Howling Wolves Megaways Slot – Free Demo

A blue wolf at the top of the pack

Booming Games is on a roll at present, currently fashioning some genuinely intriguing games, and they've followed up with another daring slot called Howling Wolves Megaways. Four wolves head the symbol set, with six themed minors sitting underneath them. The design crew has taken another superb theme. Each symbol on a reel is counted once, however tall it lands there. They have fleshed it out with outstanding atmosphere, and a bunch of ingenious extras. Only the highest win is paid per winning combination, and multiple wins on the same spin are added together. The features list covers the Megaways engine, licensed from Big Time Gaming, along with cascading wins, and what remains are features that operate best when synchronised to yield some fierce gaming and sturdy rewards when it all comes together.

Barbarians might have reckoned they were pretty bad-ass. But when it comes to toughness, compared to the original tough men and women of the wild – the wolves – barbarians were a pack of feeble whingers. The word wolf is a bit of a catch-all term commonly employed to denote a broad range of beasts that did not belong to the tamed world of the era; think foes of the shepherd, the villager, and the solitary traveller for example. Below the wolves the paytable turns to teepees, masks, drums, headdresses, tomahawks and vases. Of the lot, Howling Wolves Megaways concentrates on one the toughest – those that reside in the frozen north.

The counter read 1890 on the spin that paid 44.00

As such, the 6 reel slot, with 2 to 7 symbols on every reel, has been placed on a blizzard swept mountain, and it's a brooding scene, one made more menacing by the howling that drifts over the grid's frame. The number of symbols each reel lands with is picked at random on every spin. The soundtrack finishes the picture. If you are in any doubt, this is not a light-hearted jaunt across daisy strewn alpine meadows. Symbols carry on the theme, the pack is headed by a blue wolf, and the blue wolf is also the chief of the paytable at 22.50 for a line of six on a 1.50 stake. The number of ways a symbol pays is worked out by multiplying together the count of matching symbols on each adjacent reel, and that total is then multiplied by the symbol's paytable value. There are up to 117,649 ways to create winning combinations on, paying left to right from the leftmost reel on neighbouring reels, at any combination size. One spin in my session landed with the counter reading 1890 ways and paid 44.00 at a stake of 10.00.

A high point on spin 124

Powering the game is a highly volatile math model. It yields an RTP of 96.00%. Of the 88 spins that paid me anything across the run, 46 came back with less than the 10.00 stake. Did I note it is highly volatile? This can't be repeated enough. Bang Bang Reloaded, from the same studio, is rated 5 out of 5 for volatility as well, so this is familiar ground for Booming Games. Sessions can run hot or burn as cold as the frigid wasteland in which the game is set. Mine peaked at a balance of 100,634.75 on spin 124 and closed at 98,351.75, which was also its lowest point.

Cascades, wilds and the Alpha Wolf Spin

Howling Wolves Megaways’ set of features can operate effectively on their own. Cascading wins, Howling Wilds, the Alpha Wolf Spin, Max Megaways and Wolf Pack Multipliers make up the set. They shine when merged, and perhaps the most frequent is the cascading win. Whenever a winning combination lands, the winning symbols are cleared and the rest drop, with new symbols filling the gaps, and the cascade then repeats until no winning ways survive.

Howling Wolves Megaways arrives with a wild symbol supplied by the Howling Wilds feature. Random wilds emerge while the reels are spinning, every cascade can add more of them, and the wild substitutes for all symbols except the scatter. Two further modifiers can strike alongside it: the Alpha Wolf Spin and Max Megaways. The Alpha Wolf Spin transforms all major symbols into the highest paying major once the reels have landed and for every cascade in that round. The highest paying major is the blue wolf, so the conversion leaves the top wolf spread across the majors on the grid. Max Megaways forces every reel to land with 7 symbols for a full 117,649 Megaways result. That is the ceiling for the ways count, and it takes all six reels at 7 symbols at the same time.

Twenty-eight free spins from one landing

The centrepiece is the Free Spins bonus round. It came round six times in my 470 spins, on spins 60, 67, 124, 257, 375 and 427. To trigger the feature, 4 or more scatters anywhere in sight are required. When they land, 4 scatters grant 8 free spins and each extra scatter adds +2, up to a maximum of 30 free spins from the 15 scatters that can fit on screen; the round is granted only after all cascades have finished and paid. The six triggers in my run dealt 28, 10, 12, 28, 22 and 22 free spins. It cannot be retriggered. The two rounds of 28 therefore arrived from 14 scatters landing at once. During the feature, Wolf Pack Multipliers multiply the initial win by x3, x4 or x5 depending on how many wolves appear. The banner that came up in my session awarded x3, the lowest of the three. The multiplier climbs by 1 for every winning cascade in the round, applying to that cascade's win. The weakest of my six rounds, on spin 257, gave back 22.00 from its 28 free spins.

Minty Slots Verdict: Six bonus rounds across 470 spins carried 1,992.00 of the 3,079.00 this session won, and the run still closed at 65.5% of everything staked.

Was the pack worth 4,700.00?

Whatever has sent the Booming Games crew on their current creative bender, long may it endure, and Howling Wolves Megaways is another belter of a slot, thick on atmosphere, where features can pile up in a moment. Best outcomes were had when solid multipliers are posted early on in the Free Spins. The second best round of my run, on spin 67, turned 10 free spins into 410.00. Across 470 spins at a stake of 10.00 the bonus landed six times and gave back 1,992.00 of the 3,079.00 won, the largest of them 1,000 on spin 124 for 100 times the stake. That share works out at 65% of everything the session won. Be prepared though; the volatility rating of 5 out of 5 is no overstatement. Perhaps it's a caution because Howling Wolves Megaways can be savage on a bad day. Two later rounds, on spins 375 and 427, paid 110.00 and 180.00 from 22 free spins each. My session finished at 65.5% of everything wagered, with only 88 paying spins and a dry run of 25, but on the flip side, when things are running well, it's superb. That dry run ended on spin 423, four spins before the last bonus of the night.

Howling Wolves Megaways might not be as frantic as some Megaways games can be on tilt. Total stake through the run was 4,700.00, against 3,079.00 returned. But it's still a game that keeps you on your toes, and it can quicken in an instant. It is also further proof of the corner Booming Games has turned and the firm direction they are taking with game design, and Howling Wolves Megaways can be hard going, its stats and gameplay not for the faint-hearted. Tasty Bonanza is another Booming Games slot pitched at the same end of the scale, with the same 5 out of 5 volatility rating. But for devoted gamblers, the rough ride has plenty to enjoy. Only 19% of the spins I played paid anything back at all. That is especially so if the wolves can take a pause from their attack on the flock to let some of the riches flow your way.