Featuring 8-bit graphics, a plinky plonk backing track and a top free spins round, Flame Busters is a retro-flavoured arcade style video slot from Thunderkick. Played using a 5 reel, 243 ways to win game engine, it comes with transforming symbols and a bonus feature that awards up to 30 free spins. Unlock levels during those free spins to add more mystery symbols into the mix. Stakes range from between 10p and £100 per spin.
Thunderkick is 1 of the developers that has made the online casino world up its game as far as design is concerned and Flame Busters is another superb looking game – the visuals take their cue from classic Commodore 64 style computer games.
The setting is a tower block frequented by an unusual assortment of wizards, robots, pirates and goats. They’re joined by lower value playing cards as well as a wild which replaces everything apart from the scatters and mystery fire symbols.
When that fire symbol hits, it transforms into a special mystery symbol. Look out in the base game for the randomly triggered Fire Drill feature – this turns between 1 and 5 symbols into mystery fire symbols. The fire fighters blast their hoses onto these symbols and they all more morph into the same matching symbol. A new payout consideration is then made.
Flame Busters also comes with a Bonus Game feature – to trigger it, you’ll need to land 3, 4 or 5 of the Alarm Bell scatter which will get you 10, 15 or 20 free spins. Every time you land an Alarm Bell scatter during the feature, it is collected.
Every time you amass 3 of them, you’ll trigger the Coin Ignition feature and unlock a floor to the apartment block and an extra 2 free spins will be added to your tally. On the unlocked level, the lowest value symbol is replaced by a mystery fire symbol which can transform just as in the base game. These new Mystery Fire symbol remain in play once they’ve been unlocked. There’s 5 levels in total with 10 extra free spins and 5 Mystery Fire symbols to be had.
We were pleasantly surprised by what we found in Flame Busters – the blocky graphics are a retro delight, as is the Casio-keyboard style backing track. The gameplay isn’t the most complex you’ll come across (which is perhaps just as well given the old-school theme).
The mystery transformers land often enough in the base game to keep the action ticking over nicely though. The free spins round is a good’un too, especially if you manage to unlock multiple new levels. Fans of a certain age will love the retro flavour on offer in Flame Busters.
Even if those heady days were long before your time the goodies on offer in the bonus round make Flame Busters pretty hot property. It’s also a high variance game with potential payouts of up to 5,280 times your total stake on each spin! I recommend you also take a look at Thunderkick’s other offerings with Esqueleto Explosivo and Luchadora superb choices.
