Take a virtual trip to the Australian outback in Fear the Bear, a 5 reel, 50 payline video slot from Playtech. Despite its name, there’s nothing scary on offer here. Collect koala symbols to bring stacked wilds into play. There’s also a bonus round that awards up to 50 free spins. Play this low variance game on your computer, tablet, Android or Apple device from between 10p and £500 per spin.
Playtech has kept things simple here. That’s the case with both the design and gameplay. With a picturesque lake in the background, you’ll see lower value playing card symbols as well as higher paying animals. In order of value are frogs, lizards, platypuses and moles.
The top standard symbol is the bird which awards 2.5 times your total bet if you land 5 in a row. Appearing on the middle 3 reels only is the koala bear which is the wild. This substitutes for all standard symbols. Whenever a koala lands it climbs up a tree above that reel.
Once you have collected 4 koala wilds in a tree, you’ll trigger a Wild Drop feature – the wilds then fall down onto the reel below to create a stacked wild. You could land 3 stacked wilds on the same spin which can lead to some impressive action.
Landing 3 or more scatters on the same spin trigger the Free Games feature. You’ll pocket an award of 5, 20 or 50 times your total bet before receiving 10, 15 or 25 free spins. The Wild Drop feature is active during the free spins. Landing 3 or more scatters on the same spin results in a re-trigger and another round of 10, 15 or 25 free spins.
Fear the Bear is an unusual name for a video slot that’s as low variance as this. The top payout is just 125 times your bet per spin which won’t do much for serious jackpot hunters. You can expect a steady stream of smaller wins thanks to the low volatility though.
This animal adventure is a straightforward one. The design is nothing special and the low variance gameplay won’t be to all tastes. If you like the wild animal theme, then Fear the Bear is worth a quick look. This outback track isn’t one we’ll be coming back to regularly though. I would rather play Playtech’s Big Bear which comes with multipliers up to 36x.