Slot Sparks — Game Review

Sparks will fly in NetEnt’s new colourful Sparks slot

Sparks is one of the latest video slots to be released by Net Entertainment. The Sparks slot machine was released in late July 2015, and is energy themed. High playing cards, gaseous elements, and atomic symbols, all spread their way across the 5 reels and 20 paylines of this all action slot, to help you win an energetic non-progressive jackpot. Now, let’s see what else Sparks has got to offer, in our Sparks slot review.

Graphics and symbols

The Sparks slot graphics are all very well designed. In some way, shape, or form, they are all designed to depict sources of energy, such as gas and electrical charges. It is certainly an original theme, and one which may earn Net Entertainment some credit. Those energy-based symbols are joined on the reels by lesser-paying, high-playing card icons, which are also gaseous in appearance.

Betting

NetEnt have a habit of not permitting players to adjust the number of paylines in their latest slots. That is also the case in the Sparks slot game. All 20 paylines are fixed into place, although players will be able to alter the value of their coins, and the number of coins they bet per line. You’re looking at paying just 20p a pop for a spin on the Sparks slot machine.

Special features

A total of two wild features are present in the Sparks video slot. The first is a basic wild icon. It can replace all other symbols in the game, with ones you will need to win a payline. The one symbol it cannot replace, though, is the Cloning Wild icon.

This second wild symbol is the main attraction when it comes to Sparks slot bonuses. When this symbol appears on the reels, it can expand to cover an entire reel. Symbols located adjacent to this special wild will then be cloned, resulting in larger wins for the player.

Sparks slot machine duplicated symbols make for an original gameplay option

Bonus round

There isn’t really a bonus round included in Sparks. However, the Sparks slot most certainly has a bonus feature. The feature is the ability to win both ways. During the base game, the player will only be able to win in the customary left to right fashion. However, when the Cloning Wild symbols appear, you have the option of winning from right to left, as well as the standard left to right. This is a nifty little feature, and although it isn’t exactly a good substitute for a free spins bonus, it isn’t exactly a bad one, either.

Original but lacking

The Sparks slot has its pros and it has its cons. In many areas, such as theme and the Cloning Wilds, Sparks is incredibly original. That is always going to appeal to a large section of the online slot playing crowd. On the other hand, it lacks a free spins bonus, and doesn’t really offer you any multiplier wins, such as those typically offered via scatters. Sparks is a mixed bag of a slot. Some players will love it, and others, quite simply won’t. Whether you feel that Sparks has missed the mark or not, depends on what you seek in a slot game.

About The Author

The Gambler

As a member of the VegasMaster writing staff, I pride myself on delivering quality information about my favorite topic: the online gaming industry. In addition to playing a wide-variety of online casino games, I keep up on the latest iGaming news and trends. My passion for the industry has made me both an experienced player and researcher.

Overview

• SCI-FI
• NetEnt
• 5 Reels
• 20 Paylines
• Released in 2015
• 97 %
• Max Coins Per Line: 10
• Min Coins Per Line: 1

Features

• Multiplier
• Free Spins
• Autoplay
• Wild Symbol
• Scatter Symbol

Sparks fly at Spin Genie casino

Everyone anticipates NetEnt launches and you’d be a fool if you didn’t. So when Sparks mobile slot came around, everyone was buzzing with excitement. The fiery theme and the electrifying features such as the Win Both Ways and the Expanding Cloning Wilds were pretty cool indeed. But the slot left many looking for answers to the question if it was just a cheap Starburst rip-off. We investigate in this Sparks mobile slot review.

About The Slot
We agree with the people saying that Sparks does indeed look like someone had taken Starburst, changed a few things around, put a splash of new colour in and presented it as a brand new slot. But Sparks does have quite a lot to offer with its vivid theme and the gameplay mechanics that are certainly appealing.

