Heart of Africa Slots
You might think that Heart of Africa would be a safari themed or nature slot but no, it’s based around, in Lighting Box Games description ‘the legendary heart of Africa diamond’. This diamond is so legendary that, well, so far as we can tell, it doesn’t exist! The only heart of Africa gem we could find lies (very strangely) in the Resident Evil game series, and of course there is the African Heart of the Ocean diamond in the Titanic movie. The closet we could get is that perhaps the game refers, slightly obscurely to the legendary Cullinan diamond, the largest clear cut diamond ever to originate in Africa and heart of the British Royal Crown Jewels.
Whatever the nature of the origins of the game, we don’t much mind, it’s an unusual theme and a nice step away from the Asian themed fare Lightning Box seem to deliver with regularity. Not that titles like Astro Cat aren’t fantastic games, they truly are, but it’s nice to have something a little different to play with! With all of LBG’s creative talents turned up to full, this is an entertaining game, packed with nice touches and, at its heart – wins which might allow you to purchase an African diamond of your very own!
Theme
Diamonds and Africa are intertwined throughout history, it’s fitting that such a valuable stone is often represented as a high pay reward to fortune seekers of the online slots world, after all, who seeks riches more? The reel backdrop on Heart of Africa is the deep inner jungles of the African continent rather than the spectacle of the Savannah that we are used to. Not that we lose all the traditional symbols of the home of humanity – the great lion for instance is very much present.
Other symbols on the game include a native hut, Zulu shield, Assegai spears and we will even forgive the use of playing card symbols thanks to the animations on the high pay icons. The elephant marching the plains and the safari jeep roaring through the trails are particular favourites. Even the wild gets a bespoke treatment, represent by the continent itself.
The work on the game isn’t just limited to the visuals, it’s very rare these days, outside of music themed slots such as NetEnt’s Guns N Roses, that we can honestly say a slot delivers with a backing track. Hearts of Africa has a really great tribal tune in the background, it’s truly catchy and fits perfectly with the theme, I dare you not to drum away with your fingers in time with the beat!
Gameplay & Features
There’s 25 fixed pay-lines on this 5x3 reel slot, so nothing overly complicated in terms of setup. It’s really just a case of selecting a wager level that suits your bankroll and then either manually or automatically spinning away. Whilst you do this you will be keeping a keen eye open for diamonds, as those represent the scatter symbol on the slot.
You do need 5 scatters in sequence to engage the free spins bonus round on Heart of Africa, but there is a reel re-spin mechanism in place to help you do so. When two or more scatters appear on the reels from left to right, they are held in place. You are then granted 3 reel re-spins to fill in the remaining reels and trigger the free spins.
Rather than granting a fixed number of spins, you first come to an instant pick round, where you must select from the diamonds on offer to choose a number of spins and a multiplier. You get the option to swap your selection for a second chance at both turns, with the game making a suggestion as to which is going to favour a richer outcome! Just like prospecting for diamonds in real life – there are no guarantees.
If you are lucky enough to select the maximum free spins and top multiplier, you will have only 12 free games, but with a monster x10 multiplier. This is well in keeping with the rare but valuable diamond theme and it’s this kind of combination which is going to generate the real win potential on Heart of Africa.
Summary
A great theme, with great mechanics and good win potential adds up to a brilliant, but simple game. Heart of Africa manages to tread that difficult line of providing an entertaining video slot which isn’t complicated to follow, or poor in its rewards. Up until now Baseball Bucks was probably our favourite game from this provider, Heart of Africa however, might aim to steal a few hardened slot gaming hearts over time.
