Demon Beats review
NetEnt
Some say rock 'n' rollers sold their souls to the dark side, but in NetEnt's slot Demon Beats, the band isn't serving the underworld; they're doing battle with it. The group has found themselves rocking out in a temple infested with demons, and the inhabitants of this place are, in the words of the game docs, 'pissed' about it. Rather than packing up their instruments and making a run for cover, the four-piece turns up the volume to play on, with the ensuing showdown providing the backdrop for a slot that combines colossal symbols, expanding wilds, escalating multipliers and a couple of bonus rounds that step up the mechanics.
The demonic showdown begins outside the temple, where symbols land in front of a doorway depicting a horned entity with glowing eyes that doesn't look very inviting. But the band, who look like they could have wandered straight out of Gorillaz, are clearly professionals, meaning if their manager has a gig booked for them, golly gee, they're going to play no matter the venue. Free spins sees the group bravely rush inside, where they're confronted by, well, the glowing-eyed entity again, in a glowing columned place where the music takes a decidedly more energetic turn. Factor in the cut scenes, the short intro, the count-up sequences, and Demon Beats comes across as a well-polished slot, with a hip modern Asian-inspired slot vibe.
Before the show can begin, players are able to choose a stake of $/€0.20 to $/€100, while NetEnt's Elevate menu sits just above the bet selection buttons where ante bets and feature buys can be found. A 5x4 matrix is the gaming area, where 178 connected bet lines are provided for linking winning combinations. The math model has been set to a high volatility, and of the three RTPs, 96.08% is the default.
Six symbols land on the reels, made up of 4 low-pay rats, snakes, monkeys, and warthogs, then two high-value tiger and dragon symbols. Five matching low pays award 1x to 2x the bet, while 5 matching high pays are worth 4x to 10x. After a winning combination has paid, the winning symbols disintegrate, and the grid is refilled by symbols dropping downwards. Avalanches repeat until no new win is created.
The features are wilds, colossal symbols, multipliers, a Battle feature, free spins, super free spins, and Elevate buys.
Wild symbols expand to cover the entire reel. If there is a colossal symbol on that reel, it converts to a colossal wild. If a Wild symbol expands over another wild, it gets a multiplier of x2. Each extra wild that expands over a wild with a multiplier increases its value by +1 up to x10. A single wild with a multiplier that is part of a win multiplies by the multiplier under the reels. Multiple wilds in the same win add their values together and multiply by the multiplier under the reels. Wilds substitute regular pay symbols and are worth 10x the bet for a 5-wild winning combination.
Colossal symbols are 2x2 in size and can land anywhere on the reels, though not on reels with scatters, super scatters, other colossal and Battle symbols. Colossal symbols that are part of a winning combination are removed, along with all symbols anywhere on the reels matching the colossal symbol. If the surface below the colossal symbols is uneven, it crushes symbols until it is even. If a spin does not produce a win, all colossal symbols and their matching symbols explode. Colossal wilds disappear, but regular wilds stay on the grid, as do the symbols that appear the most on the reels.
In the base game, multipliers of x1, x2, x4, x8, x16, x32 can be seen beneath the reels. When there are wins or exploding colossal symbols, the multiplier moves to the next level. The multiplier resets to the lowest value for each new base game spin. During Free Spins, the multipliers under the reels are x1, x4, x16, x64, x256, x1024, and they also reset to x1 when there are no wins. In super free spins, the multipliers are x1, x4, x16, x64, x256, x1024 and multipliers never reset. The Multiplier Upgrade may trigger randomly after the first spin of the main game, changing the multipliers to the free spins ones.
Battle symbols can land in any phase. When a Battle symbol lands on a non-winning spin, and there are no colossal symbols on the reels, the Battle feature triggers. During the Battle feature, up to 2 colossal symbols or up to 3 wild symbols land to cover the Battle symbol by landing on top of it or through the wild expansion. When the Battle symbol is fully covered, the feature ends.
Landing 3, 4, 5, or 6 scatter symbols in the base game awards 8, 10, 12, or 14 free spins. If at least one of the scatter symbols is a super scatter, then super free spins are awarded. During free spins and super free spins, colossal, wilds and Battle symbols can land at any time, and both rounds benefit from the upgraded multiplier values. Landing 3, 4, 5, or 6 scatter symbols during either feature awards 3, 4, 5, or 6 extra spins. If free spins upgrade to super free spins, 3, 4, 5, or 6 scatters award 8, 10, 12, or 14 additional spins, respectively.
