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Saddle up, y'all, software provider Pragmatic Play heads back West, by squeezing a few extra miles out of their highly successful slot Wild West Gold. To do so, they've given the previous game a Megaways makeover, boosting the core mechanics while leaving the original features largely untouched. So, will the resulting game delight fans or add fuel to the righteous indignation felt by critics of the Megaways upgrade factory line? Grab them thar leather chaps and join us to find out.
The first few noticeable changes are mostly cosmetic. Naturally, the game grid has been stretched to accommodate 6 reels, holding anything from 2 to 7 symbols each. Ways vary as they do when using this system, maxing out at 117,649 when all reels are full. The main initial difference, though, is the change of music. This time, Pragmatic Play's sound team have dialled up the 'gritty West' setting on their synthesiser, compared to the lively saloon piano sounds of before. The track change isn't better or worse for our money, just different. So far, it was a case of 'will there be any deeper alterations?'
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Well, the grid might have grown in size, but many of the numbers have shrunk. One is RTP, where the highest value is 96.44%, or 96.41% when the Ante Bet is activated. Normal stakes vary from 20 p/c to $/€100 per spin, while the Ante Bet adds 25% to the cost to have extra scatter symbols added to the reels. Volatility has remained high, rated at 5 out of 5; potential, on the other hand, has not, and to be honest, is one of the weakest things about Wild West Gold Megaways as you will see.
Wins are awarded when at least three matching symbols land in adjacent reels, starting from the leftmost reel. In spite of being a Megaways game, cascades do not occur when wins hit, whether in the bonus or base game. Instead, players receive a one-off win worth 0.25-0.3x the bet when made of the 10-A low pay symbols, or 0.4-1x the bet when made up of the higher value pistols, gold bags, or four character symbols. Wilds are critical to pounding out better value wins in Wild West Gold Megaways. They land on reels 2, 3, 4, or 5 to substitute any paying symbol. In addition, wilds can have random multipliers of x2, x3, or x5, and multiply each other if more than one is used in a win.
As well as wild multipliers, the other feature in Wild West Gold Megaways is its free spins bonus round. This is triggered when 3, 4, 5, or 6 scatters symbols land to award a payout of 4x, 20x, 100x, or 500x the bet plus 7 free spins. During free spins, whenever a wild symbol hits, it gets a multiplier of x2, x3, or x5, and remains on the reels until the round ends. This being a Megaways powered grid, wilds change size as the number of symbols on the reels change. Lastly, when 2, 3, 4, 5, or 6 gold star overly icons are in view, players win an extra 2, 3, 4, 5, or 6 free spins.
Eligible players are able to buy free spins rather than trigger them organically. For the cost of 100x the bet, a spin occurs, which lands 3, 4, 5, or 6 scatter symbols. Buying the bonus has an RTP value of 96.45%.
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It's doubtful you need us to tell you how prevalent Megaways has become. From humble beginnings under the watchful eye of Big Time Gaming to one of the most successful licences in online gambling. The growth has been phenomenal, and it's not without its detractors. When the upgrade process significantly improves the experience of an older slot, fair dues, it can be a win-win situation for all involved. At other times, though, the Megawaysification of an already established game can come across like a cynical, if not lazy, cash grab. Not saying that Wild West Gold Megaways falls into the latter category, but Pragmatic Play has done little to massively justify the Megaways re-release. Quite the opposite, really.
In terms of audio-visuals and gameplay, Wild West Gold Megaways is as solid as ever. If you've ever daydreamed about Dead or Alive Megaways, this, along with Desperados Wild Megaways, is about as close as it gets, although when directly compared it is more of a The Dog House Megaways sibling than anything else. It might have been nice if cascades had been wedged in there somewhere, yet the wild multipliers make up for their exclusion. More so when wilds are sticky in free spins - then they can be a riot.
And yet, the stench of disappointment lingered throughout the review. Not because of anything Wild West Gold Megaways does, but what it isn't allowed to do. What continually drove home the feeling of 'why did they bother?' is the decreased potential. From the 6,750x of the previous version to the 5,000x of this one. Imagine if NetEnt ever released Dead or Alive Megaways with a 5K win cap slapped on, the thing would be run out of town tarred and featured before noon.
To sum up, Wild West Gold Megaways could have been a genuine badass. However, it's not, and that's a shame. If fans of the first were screaming out for a Megaways version, they've got it, but it's hard not to wonder why Pragmatic Play went with the low (for Megaways) max win. Had they backed it with a more impressive figure, Wild West Gold Megaways could have been that outlaw who saunters into town and causes everyone to stare at the ground to avoid making eye contact. Never mind a knife; at this level of potential, there was a feeling Wild West Gold Megaways brought trongs to a gunfight.
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