Slot High Gear — Game Review

The ‘Destiny’ gear game just changed for the better in a big way

For months, the Destiny fan community has been unhappy with the state of the gear game. Right now, it’s possible to spend tens of hours — if not hundreds — hunting for loot to level yourself up with only to land just shy of the «Light Level 320» maximum.

SEE ALSO: ‘Destiny’ sequel reportedly won’t happen in 2016

The final climb to 320 — which involves obtaining a full set gear and armor with individual 320 ratings — has nothing to do with skill. It’s all luck. Gear drops with a random Light Level assigned to it, and 320s, which only drop in a handful of modes to begin with, are exceedingly rare.

The Apr. 12 update raises Destiny‘s maximum Light Level to 335 and offers a wider range of opportunities to secure new max level gear than the current game does. They are:

• Iron Banner (PvP activity)
• Trials of Osiris (PvP activity)
• Unique gear drops from high level Strikes (PvE activity)
• Exotic engrams (random loot drop)
• Court of Oryx (you can only get 335 Artifacts from this)
• Challenge of the Elders (PvE activity, described here)
• King’s Fall raid, hard mode (PvE activity, though 335 gear is coming to it after Apr. 12)

There are still no guarantees that you’re getting 335 drops from these activities, but the update provides more activities where the chance exists to begin with. That’s a welcome improvement.

The coming update also makes it easier to bring your old, beloved gear up to the new max level, thanks to a big «Infusion» change.

In Destiny, Infusion is a process by which you consume a higher level piece of gear into a lower level one of the same type. It gives players an opportunity to make sure gear they like using — or just like the look of — stays relevant in the power game.

The problem with Infusion in its current form is the math.

The problem with Infusion in its current form is the math.

If you have a 300 helmet that you love and a 320 helmet that you don’t, Infusing will only bring your 300 up to around 310. So you have to choose: do you make the helmet you love slightly more powerful or just use the one you don’t like because it’s the most powerful?

The Apr. 12 update turns Infusion into a 1-to-1 transfer. If you have a sweet-looking Light Level 120 helmet and an ugly Light Level 330 helmet, you can turn the 120 into a 330 without sacrificing anything. There’s no math anymore; the higher number simply replaces the lower number.

The Infusion tweak is all about letting players look the way they want in Destiny without sacrificing their progress in the power game. That’s been a goal of Bungie’s for most of the game’s life, but this is the first change that really feels like it could deliver.

There are other changes coming in the update as well. Armor and weapons will have new upgrade slots for «Chroma,» a collectible material that can make the piece of gear it’s added to give off a white, yellow, blue or red glow.

Credit: Bungie

Bungie is also bringing back a bunch of popular «legendary» (purple rarity) weapons that were phased out with the release of The Taken King in Sept. 2015. Fan-favorites like Shadow Price (an auto rifle) and The Devil You Know (a hand cannon) will filter back into the Destiny loot pool.

There’s also an assortment of new armor that can be collected from special Sterling Treasure boxes. These are handed out weekly as you complete Prison of Elders and Crucible challenges, or by purchasing the boxes using Silver (currency that you can buy with real money).

Any armor that drops from a Sterling Treasure box is set at Light Level 3, so buying one isn’t really a «pay-to-win» situation. If you want that gear to be relevant in the power game, you’ll still have to find higher level gear and Infuse it.

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Hot Rod Racers

Relax Gaming are one of the most accredited developers across the gambling industry – a provider that never lets us down, whether this be in their graphics, sounds, or potent maths models. One of the team‘s greatest strengths is in taking a simple theme and a simple idea, and offering it with a punch – this remains true in their upcoming release, Hot Rod Racers, which we’ll be looking at today. Highly (5/5) volatile, this release comes with an RTP of 96.0%, and win potential up to 25,000x bet. Let’s take a closer look…

Visually, we’re in a mechanic’s garage, made clear with the cars in the background, one of which has the hood popped. I always say this when I review a Relax game, but they never miss a trick with their graphics, making sure every single element ties in to the overall theme. In this case, it’s various parts surrounding the reels, and the reels themselves being encased in the grille of a car. Audios are upbeat, and probably not the first thing you’d imagine when you think of a car themed slot, but they work really well, tying the whole thing together.

