Celebrate Mexico’s famous Day of the Dead festival in Fortunes of the Dead, a 5 reel, 50 payline video slot from NextGen Gaming and Side City Studios. Featuring garish design, the game comes with a pick me round, re-spins with added wilds and a bonus round where a sticky wild is added on each free spin. Pay your respects from between 50p and £500 per spin.
The Day of the Dead fiesta is usually a colourful affair and that’s certainly the case with Fortunes of the Dead – symbols include dripping candles, skulls, bowls of fruit and cauldrons full of spirits (the ghostly rather than alcoholic kind). The higher value symbols are a trio of skeleton characters. The senorita is the most rewarding of these, paying 250 coins if you manage to land 5 on 1 of the game’s 50 paylines.
Helping you to create winning combinations is the grim reaper wild – he substitutes for everything bar the scatter and awards 500 coins for a 5-symbol combination. There are 3 extra on offer in Fortunes of the Dead which are as follows:
- Once In A Wild Bonus feature – this can hit randomly on any spin. Once triggered, you’ll be given a single re-spin. 4 added wilds are guaranteed to land on that re-spin.
- Skull Bonus feature – land the skull symbol on reels 1, 3 and 5 on the same spin to trigger this pick me round. Select 1 of the 3 skulls to reveal a cash award.
- Free Games feature – you’ll be awarded 5 free spins if you manage to land the scatter on the middle 3 reels on the same spin. 1 sticky wild is added on each of those free spins to greatly boost your chances of landing a decent combination.
The design in Fortunes of the Dead is pretty brash – the visuals are hardly what you’d call subtle. They’re nicely done but the screen can feel a little cluttered and it takes a while to become accustomed to the set up. The brass heavy backing track is a great complement though. The features don’t offer anything we haven’t see before but the extra wilds make them worth hitting.
Fortunes of the Dead doesn’t have the glossy sheen of say Thunderkick’s Esqueleto Explosivo or Play ‘N Go’s Grim Muerto but the range of extras on offer make this virtual trip to Mexico one worth making.
