If there is one spot on earth irresistible to the Pragmatic Play team, it's Asia. The studio regularly dips into mythology, or leprechauns, wolves etc, they even did that spookily good Mysterious slot a while back, but they always return to the Eastern Hemisphere sooner or later. They also seem to have a soft spot for precious stones, while we are reminiscing. This whimsical preamble should set your expectations for Elemental Gems Megaways, a game that blends several of Pragmatic Plays' favourite things all in one place.
Elemental Gems Megaways is also a follow on from Aztec Gems, the two games having much in common. For one, both use a common slot theme, albeit tastefully and pleasantly on show here in Elemental Gems Megaways. The Asian atmosphere is provided by a traditional soundtrack, symbols, and two rich purple dragons located on either side of the reels. The grid set up mirrors Aztec Gems as well, with three reels for regular pay symbols to appear on and a fourth one that holds only multipliers - we'll get to how those work shortly.
>
>
What's different is this reel set is powered by Big Time Gaming's Megaways engine, which means a different number of symbols appear on the first three reels on every spin. Up to 8 symbols can land on each reel, creating up to 512 ways to win. As you might suspect, this has seriously increased potential payouts far beyond the paltry amounts available in Aztec Gems to a much higher number. The medium volatility has remained the same, while RTP has dropped a virtually unnoticeable amount to 96.51%. Be aware RTP may vary, so taking a moment to check the help docs will clear up any confusion. Stakes range from 20 p/c to $/€100 per spin, making it more high-roller friendly than before.
There is absolutely nothing complicated about Elemental Gems Megaways, including how to create wins. This occurs when three identical symbols land left to right on all three reels. Values of the six variously designed pay symbols start at 0.1x the bet and rise to 1.5x for three of the goldeny red pagoda tile. Wilds land in every reel, too, paying out 2.5x the bet for three, and substituting for all symbols, since there are no scatters, bonus symbols, or anything fiddly like that.
>
>
Real basic this one, so the features section of the review will be brief. There are no bonus games, free spins, respins, or anything particularly imaginative to cover. The only extra bit is the game's fourth reel. Instead of landing regular pay symbols or wilds, it displays only multipliers. Whichever value lands in the middle row of the fourth reel is applied to any win on the other three reels. Multipliers appeared to range from x1 up to x100.
Aside from perhaps Asian slot devotees, it's easy to imagine players getting bored with Elemental Gems Megaways after a few spins. There's just so little going on, and while it looks pretty enough, it's also pretty dull, the whole experience feeling hollow. Megaways provides an extra level of unpredictable dynamism, yet all that power feels underutilised on this smaller reel set. Using fewer number of set ways but greater values probably would have been just as effective. Then again, having 'Megaways' in the title draws more attention to itself than if it wasn't there, so business-wise it makes sense. Basically, in action, Elemental Gems Megaways failed to arouse much excitement.
One reason is the sheer number of dead spins or winning spins that end up with x1 multipliers. There are larger wins to be hard now and then, yet Elemental Gems Megaways still ended up feeling close to a jackpot slot or an all or nothing scratch card. Either the stars align, and a good number of high-value symbols land at the same time as the larger multiplier or too bad, better luck next time. On paper, the number of ways, combined with the x100 multiplier, could do some serious damage. If Pragmatic Play had loosened the purse strings, it might have helped Elemental Gems Megaways make a larger impact. As it is, the 5,000x win cap isn't bad at all for a single spin hit, so decent wins are out there, theoretically at least.
And so, Asia continues to cast a spell over the team at Pragmatic play with another okay addition to their exotic line-up. Judged as a Megaways slot, Elemental Gems Megaways operates within a tightly bound set of limitations, restricting its possibilities. As such, the game doesn't offer much that all but a total Megaways completist probably wouldn't mind missing out on. Basically, if very basic Asian slots appeal, Elemental Gems Megaways is a viable option; otherwise, it's likely to get tiresome fast.
Play for real money
