Beast Mode

Beast Mode Overview

Designed by the Relax Gaming studio, Beast Mode transports players to Muscle Beach, Los Angeles. However, rather than butch men and powerful women lifting weights, we have a selection of anthropomorphised animals pumping iron instead. Relax Gaming has also placed the aesthetic for this game in the 80s. In terms of the actual playing mechanics of this game, there are six reels and 38,414 pay lines available. The stake range is between 10p and £40, and the RTP is 96.32%. The biggest payout that you can achieve on one spin in this game is 25,000x the stake.

The features for this game are many and various. The simplest of these is the cascading reels feature triggered every time a player scores a win. All of the winning symbols are removed from the reels and replaced by a new set that enters their vacated positions. This gives players more chances of winning from the same spin. The next feature is the random mystery spin feature, activated randomly in the base game. At least one blue question mark symbol appears (but usually more), with each one turning into the same symbol. These symbols stay in position for one spin and continue to stay if a win is found. This game also has a free spins game and bonus buy option.

Theme and Symbols

Muscle beach is a mecca for lifting athletes and celebrities to show off their physiques, and in the 80s, it was at its very peak. This was primarily due to the incredible popularity of pumped-up stars like Arnold Schwarzenegger, appearing in huge movies such as The Terminator, a film that became iconic in the American zeitgeist. Relax Gaming have tried to recapture this buzz. However, the studio has also seemed to infuse an element of the 90s LA riots, with some of the characters on the board being arrested and a background that infers recent damage and chaos.

The background is a mix of 80’s pastel colours, 90s outfits and classic LA style. This is all happening in a world where animals such as lions and lizards have grown into human-like forms to bring another layer of novelty to this theme. To the right of the reels, you can see the lion of lion gym benching a huge weight out on the street, above which is a tv hanging out of a window by its cord. To the left of the board is a large rhino character who has been slammed onto the hood of a police car, presumably because he is being arrested.

The playing board for this game is a plain blue line rectangle full of concrete, onto which the various symbols sit.
The symbols for this game are split into low-paying, high-paying and special symbols. The low-paying symbols are the 10, J, Q, K and A in playing card royals. Each of these symbols is worth 1x the stake for the top combination. On the other hand, the more valuable symbols are the kettlebell, the roller skate, the doughnut dumbbell, the ghetto blaster, and finally, the lion. The lion is the most valuable, paying out at 25x the stake for the top combination. The specials comprise the gold chain wild, the mystery symbol, the star bonus scatter and the expand bomb.

Game Play

Beast Mode is played on a 6-reel, 4-row machine with up to 38,416 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 Beast Mode is 10p to £40 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 Beast Mode is 96.32%, which is above average. The biggest payout that players can win on one spin is 25,000x your stake.

Features

The first feature in this game is the cascading wins feature which comes into play every time a win is registered. The winning symbols are removed from the reels and replaced by a new set when this happens. These new symbols give players more chances to score wins from the same spin. The mechanic will continue until the new set of symbols does not form a win.
Next on the features list is the random mystery spin feature. This bonus is triggered at random in the base game and occurs when one or more of the mystery symbols fall onto the reels. All of these mystery symbols then change to reveal the same regular symbol. These symbols then remain in place for the next spin to give players a chance to find another winning symbol. The mechanic will continue as long as new wins keep getting formed.

However, the main bonus content comes from the free spins game triggered when players land three or four of the scatter symbols in a set of cascades or on one spin. If activated with three scatters, you can upgrade by gambling to four scatters; however, there is only a 50/50 chance of this working. There are three free spin rounds available. These are:
The first is called the mystery symbols free spins feature, where three or four scatters will provide six free spins. Mystery symbols will land on the board throughout this feature. Each new spin or cascade, an Expand Bomb will also land, adding another row to the reel it lands on. The maximum reel height achievable is seven. This will provide more pay lines to play on. Triggering the feature with four scatters adds four mystery symbols to the first spin.

The second spins round is called the multiplier ladder free spins feature. Landing three or four scatters awards you eight or nine free spins with a 1x multiplier active. After each win, however, the multiplier increases to the next value on the ladder above the reels. The maximum you can reach is 500x the stake.

The third free spins feature is called the expanding wild feature and begins with seven free spins, with every wild that lands expanding. These wilds also come with multipliers which grow by 1x for every win registered.
You can add spins to all three rounds by landing more scatters.
Finally, this game also has a bonus buy option. However, it is not available in the UK.

Conclusion

Loads of excitement, plenty of features and a novel theme make this a great product. And this is before you discuss the win potential. The RTP is high, the top payout is great, and the number of pay lines available all point in the direction of a slot that has the potential to pay out big.