Hook's Heroes

Hook's Heroes – our review at a glance

Ship ohoj! At regular intervals, NetEnt releases a slot machine that you notice that they have put extra energy into. It's all about games with spectacular graphics, innovative gameplay features and an impressive attention to detail. Hook's Heroes is just such a slot machine.

Then it's finally time for the release of the latest game from NetEnt – Hook's Heroes! We are dealing with a really well thought out, stylish and fun slot machine that offers a lot of nice special features and great chances of winning. And of course you can play Hook's Heroes at all our recommended online casinos.

Here we are offered a breathtaking journey out to sea together with a bunch of crazy Pirates. The slot itself is laid out like a typical video slot, with 5 reels, 3 rows and 20 fixed paylines. What makes the game unique are its” Features " – three different game modes that can be activated during a single spin or during a set of free spins (but more on that below).

It's great to see NetEnt once again betting wholeheartedly on an original game production of this caliber, after a few slots with a slightly simpler theme. No other developer has the same sense of design, graphics and gaming fun, and here NetEnt's experience shines through.

5 reels, 3 rows and 20 paylines

As I said, the basic layout of Hook's Heroes is relatively traditional. Like most other video slots, here we find 5 reels with 3 rows each. Even the number of paylines is quite conventional, with 20 lines running across the reels. These paylines are fixed, which means that you cannot play on fewer than 20 per spin.

In the usual order, however, there are good opportunities to vary their bets anyway, by setting the coin value and bet level (number of coins wagered per Payline). The minimum coin value is 10 cents and the maximum is 10 dollar (or 0.01 and 0.10 euros, respectively). As there are 10 bet levels, the bet per spin can be anything between 2 and 2000 dollar (or 0.20 and 200 euros respectively).

Feature spins

If you get 2 scatter symbols anywhere on the reels, one of three ”feature spins” will be activated at random. All of them have their advantages. Let's take a closer look at them one by one:

• Pirate features
  During this feature, winnings are calculated based on how many of a given symbol are on the reels at the same time. The symbols do not have to be along a Payline. For example, if you get 4 symbols of the same type on the reels, the win counts as if you had received 4 of the same symbol in a row on a Payline.
• Fairy tale
  Here a fairy appears and enchants the wheels. Between 2 and 5 wild symbols land on random positions and improve your winning opportunities.
• Mermaid feature
  During this feature, all wins are doubled by two. If there is a wild symbol in the winning combination, the win is multiplied by 4 instead.

Free spins

If you get 3, 4 or 5 scatter symbols during the same spin, free spins are activated instead of Feature Spins. Here you can choose which special functions you want to use.

• 3 scatter symbols
  Choose one of the three different special features Pirate, Fairy or Mermaid to use during your free spins.
• 4 scatter symbols
  Same as above, but here you get to choose one more feature when you used the first set of Free Spins.
• 5 scatter symbols
  Again the same concept - but now you get to take advantage of each of the different features during three sets of Free Spins.

Summary

As I said, it's always fun to see NetEnt in top form! Hook's Heroes is a slot machine that delivers on all points: originality, graphics, winning opportunities and gaming pleasure.

It is of course the different types of” Feature Spins " that make up the very heart of this slot machine. The more scatter symbols you get, the better. The opportunity to get up to 32 free spins with cool special features that guarantee bigger wins is very tempting and will certainly help make Hook's Heroes a big favorite for a long time to come.

The only real pitfall with this slot is the theme, which can perhaps be experienced as a bit childish. If you don't like it, this might not be the game for you. Otherwise, Hook's Heroes is a really well-crafted, entertaining and terribly stylish new slot from Netent.