The Bonus Hunt costs 2x to have 2x the chance of triggering free spins or super free spins, while the Bonus Hunt Extreme costs 10x to have 7x the chance. For 25x the Multiplier Upgrade upgrades the multipliers, and for 50x, a Battle symbol is guaranteed. Players may also buy free spins for 100x or super free spins for 300x the stake.
Thematically, NetEnt has designed a striking setup, immersing players in an Asian-style setting which is a million miles away from the overdone clichés that infest this particular slot genre. Instead of stock dragons on the screen, maybe some koi and a turtle, the studio has created a neat world of good, evil, demons, and heroes. The graphics are pleasing to the eye, while the music has a fitting escalation in tempo and intensity as play moves from the base to bonus rounds. Add in the cut scenes, the count-up sequences, and there is a nice sense of storytelling, making Demon Beats feel like a lot more than just another collection of Asian-inspired symbols spinning around a grid.
Technically, it's clear that Demon Beats was not spawned in a vacuum, and there are cousins within NetEnt's portfolio it seems to have drawn from. One of the most obvious is the link to the studio's conquistador series Gonzo's Quest, which shares a number of commonalities such as the cascade-to-rising-multiplier effect and Gonzo's Quest 2's colossal symbols. Demon Beats is no clone, though, even if there is some shared DNA. Its multiplier system has been reworked, so the trail's values are much higher than in the original Gonzo - up to x32 in the base game, and much, much higher in free spins, where it can hit x1,024. Better yet, the multiplier does not reset between super free spins, making that a highly sought-after phase. Greater and possibly sticky multipliers change the way the game plays out, presumably leading to fewer runs of consecutive wins than Gonzo, but with more impressive results if Demon Beats manages to reach its upper multiplier levels. Players also need a win to take advantage of big multis, and the game could often go far to the right on the trail, then not land anything on the reels, which is kind of to be expected.
Demon Beats turned out to be a creative evolution of some familiar NetEnt ideas. The colossal symbols, cascading wins and escalating multipliers provide the base, while the Battle feature and super free spins round create extra distance from Gonzo. It's a slot that may ask players to accept some dead air in exchange for the possibility of its mechanics coming together, but when the game is doing its thing (possibly up to a cap of 10,000x the bet), Demon Beats can put on quite a show.
Demon Beats takes some familiar NetEnt mechanics and transforms them into an entertainingly chaotic demonic showdown.
The demonic showdown begins outside the temple, where symbols land in front of a doorway depicting a horned entity with glowing eyes that doesn't look very inviting. But the band, who look like they could have wandered straight out of Gorillaz, are clearly professionals, meaning if their manager has a gig booked for them, golly gee, they're going to play no matter the venue. Free spins sees the group bravely rush inside, where they're confronted by, well, the glowing-eyed entity again, in a glowing columned place where the music takes a decidedly more energetic turn. Factor in the cut scenes, the short intro, the count-up sequences, and Demon Beats comes across as a well-polished slot, with a hip modern Asian-inspired slot vibe.
Before the show can begin, players are able to choose a stake of $/€0.20 to $/€100, while NetEnt's Elevate menu sits just above the bet selection buttons where ante bets and feature buys can be found. A 5x4 matrix is the gaming area, where 178 connected bet lines are provided for linking winning combinations. The math model has been set to a high volatility, and of the three RTPs, 96.08% is the default.
Six symbols land on the reels, made up of 4 low-pay rats, snakes, monkeys, and warthogs, then two high-value tiger and dragon symbols. Five matching low pays award 1x to 2x the bet, while 5 matching high pays are worth 4x to 10x. After a winning combination has paid, the winning symbols disintegrate, and the grid is refilled by symbols dropping downwards. Avalanches repeat until no new win is created.
The features are wilds, colossal symbols, multipliers, a Battle feature, free spins, super free spins, and Elevate buys.
Wild symbols expand to cover the entire reel. If there is a colossal symbol on that reel, it converts to a colossal wild. If a Wild symbol expands over another wild, it gets a multiplier of x2. Each extra wild that expands over a wild with a multiplier increases its value by +1 up to x10. A single wild with a multiplier that is part of a win multiplies by the multiplier under the reels. Multiple wilds in the same win add their values together and multiply by the multiplier under the reels. Wilds substitute regular pay symbols and are worth 10x the bet for a 5-wild winning combination.
