Hunter Slot Machine
Love it or hate it, there’s very little course for denying that game hunting is one of the most closely followed pursuits or hobbies all over the world. Ever since the days of he great Medieval Kings, or even before, there’s been a widespread embracing of the hunt – stemming from the more traditional fowl and woodland creatures gradually into more exotic competition as the wider world was discovered, explored and eventually colonised.
The United States remains as one of the world’s nations where game hunting is very widely accepted, with former stronghold’s such as the United Kingdom, France and many other European nations bringing in bans and restrictions very gradually over the course of the past few decades. As such, the vast majority of game hunting all over the world still takes place in the USA; helped in part by the nations vast range of landscapes and environments.
What’s more, hunting tourism is an extremely popular form of the sport. Given the widespread interconnectivity our world now enjoys, it’s very easy for a game shooter to jump on a plane and head to Africa to take on some bigger game. In this spirit, hunting has become a staple within wider media and entertainment. As such, the concept has eventually found its way into video slots gaming with the release of Hunter, by the well-practiced team at SGS Universal.
The Excitement
Regardless of your opinion on modern day hunting; whether you take the environmentalist stand or one of traditionalism, you can probably (or should that be hopefully) empathise with the notion that for many, the hunt brings a great and heightened sense of excitement.
Spending time in the great unknown armed to the teeth and with the constant prospect of coming face to face with a wild animal is – for whatever the reason may in fact be – tremendously exciting in the opinion of a very large number of people.
With this sentiment fully in mind, any slots game that wishes to accurately appropriate this feeling for their own must offer a theme that is captivating, relevant and of course exciting. This slot unfortunately falls a little short of doing so in our opinion. Blocky graphics coupled with some rather uninspiring sounds and a lack of imagination shown towards what could easily be a very deep overall theme make the game drag from the moment it loads up. Indeed, if you’re looking for thrills and excitement then you may be best charged seeking it elsewhere.
Just 9 Paylines
Now for the components of the game (any game) that really matters, at least to us hardened veterans of the practice: its make-up and composition.
What is instantly noticeable is that Hunter spreads itself across the standard 5-reel format, making for a comforting play for any individual who is used to the vast majority of modern slots. However, what may take a spin or two to uncover is the fact that the games 5 reels are home to just 9 active paylines – drastically limiting the amount gamers can wager before work has even begun.
Payouts are awarded from left to right and from right to left, a welcome mercy, though not really enough to redeem the games rather clunky and limiting structure. With such a limited scope on stake amounts, this game may be well tailored towards the beginner, but once more limits itself in terms of the excitement it can produce.
Symbols and Add-Ons
The target symbols are the game’s wilds and can transform in order to become any of the others, aside from the Ducks or scatters, in order to form a winning combination across the active reels.
The highest paying symbol is the Duck, with a total of five Ducks forming a combo without a wild awarding the games top prize of a 5,000x multiplier of the line bet. In turn, three or more scattered hunter symbols will unlock the games bonus round, the game’s built-in autoplay function will keep those reels spinning until you tell them to stop and a parting temptation is available in the form of a classic ‘pick a card’ style gamble function.
Hunter Shot Down
Taking this game with a pinch of salt, as is so often required in this business, Hunter is a game with its own fair share of moderately compelling and attractive features. With a passable theme and some decent add-on functions, there’s no reason that players of all levels shouldn’t enjoy this game.
On the contrary however, we can’t help but feel the developers could have taken things a little bit further. A lack of inventiveness is never a great thing, and when a game shows such promise in its infancy but fails to produce the goods, it can be disappointing.
