Willy Wildwing

Willy Wildwing: Slot Overview

Some people see obstacles and excuses everywhere, while others believe nothing is impossible. Both philosophies have their pros and cons, and someone who fits into the latter category can be found playing the lead role in Hacksaw Gaming's online slot Willy Wildwing. Willy is an optimistic sort who is setting out to challenge the theory that the sky's the limit. This he attempts to do aboard a rail-launched contraption, which might reach the stars, or it might break every bone in his whiskered wee body. Who knows. What we know is that along the way, players who choose to witness Willy's stunt will also encounter a wild adding/wild spreading feature, the sort of staple action found in a number of Hacksaw Gaming's creations.

Graphics are one of Willy Wildwing's principal attributes, and when the studio drew the scene, it used a retro cartoon, rubber hose, Cuphead style of art. To the left of the reels is the Smoke Machine, a contraption with a face and a pipe on its head, while on the other side of the screen is Willy, who has a slight Felix the Cat look to him. The rest of the view has a classic cartoon look to it, from the base game workshop, to a snowy airport in the lower bonus round, to a hangar for the higher one. At all times, Willy Wildwing carries himself with a charming, retro swagger, as if the sky ain't no limit for anyone who's got the gumption and moxie to take it on.

Willy Wildwing is a medium volatile slot with a stake range of $/€0.10 to $/€100 per spin. It's played on a 5x4 game grid, which has 14 payline for evaluating winning combinations of 3 to 5-of-a-kind. It is available in several RTP configurations, and 96.26% is the highest return value.

At the bottom of the paytable in terms of value are the 10 to A card ranks, awarding 1x the bet when landing a 5 OAK winning combination. Above them are spanners, hats, radios, cans, and bomb symbols, paying 2.5x to 10x the bet for 5 OAK.

Willy Wildwing: Slot Features

Willy Wildwing's features are its Smoke Machine, spreading Airplane symbols, Hangar Hero Bonus, Head in the Clouds bonus and a selection of feature buys.

Smoke Machine

During every spin, there is a chance the Smoke Machine activates after symbols have landed, adding 1-10 Wild Smoke symbols over regular pay symbols on the grid. As well as substituting for regular pay symbols, Wild Smoke symbols can have a multiplier of x2 to x100. The multiplier is applied to all wins the symbol is part of, and multipliers are added before being used when more than one is part of the same win. Five Wild Smoke symbols in a win pay 10x the bet.

Spreading Airplane Symbols

Landed Airplane symbols spread before wins are evaluated if it or the resulting transferred symbols are part of a win. When it spreads, the Airplane symbol spreads upwards to the top of the reel, transforming symbols in those positions into Wild Smoke symbols. When an Airplane symbol does not spread, it is considered a non-paying symbol. Only one Airplane symbol can land per reel. Wild Smoke symbols can only appear when they are added to the grid by the Smoke Machine or when an Airplane symbol spreads.

Hangar Hero Bonus

Landing 3 scatters in the main game triggers 10 free spins in the Hangar Hero bonus. This feature keeps the mechanics of the base game but has a higher chance of landing Airplane symbols. Landing 2 or 3 scatters in this feature or in Head in the Clouds awards +2 or +4 free spins.

Head in the Clouds Bonus

Hitting 4 scatters in the base game triggers the Head in the Clouds bonus with 10 free spins. It also uses the base game mechanics, but at least 1 Airplane is guaranteed to land on each spin.

Feature Buys

From the feature buy, players can get BonusHunt FeatureSpins for 2x to make triggering a bonus 3 times more likely. High-Flying FeatureSpins cost 75x to land at least 2 Airplane symbols. The Hanger Hero bonus costs 80x to buy, or Head in the Clouds costs 200x the stake.

Willy Wildwing: Slot Verdict

Willy Wildwing makes a warm first impression, inviting players into a retro cartoon world of dreams, ambitions, and anything may happen. Willy himself looks like the sort of amiable chap you'd hope succeeds in his endeavours, and his Smoke Machine friend adds to the anthropomorphic fantasy. Visuals are one of the game's strongest aspects. The rubber-hose animation style and old-school cartoon setting give Willy Wildwing a personality that sets it apart from the pile of more generic slots, helping the adventurous Willy and his flying machine create a light-hearted atmosphere which fits the theme nicely.

However, when the gameplay settled in, it wasn't as intriguing as the theme. That's not to say Willy Wildwing can't excite players with the tools it has to work with, or produce big hits - up to a cap of 7,500x the bet. Rather, Willy Wildwing is a case of oh more spreading wild multiplier stuff. Hacksaw Gaming's portfolio is stuffed with slots which use similar mechanisms, and these effects are part of a habit that the studio just refuses to throw off. Randomly adding wilds is a positive, as are spreading wilds from the Airplane symbols, and wild multipliers can certainly be powerful. All of these elements contribute to a game that can be a thrill, but they're also a bit mundane considering the regularity with which Hacksaw Gaming uses this sort of stuff.

A lot then rides on the theme, and to its credit, Willy Wildwing has a charming one. Willy and his Smoke Machine pal give the game a sense of character that helps carry it through the more familiar parts of the gameplay, and there is enough multiplier potential to keep the action interesting. Still, players who have seen their share of Hacksaw Gaming's spreading wilds/wild multiplier slots may find little here which feels unmissably new. Willy Wildwing is an entertaining and well-presented title, but it's one that feels more like it was a chance for the studio to flex its world-building talents rather than its technical ones.