this, the win ways increases to 1 million. When the cow is selected, it turns all cow symbols into x2 wilds. Finally, for the Ray Gun an extra wild is added for each ray gun symbol that emerges although this only applies to the main free spin instead of any subsequent cascades.

Conclusion

Invaders Megaways isn’t the fastest-paced slot game we’ve come across in all honesty. And the symbol values leave a lot to be desired. Thankfully, the cascades go some way in compensating as far as the base game is concerned. But naturally it’s the free spins round where the big wins are to be had thanks to those modifiers.

RTP: 96.3% , Minimum Stake: 0.25

Dale Shelabarger

Freelance Contributor, creating content since 2003

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