According to the majority of sources we scoured while researching Pragmatic Play's Gorilla Mayhem, gorillas tend to be 'gentle giants' – unless they feel threatened. That's what can lead to chest-beating and the chance of 300-400 pounds of raging muscle tearing things to bits. When they're in a placid mood, however, how cute is a family of gorillas hugging and grooming each other? Maybe so, but the raging kind in Gorilla Mayhem is no bad thing since its wild multiplier symbols display some pretty agitated-looking primates. As well as these special symbols, Gorilla Mayhem delivers free spins, which add a progressive aspect to the multiplier wilds feature.
Players find themselves in the deep bush for Gorilla Mayhem. It's the kind of place a machete would be helpful for hacking through the undergrowth and hardcore repellent is needed to keep the mosquitos away. It is also where animals appear to rule, most notably the mighty gorilla. He's there on the load screen, though, not looking to cause too much mayhem in the beginning. Trigger free spins, however, where during the brief cut screen between base and bonus game, he gets something of a rage on. Until then, players get the chance to settle in, enjoy the scenery a bit, and get to grips with how the whole thing works.
>Let's start with the grid arrangement, which has 5 reels, 4 rows, and 1,024 ways to win. A highly volatile slot, Gorilla Mayhem may be found with three RTP models, from 96.5% down to 95.5% or 94.5%, depending on the market. The game has been designed to run just fine on any device and accepts stakes of 20 p/c to $/€100 per paid game round.
Matching symbols landing in adjacent columns from the leftmost side create a win, and there are 11 pay symbols to line up. These include vine-covered 10-A card ranks as the low pays, worth 1-1.5x the bet for five of a kind, then serpents, birds, hippos, crocodiles, leopards, and gorillas as the high pays. Hitting a five-symbol winning way of animal symbols generates a payout of 1.5 to 4 times the stake.
Two wild symbols are used in Gorilla Mayhem. One is the standard 'WILD' which appears on reels 2, 3, 4, or 5 to substitute anything except the scatter. The other wild is more specific. This golden gorilla wild symbol also appears on reels 2-5, but it only substitutes for the top paying gorilla symbol. When this wild symbol displays 1, 2, or 3 gorilla heads, it applies a multiplier of 1x, 2x, or 3x to all winning gorilla symbol combinations.
>Keep an eye out for the chunky turquoise crystal appearing on all reels. This is the scatter symbol, and landing 3, 4, or 5 of them wins you 10, 15, or 20 free spins, respectively. While free spins are active, landing 2, 3, 4, or 5 scatters awards an additional 5, 10, 15, or 20 free spins, respectively.
Free spins have a progressive collection feature. When the regular gorilla pay symbol or the golden wild versions hit, they are collected. Worded slightly macabrely on the paytable, for every 40 gorilla heads collected, the level increases. At level 1, golden gorilla wilds randomly land with x1, x2, or x3 multipliers. Moving up to level 2 means gorilla heads can be x2 or x3 while reaching level 3 means golden gorillas only land with the x3. Each time you reach level 2 or 3, an extra +3 free spins are awarded.
The final point is that players in relevant countries can buy free spins instead of triggering them naturally. The cost is 80x the bet for 3, 4, or 5 scatters symbols to land and trigger the feature.
>In the spirit of 'inspiration' that is present in the online slot world, it's difficult to avoid comparisons between Gorilla Mayhem and NetEnt's release Gorilla Kingdom. The longer you hold the games side by side, the more similarities emerge. We're talking about the same leading character, the same grid/ways set up, almost the same number of free spins, and even the blue jewel scatter is pretty much the same. It's uncanny. Or deliberate, who can tell? The two games are like sibling baby gorillas, separated at birth by poachers or whatever who have just met up and are banging chests at each other across disputed territory, or something like that.
Another thing Pragmatic Play and NetEnt's gorilla games share is a collection/progressive system in free spins. However, here the two slots start to diverge and do different things. Whereas Gorilla Kingdom recreated the Pink Elephants idea of transforming lower value symbols into higher ones, Gorilla Mayhem focuses on its highest value symbol in a different way. In this one, the further you progress, the greater the theoretical chance is of boosting gorilla wins with the x2 or x3 multipliers. You also get extra free spins at the higher levels, and in the Gorilla Mayhem test run, free spins did seem to be awarded a lot. Not just from reaching level 2 or 3, but landing two scatters occurred more often than expected. Then again, maybe we just got lucky. Where Gorilla Kingdom wins out over NetEnt's release is in the arena of max win. This time around, players get a game with winning potential of up to 5,000x the bet and better odds of hitting it compared to its competitor.
Amongst other things, Pragmatic Play seems to be fostering an interest in our gorilla cousins. The good news is their primate-themed games seem to be getting better, as Gorilla Mayhem is a step up from the last one we crossed paths with, Jungle Gorilla. To sum up, the features in Gorilla Mayhem aren't really anything to get too overly excited about, and the game doesn't quite attain alpha level but has its moments, plus the theme is wildly presented.
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