Drone Wars Pokies
Thankfully this pokie has nothing to do with the political hot potato of remote control weapons used in real battles, as it’s set in a sci-fi environment where players take their seats and shoot aliens over a couple of bonus rounds.
It’s all got a bit of an older style, and it’s not the newest game in the universe, but stick with it and you will find some retro-inspired fun, while because it comes from the Genesis Gaming company, it is reliable, trustworthy and pays out at a fair ratio.
Buckle Up
A somewhat fussy design with a star field background and reels that are supposed to look like the view out of a cockpit window greets players when they launch this pokie. It’s not off-putting though as the 5 reels themselves are clear enough and symbols are presented in bold colours with sharp graphics.
The soundtrack is a funky electro-style tune that plays along as the reels spin, adding to the old-school feels of this game.
This game has 25 paylines, so players can use the digital-style control panel below the reels to select bets from a tiny 0.01 to a whopping 500.00 per spin, although activating all 25 lines for a stake of just 0.25 guarantees that all winning combinations are added to a players’ bankroll.
Drone Wars
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The basic winning combinations are created by 3 or more of the same symbol stopping across an active line, running from the left hand reel across to the right, with 4 or 5 of them bringing in much bigger prizes.
The classic 10, J, Q, K and A symbols make up the lower end of the paytable and are presented in a suitably futuristic style, while further up we find a ray gun, spaceship, pilots and robot, all designed to look like computer generated images from a couple of decades ago.
A strange purple swirl that could be an alien (who knows?) is a wild symbol that carries the highest values when landing in the right places, while also carrying out the traditional wild function of substituting for other symbols if that will help to complete a winning line.
The black hole scatter icon pays out no matter where it lands, with all wins from it being multiples of the total bet, not just the coins per line like others. If 3 or more appear, players have a choice of entering either of the bonus games.
Choose the Space Attack round and 5 free spins commence, during to which an alien drone will zap a number of symbols into wilds that stay on the reels for any remaining spins and can result in a much higher win ratio. The free round can be re-triggered by more scatters landing.
If the Planetary Assault game is chosen, players enter a bonus round that looks like an old arcade game. The aim is to destroy alien drones before they deplete your shields and the round ends. If 20 drones are wiped out, then a win equal to 50x the triggering bet amount is paid, but should they break down the 4 levels of shielding before then, the round ends with any coins collected so far being awarded.
Although the choice is up to the players, the Planetary Assault prize is likely to be more than they will earn during the meagre 5 free spins, even if extra wilds are in play. Maybe alternating between the rounds each time they are triggered until a favourite is decided upon is the way to go.
A Shining Star, Or a Black Hole?
This is quite an unusual pokie, which isn’t a criticism, just an observation. It has the look of a sci-fi movie from the 1990’s, or even earlier, but even without taking its appearance into consideration, the bonus rounds are different from those found in other games.
It’s nice to be given a choice of free spins or an arcade style game, while the extra wilds or big wins that each one offers are some real highlights.
Other notable things about Drone Wars are the impressive betting range, that will suit pretty much all budgets, and the extra wins created by wild and scatter symbols.
So if classic science fiction appeals, or you remember playing Asteroids and Space Invaders, then Drone Wars is a great way to bring back those memories.