Colossal symbols are 2x2 in size and can land anywhere on the reels, though not on reels with scatters, super scatters, other colossal and Battle symbols. Colossal symbols that are part of a winning combination are removed, along with all symbols anywhere on the reels matching the colossal symbol. If the surface below the colossal symbols is uneven, it crushes symbols until it is even. If a spin does not produce a win, all colossal symbols and their matching symbols explode. Colossal wilds disappear, but regular wilds stay on the grid, as do the symbols that appear the most on the reels.
In the base game, multipliers of x1, x2, x4, x8, x16, x32 can be seen beneath the reels. When there are wins or exploding colossal symbols, the multiplier moves to the next level. The multiplier resets to the lowest value for each new base game spin. During Free Spins, the multipliers under the reels are x1, x4, x16, x64, x256, x1024, and they also reset to x1 when there are no wins. In super free spins, the multipliers are x1, x4, x16, x64, x256, x1024 and multipliers never reset. The Multiplier Upgrade may trigger randomly after the first spin of the main game, changing the multipliers to the free spins ones.
Battle symbols can land in any phase. When a Battle symbol lands on a non-winning spin, and there are no colossal symbols on the reels, the Battle feature triggers. During the Battle feature, up to 2 colossal symbols or up to 3 wild symbols land to cover the Battle symbol by landing on top of it or through the wild expansion. When the Battle symbol is fully covered, the feature ends.
Landing 3, 4, 5, or 6 scatter symbols in the base game awards 8, 10, 12, or 14 free spins. If at least one of the scatter symbols is a super scatter, then super free spins are awarded. During free spins and super free spins, colossal, wilds and Battle symbols can land at any time, and both rounds benefit from the upgraded multiplier values. Landing 3, 4, 5, or 6 scatter symbols during either feature awards 3, 4, 5, or 6 extra spins. If free spins upgrade to super free spins, 3, 4, 5, or 6 scatters award 8, 10, 12, or 14 additional spins, respectively.
The Bonus Hunt costs 2x to have 2x the chance of triggering free spins or super free spins, while the Bonus Hunt Extreme costs 10x to have 7x the chance. For 25x the Multiplier Upgrade upgrades the multipliers, and for 50x, a Battle symbol is guaranteed. Players may also buy free spins for 100x or super free spins for 300x the stake.
Thematically, NetEnt has designed a striking setup, immersing players in an Asian-style setting which is a million miles away from the overdone clichés that infest this particular slot genre. Instead of stock dragons on the screen, maybe some koi and a turtle, the studio has created a neat world of good, evil, demons, and heroes. The graphics are pleasing to the eye, while the music has a fitting escalation in tempo and intensity as play moves from the base to bonus rounds. Add in the cut scenes, the count-up sequences, and there is a nice sense of storytelling, making Demon Beats feel like a lot more than just another collection of Asian-inspired symbols spinning around a grid.
Technically, it's clear that Demon Beats was not spawned in a vacuum, and there are cousins within NetEnt's portfolio it seems to have drawn from. One of the most obvious is the link to the studio's conquistador series Gonzo's Quest, which shares a number of commonalities such as the cascade-to-rising-multiplier effect and Gonzo's Quest 2's colossal symbols. Demon Beats is no clone, though, even if there is some shared DNA. Its multiplier system has been reworked, so the trail's values are much higher than in the original Gonzo - up to x32 in the base game, and much, much higher in free spins, where it can hit x1,024. Better yet, the multiplier does not reset between super free spins, making that a highly sought-after phase. Greater and possibly sticky multipliers change the way the game plays out, presumably leading to fewer runs of consecutive wins than Gonzo, but with more impressive results if Demon Beats manages to reach its upper multiplier levels. Players also need a win to take advantage of big multis, and the game could often go far to the right on the trail, then not land anything on the reels, which is kind of to be expected.
Demon Beats turned out to be a creative evolution of some familiar NetEnt ideas. The colossal symbols, cascading wins and escalating multipliers provide the base, while the Battle feature and super free spins round create extra distance from Gonzo. It's a slot that may ask players to accept some dead air in exchange for the possibility of its mechanics coming together, but when the game is doing its thing (possibly up to a cap of 10,000x the bet), Demon Beats can put on quite a show.
Demon Beats takes some familiar NetEnt mechanics and transforms them into an entertainingly chaotic demonic showdown.
