Being the god of the sun and ruling in the sky, the underworld, as well as earth, Ra was indeed mighty. Not only is he said to have ruled in those three areas, but he also has a lot of clout in the iGaming realm - largely due to the ongoing infatuation games designers and players have with Ancient Egypt. Well, here comes another one from developer Pragmatic Play titled Might of Ra, some of which is quite mighty, other bits not so much.
One thing that makes a bold first impression is Might of Ra's graphics. Pragmatic Play has used less of a cartoon-ish presentation in favour of a more realistic one. Well, more high definition at least, as instead of reels covered in traditional Egyptian objects, a bunch of wild animals have been used instead. Despite ruling various spheres, Ra has clearly not skipped ab day, standing all ripped to the side of the screen, staff and floating Ankh in hand. This glossy representation of Ancient Egypt has a feel along the lines of The Mummy – the Brendon Fraser one rather than the Tom Cruise one, that Egypt fans might be up for.
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Might of Ra is available on any device, providing stakes of 20 p/c to $/€100 per spin. Played on a 6-reel, 4-row grid, users make do with 50 fixed paylines to land winning combinations of 3 to 6 of a kind across. It all plays out in a highly volatile manner, with a maximum return value of 96.49%. Potential is noticeably higher than usual for Pragmatic Play, made possible by a handful of simple yet effective features.
All symbols pay from left to right in adjacent reels starting from reel number one, with nine regulars on hand. These are 10-A royals worth 2.5-5 times the stake for six of a kind, increasing to 7.5 to 15 times the bet for a line of six scorpions, birds, horses, or cobras.
There isn't a stack of extras to go over here as Might of Ra keeps things easy. One of the most important symbols in the game, perhaps the most important, is the Ra wild symbol. It appears on every reel and substitutes for all symbols except the scatter. Whenever a wild symbol hits, there is a chance it randomly transforms into a full reel wild, with an x3 multiplier applied to any winning combination it is a part of. Wilds can form combinations of themselves, worth up to 25 times the stake for a line of five of them.
The other special symbol is the bonus symbol, appearing on reels 2, 3, 4, or 5. Hitting 3 or 4 of them awards a payout of 2x or 5x the bet, plus 15 free spins. In free spins, a new Ankh symbol appears on the reels. Each time an Ankh lands, it is collected, and players can track their progress on a meter next to the reels. Collecting enough of them levels players up like so:
It is possible to retrigger the feature by landing 2, 3, or 4 bonus symbols which awards an additional 3, 6, or 9 free spins, respectively.
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Mighty by name, fairly mighty by nature. If a slightly unusually presented Egyptian game with basic rules and a physical slot feel appeals, then Might of Ra should be on the to-do list. What it does, it does well and allows players uninterested in innovation or faff to get down to the business of spinning reels in hopes of landing expanding multiplier wilds. Outside of this, not a whole lot happens. The payline setup feels restrictive at times, compared to what developers like Thunderkick, for example, are doing with the same reel/row arrangement, but it does suit the rest of what Might of Ra has going on.
In saying that, having full reel multiplier wilds with all ways pays would have been a tad more exciting. That or bumping up the symbol values, which are pretty so-so. However, going with this set up doesn't seem to have affected the game's potential, which is capped at 22,500x the bet. Clearly, this is much higher than the caps Pragmatic has been fixing on other games released around the same time, so make of it what you will.
If magic is going to happen, it will probably be in free spins, where extra wilds make their way onto the reels via the Ankh collection feature. There are mixed feelings about this. At times during test runs, the number of wilds didn't seem to change a whole lot, no matter what level we were at. Not disputing the claim, by the way, just making an observation. Also, jamming Ankhs onto the reels does lessen the chance of linking up winning combinations. It might have been just as effective, if less engaging, if the game just added wilds to free spins in a general way rather than use a leveling system altogether. Then again, the collection feature does add something to a game that would be pretty dry without it.
In short, if you want a handsome, simple yet effective Egypt game with a big win number onboard, Might of Ra is worth a look. It's entertaining enough in its own right for applicable punters, plus it makes a change from Book of Ra style gaming while sticking to the theme and expanding symbol action.
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