Cornelius

Developed by the online slot provider NetEnt, Cornelius is a game created around one very corpulent cat. Like a kind of budget Garfield, this cat is obsessed with food and, by the looks of it, could probably do with skipping a few meals. This game should have a broad appeal considering its theme and the high-quality visual finish. In addition, the player experience is also varied and a lot of fun, considering the feature content available. Mechanically, this is a five-reel, four-row game with 1,204 pay lines available. The RTP for this game sits around 96.04%, which is just above average. Cornelius is available across mobile, desktop and tablet formats.

Cornelius Overview

The bonus features of this game begin with the cash drop bonus. To activate this bonus, players must land three or more cash drop symbols on the reels at the same time. In the base game, Cash Drop symbols have a value of 0.25x to 3x the bet. This is a re-spin game, with every new cash drop symbol resetting the re-spin count to three. After each re-spin, the cash drop icons are collected and paid out. The other main feature of this game is the free spins game which is activated by landing three or more scatter icons on the reels simultaneously. This will give you three free spins with a range of modifiers. This game also has bonus buy facilities; however, they might not be available in the UK. All bonus features will be explained in more detail later in the review.

Cornelius Theme and Symbols

The theme for this game is the plush and very large character of Cornelius and his world of eating and sleeping. We are fairly certain that Cornelius is an original character created by NetEnt; however, there is no doubt that he is inspired by and based on Garfield the cat. Garfield was originally a comic strip printed in the 1970s in America that became one of the world's most recognised cartoon characters. This Cornelius character in this game shares Garfield's greedy appetite and generous proportions; however, there are no overt references to lasagne; instead, this cat seems to enjoy cream-filled biscuits.

The background for this game is the spacious and pleasant-looking kitchen where this highly domesticated cat lives. To the right of the playing board is a fridge covered in magnets and no doubt storing a range of food, including tins of sardines, milk and other treats. To the left stands Cornelius himself, holding a biscuit and looking bemused at the player's presence. The rest of the kitchen is fairly sparsely decorated with a chequered floor and a red bowel left out for feeding the large cat. This background changes, however, when you enter the free spins round, with the whole screen being plunged into darkness. The playing board here is a wooden rectangle with a dark brown interior.

The symbols are split into low-paying, high-paying and special symbols. The low-paying icons are the 10, J, Q, K and A in playing card royals. The A is the most valuable of these, worth 7.5x the stake for the top combination. The more valuable icons are the fish toy, the cat milk, the cat food, and the picture. The picture is the most valuable of these, worth 30x the stake for the top combination. The specials for this game comprise the cash drop icon, the scatter, the up icon, the golden up icon, the adder and the multiplier.

Game Play

Cornelius is played on a 5-reel, 4-row machine with 1,024 fixed pay lines. 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 Cornelius is 20p to £400 per spin. To adjust their bet levels, players can toggle their stakes 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 Cornelius is 96.04%, which is average. The biggest payout that players can win on one spin is 1,051x your stake.

Cornelius Features

The first feature in this game is the Cash Drop feature. The cash Drop icon you'll notice can appear anywhere on the reels, each of which will come with a random value attached to them. These values changes depending on if you are in the base game or the free spins game. In the base game, they vary from 0.25x the stake to 3x, whereas in the free spins, they sit between 0.1x and 0.5x the stake. To trigger the cash drops feature, players need to land three of these icons simultaneously on the board. Each Cash Drop symbol moves down 1 row at the start of each spin instead of disappearing. Every new Cash Drop symbol resets the spin counter to 3.

The other main bonus feature in this game is the free spins game. This is triggered when players land three or more scatters on the board simultaneously. You will then be given three free spins that refill if you land a new symbol. Before the spins begin, the Scatters turn into Cash Drop symbols. You will then spin away until no more spins remain. But during the spins, as well as landing Cash Drop symbols with values between 0.1x and 0.5x, the following modifiers can land to add more novelty and value to the feature:

• Up: Moves all Cash Drop and Multiplier symbols 1 row up.
• Golden Up: Moves each Cash Drop and Multiplier symbol to the highest unoccupied position on its respective reel.
• Adder: Stays on the reels until the very end and increases the values of all Cash Drop symbols on the reels by its value.
• Multiplier: Multiplies the values of all Cash Drop and Adder symbols on the reels by their value.

Finally, this game has bonus buy facilities. However, they are not available in the UK.

Conclusion

This is the perfect example of a slot game that provides a lot of style over substance. To look at and to play, this game is definitely one of the more impressive in the NetEnt cannon. However, when you drill into this slot's detail, it quickly becomes apparent that you are unlikely to recoup much of your investment thanks to the high volatility, poor top win and average RTP. Maybe this one is better to play in demo mode.