Vikings Go To Hollywood

Vikings Go To Hollywood: Slot Overview 

Yggdrasil's 'Vikings Go' range has been one of the studio's more successful series and has seen the Vikings go all over the place from Egypt to Berzerk to Hell. Not content with being stereotyped as brutal marauders of the high seas, the Vikings have also explored the modern world, as seen in Vikings Go To Vegas and in the current slot on the dissecting table - Vikings Go To Hollywood. Yes, Hollywood, California, the land of movie stars, red carpets, blockbuster premieres and dreams of fame. The four Viking warriors have traded longships for limousines, and instead of battling sea serpents, they're dodging paparazzi as they chase their fifteen minutes of fame.

While Vikings and modern-day Hollywood represent two very different civilisations, they're actually a more natural fit than many have expected. Yggdrasil has made the conversion work quite well, and the warriors transition from berserk marauders to dapper movie stars without batting a manicured eyelash. A white-suited warrior stands guard on screen in the base game, and the eye-patched guy comes into play during free spins - not to bash the heads of enemies before taking their wealth, but to accept awards and dominate the box office. It's quite humorous, and triggers all sorts of thoughts about how people of the past would deal with the present if they somehow went through a bizarre time warp to get here.

A glitzy, golden-framed 5x4 gaming area is where the symbols land, and they are evaluated by 25 paylines. Behind the bright lights is a medium-high volatile math model, generating a maximum  RTP of 96%, though several lower return models are also available. Bets range in size from $/€0.10 to$/€100, and two bonus rounds may be bought in order to avoid the base game. 

On the paytable are clubs, diamonds, spades, and hearts, as well as four Viking Star symbols. A winning combination of 5 matching symbols pays 1x-1.5x when made of suits, or 6x-10x when made of character symbols. Wild symbols of all types replace any regular paying symbol. 

Vikings Go To Hollywood: Slot Features

While the skin's new, this is where Vikings Go To Hollywood starts to feel more recognisable. The features include WildFights, WildFight respins, WildFight +Multiplier respins, Fame Collection, free spins, a Spotlight Moment Feature, and bonus buys.

WildFight

In the base game and free spins, Viking Star symbols are ambushed by paparazzi. If a Viking Star succeeds in striking a pose before the shutter clicks, it transforms into a sticky wild for base game respins or the entire free spins session. Otherwise, the Viking Star stays as a pay symbol.

RushingWilds 

In free spins, each new landed wild increases the multipliers on other wilds. The multiplier on a wild symbol multiplies the payline win it participates in. Multipliers from more than one wild in the same payline are added together.

WildFight Respins & WildFight +Multiplier Respins

Landing a single scatter symbol triggers a WildFight respin. All high-paying symbols in view are ambushed by paparazzi, and if they succeed, they become sticky wilds for the respin that then occurs. Landing 2 scatters triggers a WildFight +Multiplier respin. This respin acts the same as the WildFight respin except each sticky wild gets an x2 multiplier, which applies to all paylines the wild is part of. Multipliers are added when more than one is part of the same win. 

Fame Collection

In the base game, pay symbols can appear with a corresponding Award Ceremony Letter. These Letters add points to the Fame Collection meter for the associated Viking Star. One point for a low award, 2 points for a high one. Scatters nullify Award Ceremony Letters if they land at the same time. It takes 300 points to fill one of the meters. Each Viking Star has its own meter. When a meter is full, that Viking Star will go Berzerk in the next free spins round triggered by scatters. Berzerk Viking Stars always succeed in WildFights. Also, when a meter is full, the chance of entering free spins is vastly increased. Progress is saved between bets.

Free Spins 

Landing 3, 4, or  5 scatters triggers 6, 8, or 10 free spins, respectively. During free spins, all wilds are sticky for the session, and a WildFight takes place on each spin. Each time a Viking Star succeeds in a WildFight, it becomes a sticky wild till the end of the round. Each time a new sticky wild appears, all previous sticky wilds get a +1 multiplier. This may happen once per spin with no limit to the multiplier on wilds. Landing a scatter awards +1 free spin, but Award Ceremony Letters do not appear in the free spins round.

Spotlight Moment Feature 

On random non-winning spins, the Spotlight Moment can trigger, adding Collection Points or scatters to the grid.

Bonus Buys

Two options are available at the bonus buy. They are 10 free spins +1 Berzerk for 390x the bet, or just 10 free spins for 65x the stake.

Vikings Go To Hollywood: Slot Verdict

Yggdrasil has carved out an eccentric niche for its 'Vikings Go' series, and Vikings Go To Hollywood is one of the more amusingly themed instalments to date. Some of the battle-hardened brothers and sister gamblers out there might not dig the new rhinestone glitter, preferring Vikings to battle people or monsters from their era and keep the past where it is. Yet, while the concept might seem odd at first, the glamorous setting fits surprisingly well and gives the game a distinct personality compared to others in the range, with Vikings Go To Vegas as its closest relative skin-wise. In terms of gameplay, there is no such distinction, since Vikings Go To Hollywood reuses the features found in Vikings Go To Olympus, choosing not to pair the new look with any new action.

Odd, considering how creative the studio got with the theme, but there you have it. Hopefully the Olympus edition rocked your world, because Vikings Go To Hollywood is a mechanical repeat of that earlier game while lacking Poseidon and Zeus telling players to 'Die' and 'Perish.' Fair enough, the original was a decent game, packing sticky wilds, sticky wild multipliers onto the reels, and a collection element that provided motivation to stick around and find out what might happen. Winning potential is also on the decent side, hitting 6,000x at best, and the features which players get to attempt that figure are strong examples of what the Vikings Go line has been producing since its first debut over ten years ago. 

Still, it would have been nice to see some technical advancement to go alongside the creative theme. As it stands, Vikings Go To Hollywood is a fun, whimsical diversion that is quirkily presented, so if you enjoyed the gameplay of its predecessor, the visual shift should justify an experimental waltz down the red carpet. On the other hand, if you were hoping for fresh features to match the eccentric theme, you might find this glittering blockbuster premiere's mechanical repetition a bit disappointing.