Medusa’s Madness

Medusa's Madness: Slot Overview

We all know Medusa from Greek myth, but was she mad? That was the question prompted by Play'n GO's online slot Medusa's Madness before plunging into a Google search. Some of the stories uncovered were actually quite sad, involving physical assault, being cursed to live as a monster, and decapitation, so if Medusa ended up feeling miffed by the end, a negative emotional state is understandable. Anyway, enough psychoanalysis, on with the review in a slot where winning symbols charge a meter, leading to various features, climaxing in a Mega Wild Medusa symbol drop.

Medusa might have been able to turn people to stone by looking them in the eye, but Medusa's Madness certainly won't hurt your eyes for looking at it. On the contrary, a gorgeous view from antiquity has been laid on, depicting a bare-chested warrior in a waterside spot bulging with mythological goodness. Perseus was the chap who ended up slaying Medusa, so perhaps that's him in the picture. A breathy voice announces features overlaid on top of swirling mysterious music to complete a handsome mythological scene.

Medusa's Madness is a medium volatile slot played on a 5x5 gaming grid, with a cluster system for making winning combinations. Play'n GO has designed five RTP configurations, and the most preferable version of the lot is the 96.59% version. Stakes may be set using the buttons below the reels to flick between a low of 10 c and a high of $/€100.

Wins are achieved in Medusa's Madness when 4 or more matching symbols are connected vertically and/or horizontally. Winning symbols are removed, and symbols fall down to fill the empty gaps. Four chunks of coloured stone with Greek letters on them are the low-pays, while winged shoes, a snake, a helmet and a sword are the high-pays. Clusters of 4 OAK are worth 0.1 to 2 times the bet, whereas the biggest clusters of 10+ OAK pay 2 to 100 times the bet. Special Wilds, Medusa Wilds, and Multiplier Wilds substitute for any regular pay symbol. Multiplier Wilds double all wins.

Medusa's Madness: Slot Features

Medusa's Madness' features begin with Eye Marks. Eye Marks may appear in random positions. Eyes are opened when a win forms in the location of the Eye Mark. Opening the eye awards 2 Special Wilds to the reels when no more wins are achieved.

Stone Gateway

Wins charge the Stone Gateway meter. As the Stone Gateway is charged, Special Wilds are added to the grid at certain points. As well as Special Wilds, it is possible to trigger the Petrify feature and Gaze feature when wins occur with added Special Wilds. The game continues as normal after their effects have been enacted.

• Petrify - removes a row or column. The removed symbols contribute to charging the Stone Gateway.
• Gaze - chooses 1 regular symbol and removes all matching symbols from the grid.

Other World Free Round

After 42 winning symbols have charged the Stone Gateway, players are awarded 1 free round with 3 random Stone Gateway Effects. If the Stone Gateway is overcharged, an additional Stone Gateway Effect is added for every 3 extra winning symbols collected - up to 7 effects at the most. During the Other World Free Round, a Stone Gateway Effect is triggered when no more wins occur until all have been consumed. Stone Gateway Effects are:

• Special Wilds - 4 Special Wilds are added to the grid.
• Petrify - 4 Special Wilds are added to the grid. If a win is achieved with any Special Wild, the Petrify Portal Effect triggers.
• Gaze - 4 Special Wilds are added to the grid. If a win is achieved with any Special Wild, the Gaze Portal Effect triggers.

Also, in the Other World Free Round, 11 or 12 Eye Marks are placed on the reels. Eyes are opened by forming a win in the eye's location. If all eyes are opened, the Mega Wild Medusa's head symbol is added to the reels, moving down a row with each cascade before disappearing. Cascades continue till no more wins occur.

Medusa's Madness: Slot Verdict

Play'n GO has extensive experience making slots that build a charge meter in order to jam features onto the reels. Moon Princess, Reactoonz, Honey Rush, the list goes on, and continues to go on thanks to slots like Medusa's Madness. However, whereas those three other slots went on to achieve various levels of greatness, Medusa's Madness heads in the other direction. The features unlocked by the Stone Gateway meter are kind of dull. Special Wilds, okay, they substitute as per normal and help make more wins. The Petrify and Gaze features, though, just remove symbols. Meh. Round and round Medusa's Madness goes, filling the meter, winning on an Eye Mark, getting wilds on the grid and removing symbols from columns or rows.

Medusa's Madness does have a definite end point to shoot for, however. That would be winning on top of and thereby opening each eye in the Other World Free Round to throw the Medusa Wild onto the board. It was underwhelming. It's a larger-than-normal wild which drops down the grid row by row, linking clusters. Hey ho. Unsurprisingly, Medusa's Madness does not possess masses of winning potential but offers payouts of up to 2,000 times the bet for willing participants, thus placing it in the same category as Tome of Insanity and Tome of Madness. Willing, hmm, that's the question, and while some might be won over by the cyclical action and gorgeous graphics, others will be clinging with a kung fu grip to the greater examples of this style of gaming that Play'n Go has produced in the past.