Howling Wolves Megaways

Howling Wolves Megaways Overview

Created by Booming Games, Howling Wolf Megaways represents the developer's first foray into Megaways mechanic slots, having just received their license to use the incredibly popular gaming dynamic. Rather than enter this market with an exciting new release tailored for the interesting new mechanic, however, Booming Games incomprehensibly have chosen to rerelease an older product with Megaways tacked on. Indeed, why the studio hasn't made more effort to debut the mechanic with fanfare is beyond understanding. Perhaps the developer is struggling for development funding, or maybe they were pushed to a tight deadline.

Whatever the reason, Booming Games might well have missed an opportunity to make a really interesting game.
The features, on the other hand, aren't too bad. As is the custom for Megaways slots, this game has a cascading feature, meaning that every time that players trigger a win, the winning symbols are removed and replaced by a new set. This dynamic gives players multiple chances to win from the same spin. Howling Wolf Megaways also runs several random modifiers which can come into play at any time. Finally, there is also a free spins game, triggered when players land four of the scatter symbols on the reels simultaneously. All bonuses will be explained in more detail later on in the review.

Theme and Symbols

Howling Wolves Megaways has a native American theme, with the central character being a wolf. Wolves figure prominently in the mythology of nearly every Native American tribe. In most native cultures, the wolf is considered a symbol of courage, strength, loyalty, and success at hunting. The theme is compelling, if a little dated, with plenty of colours and exciting symbols to keep players engaged and focused on their pursuit of high payouts.

The background for Howling Wolves Megaways is a moonlit night in the darkest depths of an American forest. The only critique is that many of the flowers and trees that make up this image are distinctly from the jungle and not a North American forest. This gives the background a bit of a cop-out feel regarding accuracy. Then again, maybe we are just being overly critical. Regardless of the provenance of the flora within the image, it does create an impactful and contrastingly dark background to the vibrant elements on the board.

The playing board for this game has been fashioned from wood and canvas to simulate the look of a Native American Tipi.
The symbols for this slot are split into low-value, high-value and special icons. The low-value icons are the vase, the set of tomahawks, the headdress, the drums, the mask and the Tipi. The most you will receive per symbol for landing these icons in a winning combination is 1.5x the stake. On the other hand, the more lucrative symbols are the four wolves. The most valuable of these is the wolf with the light blue background. This icon pays out at 15x the stake for the top combination. The specials comprise the moon wild, and the howling wolf scatter.

Game Play

Howling Wolves Megaways is played on a 6-reel Megaways playing board, meaning that each reel contains a different number of icons with every spin. To win combinations, players must land three or more matching symbols on pay lines moving from left to right, starting from the leftmost reel.

The betting range for Howling Wolves Megaways is 10p to £10 per spin. To adjust their bet levels, players can toggle their stake up and down using the tool located at the bottom left-hand side of the screen.

Further information, including a short tutorial and a display of the paytable, can be found via the menu button in the right-hand corner of the screen. The spin and auto spin buttons are located in the centre of the screen.
Volatility for this slot is rated in the high range. The return to player percentage for Howling Wolves Megaways is 96% which is average. The biggest payout that players can win on one spin is 2,168x your stake.

Features

The first feature available in this game is the cascades feature. This bonus is activated every time that you score a win. When this happens, the winning symbols are removed from the reels and replaced by a new set from above that fall into their vacated positions. This dynamic gives you additional chances to win from the same spin. The mechanic will continue until the new set does not form a winning combination.

The next feature is a set of random modifiers that can come into play during either the base or bonus game. These are explained below:
The Howling Wild modifier – A random selection of wilds falls onto the reels.
The Alpha Pack Spin Modifier – All wolf symbols in view transform into the highest value icon.
The Wolf pack multiplier modifier - A random win multiplier is put into play to help you score bogger wins. This multiplier also grows by 1x for every successful cascade.
The Max Megaways modifier – The reels instantly grow to their full-size potential, giving you 117,649 pay lines.
The final feature is the free spins round. Players need to land four or more scatter symbols on the reels simultaneously to activate this bonus. You will then be awarded eight free spins plus another two for every scatter landed over the threshold of four. You'll then go on to play your free spins with modifiers still active.

Conclusion

With a fair amount going on and a decent RTP, you could almost forgive the lazy design. However, debuting the Megaways mechanic with zero effort is one thing. Still, quite another to combine it with a poor top payout and a volatility rating that is unlikely to mean you trigger features regularly. As we said in the intro, more could have been done to make this a more enjoyable and lucrative game.