Wild Lava

Lava and volcanoes. Two things that mankind hasn’t been able to tame, so wilds are quite fitting for this theme. Playtech comes at you with a combination of special features, out of the ordinary reels and a bit of eye candy.

Wild Lava is a pretty compact slot, and even with a lot of stuff going on the reels it fits on smaller screens, making it an excellent mobile slot. The action is fast-paced, even when the wins are rare. A good first impression, but how does it all hold together for longer sessions?

Theme and Symbols

Set in what we can safely assume to be a deserted island, the volcanic activity is building up. Half of your screen is going to be taken by the volcano, the background showing it’s not the only one. It plays a big role in the game when it comes to special features. The reels feature a more tribal setting, with drums, masks and other regalia playing the role of symbols together with classic playing cards. Impending doom is always on the reels, as attested by the sound effects.

Betting Options and Functions

Choose your debt carefully as changing it will reset the number of scatters you’ve collected so far. We’ll get back to how that works out in the special features…

The reels are set in a rather unorthodox 5x5 setup, giving you a total of 25 symbol positions. The game uses 40 paylines, which naturally brings the bet a bit higher than the norm. The wins land quite often, even if they are not all that great in size.

The wins range from the lowest three symbol combo paying 4 times the line bet to the five masks paying 80 times the line bet. Now, that’s just double your total bet, and even through all lines, it’s just 80 times your total bet. How do the specials change this dynamic?

Features

Each scatter you land during the base games is collected in the volcano. This will lead to random eruptions, during which the immense heat transforms the scatters into wilds and distributes them onto the reels for one spin only.

Landing three scatters on a single spin will trigger five bonus spins. In this case, the volcano erupts and spreads the wilds all over...only this time in sticky mode. These change positions on every spin, but they do stick to the reels.

Our Take

The core strength of this Playtech slot can be found in the way the wilds appear all over the reels. And yet, despite having quite a solid RTP, the game seems to lack in the sort of wins that we’re all after. There are other volcano-themed slots that fix that problem, especially as this game requires hefty bets throughout the forty paylines. Still, you might want to take a look in demo mode.