Alien Invaders

Alien Invaders: Slot Overview

As far as doomsday scenarios go, the human race being wiped out by aliens scored a 2 out of 5 rating on BBC Future's Apocalometer, which means it's something we probably don't have to worry too much about at this stage. But you never know, right? An advanced, belligerent intelligence might show up on our galactic back doorstep using tech we're incapable of envisaging to flush Homo sapiens down the evolutionary toilet before laying claim to the planet at any moment. Until if and when that ever happens, hey, why don't we give Pragmatic Play's online slot Alien Invaders a spin to take our minds off extinction-level events?

Being invaded by aliens with the level of technology needed to traverse the stars is a frightening prospect. Being invaded by the aliens in Alien Invaders is a lot less freaky. That's because the extraterrestrial beings in this game are of the Reactoonz kind, all cute, smiley, and innocuous-looking. Maybe they're going to tickle us into submission or overcome our defences through sheer adorableness. Then again, maybe the friendliness is all a front, and they're actually stone-cold killers ruthlessly determined to strip resources from every planet they conquer before zipping to the next. Moving on.

The game is played on a 5-reel grid, with 3 to 5 symbols landing on each reel at every spin. The bottom row of symbols is always highlighted. Wins occur when 3 or more matching symbols land on the bottom row of reels. When this happens, the reels that have winning symbols on them become active, and all instances of the winning symbol type on the active reels count for creating winning combinations. Powering the ship is a math model rated highly volatile, jettisoning an RTP of 96.5% at the highest possible value when betting 20 c to $/€240. Activating the ante bet increases the stake by 25% to double the chance of triggering a free spins bonus.

The pay symbols are eyeballed 10 to A card royals, where each symbol in a winning combination is worth 0.05x to 0.1x the bet, while the four alien high pays are worth 0.25x to 1x each. Alien Invaders has a tumble mechanic which removes winning symbols, causing symbols to fall down from above. Tumbling continues until no more winning combinations appear.

Alien Invaders: Slot Features

Aliens are invading with the aid of multiplier bearing wild symbols, a win multiplier, exploding scatters, free spins, and feature buys.

Wild Symbol

Wilds hit on the middle reel in the base game and on the middle three reels during free spins. They substitute all symbols except scatters and are worth 0.05x each. However, the wild is only active and only substitutes other symbols when it reaches the bottom row. Wilds can also carry a random multiplier of x1 to x25.

Win Multiplier

Each spin starts with a win multiplier of x1. Every 10 symbols that explode during tumbles or are exploded by a scatter add +1 to the win multiplier. The multiplier carried by wild symbols is also added to the win multiplier when a wild reaches the bottom row. The current win multiplier applies to winning combinations.

Scatter

Scatters appear on all reels, and when one reaches the bottom row, it, and all other symbols adjacent to it vertically, horizontally, and diagonally, explode. Symbols exploded this way are considered winning combinations and pay accordingly.

Free Spins

Collecting 3 or more scatters throughout a base game spin triggers 7 free spins, plus 3 free spins are awarded by each triggering scatter beyond the third. During free spins, the number of symbols landing on each reel starts at 3, but after each spin, it might randomly increase by +1 on a random reel, up to 5 at the most. Those reels then stay at that size till the end of the round. The win multiplier becomes persistent as well, so any multiplier increase stays till the feature ends. In addition, the wild symbol can have greater multipliers, ranging from x1 to x100, and each scatter that reaches the bottom marked reel awards +1 free spin.

Feature Buy

The free spins round can be triggered from the base game by buying it. Paying 65x triggers the feature, or 400x triggers super free spins where the win multiplier starts at x50.

Alien Invaders: Slot Verdict

At first, Alien Invaders seemed a little small, a little silly. Wins felt overly restricted by the bottom row rule, winning combination values were minuscule, and excitement levels maybe a notch above baseline. However, the fact that Alien Invaders isn't a typical slot, as in there are no lines, ways, clusters, or scatter systems creating winning combinations, meant time was needed to adjust to its idiosyncrasies. And, given time, the game's finer points started to grow and become more apparent. For one thing, needing to land 3+ matching symbols on the bottom row to trigger tumbling wins transformed what was perceived as restrictive into being quite fun, especially when you can see which symbols are going to tumble to the bottom row to form the next win in the sequence. Matching symbols on active reels that are not on the bottom row are also included in wins, so it is possible to build decent twinning totals.

What lends a critical assist is the win multiplier, and there are two ways of growing it. Instead of collecting winning symbols to trigger features from a meter, in Alien Invaders, symbol collection increases the multiplier, as do values on wilds, which reach the bottom row. During testing, the win multiplier was absolutely essential for powering out best hits, which, unsurprisingly, happened from super free spins buys, where starting with an x50 might make an enormous impact on the result. Or not, depending on how the symbols land, and 400x to buy the feature isn't a small outlay. It is optional, though, and Alien Invaders is capable of entertaining players without it.

Winning potential of 5,000x might compare just fine with the likes of Reactoonz, but a looser cap might have suited the game better. When the invasion was over, Alien Invaders proved to be a quirky experiment with a few interesting ideas, but nothing that really leaves a lasting mark. It's different, sure - but not necessarily in a way that elevates it beyond average.