Casino Bonuses
| Provider | Yggdrasil Gaming |
| Reels | 6 |
| Rows | 4 |
| Paylines | 4,096 |
| Bonus Rounds | 1 |
| Bet Range | 0.20 - 100 |
| Volatility | High |
| Max Win | 10,000x |
| Bonus Buy | Yes |
| RTP | 96.00% |
| Our Rating | 7.4 |
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Demo & Review
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Demo & Review
Demo & Review
Demo & Review
Demo & Review
Demo & Review
Demo & Review
Demo & Review
Demo & Review
Demo & Review
Demo & Review
Demo & Review
Demo & Review
Demo & Review
Demo & Review
Demo & Review
Demo & Review
Demo & Review
Demo & Review
Demo & Review
Game Overview
The Champion of the Underworld … isn’t that supposedly the winner of the Mortal Kombat tournament? Perhaps I’m getting mixed up, but it may as well be by the looks of the scary looking beings that feature in Yggdrasil’s newest online slot, Champion of the Underworld. This is a GIGABLOX machine, which is a payout mechanic similar in style to Megaways – technically, you might say that this is a 4,096 pay way game, but the Gigablox symbols can throw that number out on any individual spin. Wins are also paid in both directions too, so I suggest we forget about calculating the number of ways on this game! The RTP of 96% is bang on the industry average, and the maximum win is said to be “at least 10,000x”.
We already mentioned the Gigablox – these 2×2, 3×3, and 4×4 symbols can appear at any time, with at least one guaranteed on every single spin. Some games – for example, Big Time Gaming’s “Danger! High Voltage” treat larger-format symbols as a single symbol. In contrast, Gigablox is evaluated as being four, nine, or 16 individual symbols for the purposes of calculating your winnings. Clearly, this is extremely beneficial to the player, so thumbs up to Yggdrasil on this front. A “Wild Fight” modifier triggers randomly during the base game, causing monsters to fight each other to the death (Finish Him!), with the losing participant suffering the shame of being transformed into wild symbols. Oh, the humanity! Think of the children! These fights are even more valuable during the free spins, as … you know what? Let’s not peak too early!
Think you have what it takes to become the champion of the underworld? Here’s what you do: walk out onto the streets, make sure that you have a crowd of Generation Z walking behind you… then, at the top of your voice, scream, “MORTAL KOMBAT!” … Alternatively, here’s a free demo slot of Champions of the Underworld that will save you a thousand blushes. You can thank me later.
Champion Of The Underworld Slot Theme, Stakes, Pays & Symbols
Okay, hopefully, I didn’t overcook that Mortal Kombat introduction a little too much… anybody under the age of 35 probably doesn’t have the faintest idea what is going on at this point. If you do, congratulations, you are getting old – just like me! And the best part is, do I have a surprise for you! The Super Nintendo version of Mortal Kombat 3 contains a hidden slot machine that wasn’t found for years after its initial release, so you have probably never heard about it. Fancy checking it out? Head on over to this link, and you really can become the Champion of the Underworld… on Super Nintendo. And let’s be honest, that’s where the real king of darkness hangs out.
If only Yggdrasil had included a few more … well… threatening looking champions, I’d have a good reason to keep this MK fun going even longer, but alas, all we have is a red monster with a ring through his nose at the top of the paytable, and all he pays is 2x your bet for a full pay way of six-of-a-kind! The purple, evil-looking witch character pays 1.5x for all six of her symbols, then the blue guy who resembles Skeletor obviously forgot to say, “by the power of grayskull!” as he’ll only give you 1x your bet for all six of his symbols. I’m not even going to get started on the four-eyed horse – 1x your bet for all six. Four playing card suit symbols make up the lower half of the paytable, all with a return of 0.5x, and the golden skull wild is worth 2x for a six-of-a-kind combination, just like the highest-paying regular symbol.
Betting increments begin at €0.20 until you reach €1.00, after which things get a bit random until you hit €20.00, after which your only options are further increments of €20.00 until you hit the maximum of €100.00 per round.
Base Game & Modifiers
The base game plays similarly to other GIGABLOX slots; the whole GIGABLOX payout mechanic intrigues me, though, as it doesn’t appear restricted to a single developer, nor does it appear to be licensed in the same way that Megaways is. Could it be that somebody came up with a new payout mechanic and didn’t get greedy and try to patent it?
Surely not, not in this day and age? This does appear to be the situation, so kudos to the inventor, and shame on you, Big Time Gaming, for exploiting your incredibly cool Megaways mechanic so heavily… yes, we’d probably all have done the same if we were you, but that’s not the point. It’s easy to criticise when you’re not the one making the money. In fact, it’s fun!
Wild Fight Modifier
On any base game or bonus round spin, Hades may decide to pick a fight with all the monsters who have dared to land on his reel set. Each of the monsters Hades defeats will be transformed into a wild symbol – including monsters that appear as Gigablox!
Champion Of The Underworld Slot Bonus Features
You will need to hit at least five free spins symbols to trigger a bonus round, and the easiest way to achieve this is to hit a gigablock free spin symbol as this will convert into multiple smaller free spin symbols. This is how I won every on of my bonus rounds during testing, so I suspect it will be the most common way you will bag yourself a bonus round too!
Free Spins Bonus
The number of free spins awarded depends on the number of triggering free spin symbols. A 1×1 free spin symbol will grant you a single free spin, whilst a 2×2 gigablock will give you four free spins. A 4×4 gigablock will award you a whopping 16 free spins, although I never saw such a symbol land whilst I was testing the game.
During this mode, the wild fight modifier is much more valuable as every successful fight will add a single point to the meter shown on the right of the main reel set, which acts as a continuous ascending multiplier for the duration of the feature. The meter has several predetermined points, which, when reached, will also add two free spins to your remaining counter.
Additional free spins are granted after nine, 11, 13, 15, or 17 wild fight wins, and multipliers of 2x, 3x, 5x, 10x, or 25x, respectively, will become active as you pass each of these milestones.
Note that before your bonus round begins, you will be offered the chance to gamble your free spins for the opportunity to win more – I would be careful with this feature, however, as a single loss will forfeit your entire bonus round regardless of how many free spins you have already accumulated.
Bonus Buy
If permitted within your jurisdiction, you can take advantage of a bonus buy facility to skip the base game and go directly to the free spins feature. For a cost of 90x the regular stake, you can purchase a five free spin bonus round, which doesn’t seem like a fantastic deal to me.
There is also a second option to pay 1,000x the regular bet for a 20 free spin bonus round, which is probably a better deal but is also incredibly expensive. It would have been nice if Yggdrasil had included a third option of perhaps ten or 15 free spins for a price of 200x, 250x, or even 500x the regular bet.
As it stands, I am not sure I would bother with either of these two options. Neither of them seems like good value for money to me, and whilst I did make a profit several times from the more expensive option, 1,000x is way too rich for my blood when playing for real money.
Champion Of The Underworld Slot Review Final Thoughts
Champion of the Underworld has a lot of great things going for it – plenty of unique and innovative features, just like most other Yggdrasil slots, for a start, and the presentation is also amongst the best you will find anywhere in the world of online slots.
The bonus round lets the game down, though, in my opinion, especially considering the issues with the bonus buy feature. It’s definitely worth playing, but I cannot shake the feeling that Yggdrasil has missed a massive opportunity with this game.
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