Medusa II Slot Review

There are few more terrifying creatures in Greek mythology than the Gorgon Medusa. Reputedly once one of the most beautiful women in the world, she was turned into a hideous Gorgon, with live snakes as hair, by a vengeful God. The final indignity was she was given a face so hideous that gazing into her eyes could turn mortals into stone.

Although where Medusa was said to live is open to debate with some placing her in an island in the Mediterranean sea, other historians felt the story was based somewhere in North Africa, what is certain is that her spirit remains living strong in the Medusa slot series from NextGen Gaming and the second of these games is the Medusa II slot.

The slot is set in Medusa’s home, with the reels set back in what appears to be an entry to a cave. Surrounding the cave are a number of different ruins and an ominous pink and purple sky. The musical accompaniment to the slot is also quite atmospheric with a number of eerie sounds creating a rather worrying backdrop to the slot. It’s clear that whatever has made this island home, is not something that you want to trifle with.

The five reels (each with three symbols on) are set against this backdrop and there are a total of 243 ways to win, as opposed to individual pay lines, on this slot. That means consecutive symbols from left to right across the reels will pay in any position. Spins start at a very cheap £0.25 per spin, but you can increase that up to £50 per spin if you want to play for more money each time.

The highest value line win is 500 coins, which isn’t huge but you could win that multiple times on a single spin, which means that the overall value of a win could be considerably higher, especially if the win is paired with other wins on that spin.

There are five of the lower value playing card symbols on the reels and these range from 10 through to the ace. Somewhat unusually, all these symbols offer the same payout values of 5 coins for 3 symbols across the reels, 20 for four and 50 for five across the reels.

The higher value symbols are all to do with the Medusa mythology and include a ring, a bow and arrow (which was her weapon of choice), a soldier that has been turned to stone, a golden amulet and a snake that is inside a helmet. These symbols offer the same pays for three and four symbols on the reels (10 coins and 25 coins respectively) but the value for five coins increases from 100 coins for the ring up to 400 coins for the snake in the helmet.

Big wins are possible in the base game due to the randomly triggered Locked Reels feature, which on certain spins in the base game will get, 2, 3, 4 or all five of the reels to spin together, displaying the same symbols as each other. This can lead to some very big wins, especially when this bonus is triggered on the first three reels and includes a high number of the reels in play.

The base game comes with a number of different other features attached to it, plus there is a Wild symbol and also a Scatter symbol on the reels and we’ll explore more about what each of these do in the Key Features section below.

Medusa II Slot Key Features

The first feature you need to know is the Wild symbol, which is Medusa herself and this symbol can be used with any high or low value standard symbol to create winning lines or increase the value of a win. This Wild can be stacked across all reels and also offers the biggest possible payouts of 20 coins for three across the reels, 50 coins for four and the jackpot 500 coins for five across the reels.

Of course, with this symbol being stacked, that means you could win 500 coins across multiple combinations on the reels on a winning spin.

Another base game bonus is the Turned To Stone Stacked Wilds bonus which can occur on any random spin in the base game. When it is triggered a soldier will appear on screen and try to attack Medusa. When he fails, he will be turned to stone and when he does, a stack of Wilds will be revealed behind him on the reels which can trigger additional wins.

The Free Spins bonus is also very attractive and this is triggered when you land three or more of the Medusa II Logo Scatter symbols anywhere across the reels. This unlocks the Medusa’s Locked Reels Free Game Feature.

During Free Spins the Locked Reels feature is active on your 10 Free Spins. This will randomly lock between 2 and 5 of the reels into the same patterns of symbols and of course, you can land some sizeable wins as a result. You can also retrigger this bonus by landing the scatter symbols once again which will give you an additional five free spins.

What is nice about the Medusa II slot is that wins are generally small but you can land some big value wins both in the base game (especially with the Locked Reels feature in play) and also in the Free Spins bonus game. This makes this a more medium variance game.

How to win at the Medusa II slot

As a medium variance game, the best way to get the most out of the Medusa II slot is to budget for a lengthy spell at the reels. The more spins you have without taking your balance too low, the better chance you have of triggering the main bonus features of the slot and landing a sizeable win.

What I do like about the Medusa II slot is that the base game isn’t too punitive. Some base game just eat your money and then you have to try and recoup your losses in the free spins round. In the Medusa II slot, you can win big in the base game as well as during free spins and that makes a big difference.

The key to winning big is triggering those bonuses and I think the Locked Reels bonus is the key here, especially if you can land this with those high-paying Wild symbols on the reels. When this happens, then the really big payouts on the slot can occur.