Monster Wheels

The roar of the engine, the high adrenaline of barrelling down the track, the hellish flames as you steer around to avoid getting hit by a grumpy frog in a light-brown car. One of these doesn’t quite sound right, and that’s because the title Monster Wheels means actual monsters and not the size of the tires that they drive on.

Join the otherworldly racers in the hellish flames as they work to outrace one another for the big prize at the end of it all. And there’s plenty you might want in this slot. With changeable paylines and a choice of what kind of free spins you want, there’s a fair bit of greatness that this Microgaming title can bring.

We’re a bit in the middle of the graphics here. The racers all have a very distinct look to them and they’re quite fun to look at. How the frog, for example, has his race car look like a fishing boat or that the Frankenstein’s monster apparently likes his vehicles a hot shade of pink. Each and every one of them looks distinct and eye-catching, which is a great boon for the title. That said, the lower paying symbols are simple poker card icons, and as such, feel a bit lazy compared to the racers.

As for gameplay, Monster Wheels just offers a shrug to gamblers and points you to the free spins bonus. There’s really not much to do outside of chasing those Scatters in this slot, which can get a bit boring in between rounds. The fact you can change up the paylines somewhat does allow you to mix it up from time to time, but there’s really not a lot we have to say when it comes to just spinning the reels. It will never pay off unless you get the free spins coming in.

So, you’d naturally assume that free spins are a more or less guaranteed win that, once you get them, you win, right? We thought so too, but we either had some really rotten luck or Microgaming decided that giving people wins was overrated when it came to luck based games where people bet their money. Our highest win was 80x stake, hardly anything mind-blowing. However, the real worst part of it was that we once had a 6 free spins multiplier, added four more by winning additional Scatters, and despite all of that, we won nothing in it. This sort of thing really should not be possible, considering how rare free spins are.

And while the symbols themselves are great, the shared ones feel a lot less detailed. It’s easy enough to take a look at one of the small racer symbols and you’re more or less able to imagine what sort of character you’re dealing with. All six give the same amount of cash, which makes them about equal to see on the reels, and Microgaming could have made a fun special feature by allowing you to prioritize one racer for a few free spins instead of a multiplier choice.

Once you win three Scatters at the same time, which only appear in the first, third and fifth reel, gamblers are allowed to pick between 3 free spins with an 8x multiplier, 6 free spins with a 4x multiplier or 12 free spins with a 2x multiplier. Additionally, Monster Wheels rewards additional free spins if you score at least one Scatter while the feature is active, and if you get three again, it retriggers completely.