Keeping Up With The Sparks
No, we don’t mean a real life TV show about the sparks that come a-flying in this video slot. What we do mean is that although this slot doesn’t have a great number of features or very lively graphics, it’s easy to become lulled into thinking that Sparks is an innocent little game.

Well, although the music may be ambient and easy-listening type and the colourful sparks that fly about are, in fact, slightly hypnotizing, there is still money to be made or lost. So stay on top of it!

But, as you’d hope to see from NetEnt, Sparks is beautifully designed and its audiovisual finish is up to a very high spec. Actually, the audio sounds a bit like from an old arcade, but this just adds to the ambiance of the game and its relaxed outlook. Overall, this is a slot that’s gorgeous looking, but doesn’t have much else going for it in terms of theme or story line.

Return to player

Payout lines

Minimum bet (p)

Maximum bet (£)

This Is A Steady-Going Slot
You won’t lose massively, but most likely, you won’t win big either. During our test play of Sparks, we got moderately sized wins and many small ones pretty often, thanks to its Wilds of all kinds (we even made it rhyme!) features. The slot has got the usual — five reels of three rows each, and 20 paylines.

You can change the bet level from one through to 10 and the coin value from 0.01 to 2. Depending on what you’re playing with, the size of your total wager will differ accordingly, but we’d suggest an easy-going game strategy. You can’t out-win the machine, so might as well make your time on last longer. Plus, you’ll get to enjoy the electrifying environment of the game a bit longer too.

This slot is low variance and this also reflects in the tranquil gameplay. From the get-go, you can choose if you wish t play one-way or win-both-ways. Although on paper this might sound like a huge choice and a big deal, the real difference is 0.02% in RTP to be precise. And with the RTP being so high already – 96.5% – we wouldn’t bother raking your brain which gameplay option to choose.

Of course, you might want to switch to one-way winning mode as that changes the background and the overall feeling of the slot, but does little else as we explained above.

So, if you ever feel like you just want to play slots for the sake of it, without wanting to lose too much money but hopefully still be able to take home a few hundred quid after your session, Sparks will be your ideal game!

Win Both Ways… Or Not
As we already briefly touched upon this in the review section above, when you load up Sparks, you will be asked whether you wish to play the regular one-way-wins game or the win-both-ways version of Sparks. With the first option, your winnings would be paid left-to-right as in the vast majority of other modern video slots, but in the win-both-ways game, your winning paylines would count from right-to-left as well.

The reality of it is – it doesn’t really matter than much. The percent difference in RTP is negligent for us to want to consider. We’d advise you this – opt for whichever background you feel like playing on the most. One-way-wins has a cool backdrop of blue hues, while win-both-ways features a buzzing purple palette.

Wilds Of All Kinds!
In Sparks, you’ve got your Wilds and you’ve got your Expanding Cloning Wilds – wicked!

First, the wilds are just like any other wilds; they substitute for other symbols and appears often and on any reel. While the Wilds have somewhat of a cool, icy feel to it because they’re electrified in blue, the Expanding Cloning Wilds have a more radiantly positive vibe as they glow in gold.

The Expanding Cloning Wilds are a wholly different beast. These can only appear on reels 2 and 4, but when they do, they will clone the symbols on their left and right to get you considerable wins. So what happens if you got both reel 2 and 4 covered in Expanding Cloning Wilds? Well, the game will choose the highest paying winning combination and award it to you – not too shabby.

The expanding wilds can also expand up and down randomly or in both directions even, just think about how all the reels could become one massive clone of one symbol! Not only is it much more rewarding than regular play, but the good news is that the Expanding Cloning Wilds are triggered very frequently.

And that’s because the Expanding Cloning Wilds is really all there is to tell you about Sparks features, so NetEnt surely wouldn’t have gone and made it super elusive. In any case, if you are a simple man/woman and enjoy your slots served with not much else but a sprinkling of good vibes and just the one feature, Sparks will fit you very well indeed!