Hot Rod Racers Base Features

Taking place across 5 reels, wins are formed on Hot Rod Racers by matching at least 3 symbols on adjacent reels, beginning with the leftmost reel, across 1 of 30 fixed win lines. Symbols available begin with non-premiums, with diamonds, hearts, clubs, and spades. Land 3 of a kind of any non premium to see wins of 0.30x bet, increasing to wins of 2.50x bet for 5 of a kind. At the premium end we have four cars – blue, green, red, and purple, to match the non premiums. Land 3 of a kind of any premium to see wins between 0.50 and 1x bet, increasing to values between 5 and 10x bet for 5 of a kind. Finally, Wilds are available, substituting for all symbols except Scatters, and awarding wins of 2, 7.50, and 20x bet for 3, 4, and 5 of a kind, respectively.

These Wilds work hand in hand with the main feature in Hot Rod Racers – the Wheelspin Wild Feature. Wheelspin Wild symbols can land on reels 2-5, and when they do, they will spin off the row to the left. In the process, if they move through any premium car symbols, they will covert them to Wilds. Non premiums remain unchanged.

If two or more Wilds land on the same row, the leftmost Wild will move first. When the following Wilds move, any premiums they pass through that have already been converted to Wilds will have a multiplier upgraded on them – this will be +1 for each new Wild that passes through them. As mentioned above, Wilds substitute for all symbols except Scatters, and award wins of 2, 7.50, and 20x bet for 3, 4, and 5 of a kind, respectively.

Hot Rod Racers Bonus

Scatter symbols are present on reels 2, 3, and 4 only. Land 3 Scatters in view to trigger 10 Free Spins. During the feature, any Wheelspin Wilds that land will stick in their position on the reels, and trigger their feature on every spin. This means on every spin, any car symbols in the row to the left of a Wheelspin Wild will be converted to Wilds, and potentially have their multiplier upgraded if more than one Wild is in view to the right of them.

Nitro Wilds can land on reels 1 and 5, and if they do land on these reels with Scatters on reels 2, 3, and 4, 10 Super Free Spins are triggered. Nitro Wilds will also substitute for all symbols. Super Free Spins work in the same way at Free Spins, except each position that is converted is given a multiplier, which begins at x1. Each time another symbol in this position is converted, this multiplier is increased by +1. Multipliers become active if they hold a converted symbol or a Wheelspin Wild, and are capped at x5. If more than one multiplier is used in a win line, they multiply their values together before being applied to the win.

Players in appropriate regions have the opportunity to buy into either feature:

The maximum win available in Hot Rod Racers is 25,000x bet. If the sum of a single game round exceeds this, the game round will end and 25,000x bet will be awarded.

First Impression

There’s a real Top Dawg$ feel to Hot Rod Racers – simple, beautifully presented, but with a potency that seems deceiving at first. Similarities come to mind with Hex too, another Wild focused release from Relax. This is what we’ve now come to expect from Relax – they aren’t building games that take 300 spins to wrap your head around, but they are building highly volatile releases, with win caps that are frequently shattered not long after release.

Why then, did it seem surprising that Hot Rod Racers could go off like it does? Who knows, but it doesn’t matter much – the important thing is that Wheelspin Wilds do the job and then some in this one. Of course, this feature keeps the base game ticking over, but things definitely kick into high gear in Free Spins, and even more so in Super Free Spins, where it becomes possible to trigger Wild Lines with building multipliers – and what a difference the multiplier makes. At one point in testing, a Wild Line paid roughly 5,000x bet – on another, 200x bet. This is all made possible with multiple multipliers multiplying together. Land the right combinations, and wins are actually possible up to 25,000x bet. Finally, maths is highly (5/5) volatile, and RTP is 96.0%, so no complaints on either front.

If you liked Top Dawg$ I think Hot Rod Racers will definitely have some allure. More than that, if you’re the kind of player that feels slots have become needlessly complicated – this ones for you.

*The screenshots taken of games reviewed on this site are taken from Demo Play, as reviews are often written before games are released for real play.