Barcrest Hercules High & Mighty Slot Review and Free Play

Go back in time to the land of the ancients in Hercules High & Mighty, a myth and legend themed video slot from Barcrest. The game lives up to its High and Mighty name by playing on a standard 50 payline game engine that can expand vertically to offer 100 paylines. Other goodies come in the form of a bonus feature that awards up to 40 free spins. Join the Gods, on all devices, from between 10p and £500 per spin.

As we mentioned in the intro, the game engine in Hercules High & Mighty is a little unusual – in the base game, the 5 reels offer 50 paylines. Look out for Hercules, who is the game’s wild and can unlock another 50 paylines. When a 3-high expanding wild lands in full it will open up the Mighty Reels (which are above the standard set) and offer a total of 100 paylines. The wild expands to will the whole of the that reel on the new Mighty Set with a new payout consideration made. This is known as the Mighty Reels feature.

The other symbol you’ll really be hoping to see is the coin scatter – land 3 or more of them anywhere on the reels and you’ll trigger the Free Spins feature and with it 8, 12 or 20 free spins. The Mighty Reels feature can also come into play during the feature so hope to see Hercules work his magic. More free spins can be re-triggered if the scatters fall nicely giving you up to 40 free spins.

This being a Barcrest powered video slot gives you Big Bet options – these are a series of 5 linked spins that offer some extra features if you’re prepared to pay:

• £20 Big Bet – opt for this and whenever a single wild lands (rather than 3 of them), the Mighty Reels will be opened up.
• £30 Big Bet – once again, the Mighty Reels are unlocked with a single wild. The lower value symbols are removed from play throughout your linked spins.
• £50 Big Bet – the lower value symbols are removed here too and the Mighty Reels only require a single wild to be unlocked. Whenever the wilds land here, they’ll remain frozen in place for the remainder of your Big Bet series.

The more you wager, the better the Return to Player (RTP) rate. Play at below £2 per spin and it’s 94%. That increases to 96% at over £2 per spin. Play in Big Bet mode and it improves to 98%.

The design on show in Hercules High & Mighty is pretty impressive, conjuring up the ancient world. Look out for the usual playing cards alongside comic book symbols featuring the multi-headed dog Cerberus, Hydra, a lion, winged-horse Pegasus, Hera and Zeus. They can land fully stacked to fill entire reels.

The ancient gods have provided excellent source material for plenty of video slots – Hercules High & Mighty is another quality addition to the genre. It may not quite have the variety on offer from the Playtech Age of the Gods series but there’s still plenty to like. Well designed, the expanding game engine is an innovative extra – throw in the free spins feature and Hercules High & Mighty becomes a very playable option.