Slot Hotline — Game Review

Hotline

Hotline is a video slot from NetEnt with 5 reels and 30 paylines. You can play Hotline in online casinos such as Kaboo, Mr Green or CasinoCruise.

Theme and game basics

The theme of Hotline takes us back to the 80s and comes with a Miami Vice kind of vibe. The soundtrack emphasises the atmosphere and makes for surprisingly easy listening in the background. The setting very much reminds us of Miami, somewhere along the boulevard, right by the sea. Neon lights feature and the characters on the reels, two cops and a mysterious lady, all wear 80s attire.
The lady is certainly no damsel in distress. She looks rather as if she’s an accomplished thief who is after all that jewellery littering the reels. In total we only get six different symbols (plus the car wild and the scatter symbol). The woman is worth 200 for a 5-of-a-kind win. The gun-toting cop is worth 120 coins in such a combination and Mr Sunglasses is worth 80.
Particularly neat, by the way, is the expanding wild that will show you a car chase whilst it is on the reels. If you have two or more beside each other, the wilds will merge and the car chase becomes more prominent on the reels, which looks very cool.

Gameplay and features

Hotline comes with the name-giving Hotline feature. At the very least the middle row will appear highlighted and whenever a wild lands there, it will expand, become sticky and you get a re-spin. To increase your odds of this happening, you can place a bonus bet and add hotlines to the top and the bottom row or even choose a combination of any of the three.
Of course, your wager is increased accordingly, but so is your chance of getting an expanding sticky wild and those re-spins, which will keep coming, if more wilds make it onto the reels. That makes the bonus bet entirely worth it.
Plus, this will come in handy when you trigger the free spins. When the scatter lands on reels 1, 3 and 5, you will get 7 free spins. Throughout the feature any wilds will become sticky for the duration of the spins. That means big wins are even more likely.

Conclusion

The theoretical RTP (return to player) for Hotline is 96.13%, which is not the greatest value, but you can still come out on top playing this slot. On our first try, we got two mega wins and a free spin feature within the first 30 spins, which was pretty cool. And we only had one hotline activated.
The next attempt was not quite as successful, but the slot is still a lot of fun to simply play. Hotline is not the most sophisticated slot in NetEnt’s portfolio, but it doesn’t have to be. Its mechanics are quite simple, but they work really well for this slot. If you manage to score a few bigger wins with all three hotlines activated, you’re likely to come out on top. But you may have to budget a little to get there.

Facts

Hotline — Slots review

The stakes are high in Hotline by Netent, with this high-risk and high-return crime themed slot played on 5-reels, 3-rows and 30 fixed paylines. A lucky spin could even nab you up to €2,000 on a payline!

Sleek and cool symbols

The base symbols are divided into three higher-tiered symbols that involve some sleek and cool characters, part of a nostalgic crime theme inspired by movies from the 1980’s. The lower-paying symbols involve a priceless crown, necklace and bracelet. The colourful graphics that went into the symbols are also found on the background with a neon hotel sign illuminating the open road as the sun sets. Audio in support of the storyline includes screeching tires, police radio chatter and sirens. The 1980’s music is sure to bring back memories if you’re old enough to remember them.

Hotline bonus bet

The Hotline bonus bet is a method of increasing the probability of collecting expanding wilds and re-spins, both at the cost of a higher bet. This cost can be 15, 30 or 45 coins with the effect of activating 1, 2 or 3 Hotlines respectively.

Sports car wild, expanding wild and re-spins

The sports car wild can race its way on to the reels and replace every other symbol except the scatter. If a wild lands on one of the activated Hotlines, it will then expand to encompass the entire reel. The reels will then undergo a re-spin, where the expanded wild remains sticky, and the re-spin will continue provided a new wild lands on a Hotline.

7 Free spins

The sunset scatter symbol can appear on the 1st, 3rd and 5th reels only during the base games with all three together racing you into the 7 free spins feature. If a wild lands on the activated Hotline then it will expand to cover the entire reel, which becomes sticky until the end of the free spins.

Retro 80’s theme

Hotline slot has a theoretical return to player (RTP) of 96.13% to 97.04% and you get to choose whether to play with the lowest bet of €0.15 or the highest of €450. It is available in HTML5 so it can be enjoyed both on your Windows desktop or your iOS/Android operated tablet and mobile. Besides the well- known features like free spins, re-spins, wilds and expanding wilds, the game also offers a multi-level bonus bet feature called Hotline Bonus Bet. The features are combined with a retro 80’s theme which is supported by great graphics and audio. If you’re ready to get started, visit one of our recommended casinos that you can try for free.

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