Players who’ve been around for a while may remember NetEnt’s originalSpace Wars, but we hardly blame you if you don’t. Space Wars 2: Powerpoints doesn’t really compare to the original anyway, except for the similar alien-infusedspace theme. This is far from a bad thing however, as this sequel is teeming with modifiers all over the place, and you now also get a bonus round that eventually triggers from Powerpoints™ collection.
Don’t worry, Powerpoints have nothing in common with boring powerpoint presentations, and the title of the game is not ‘Office Space’ after all. They are collected to increase your win multiplier, and eventually trigger the bonus round. To help you out, you not only get different features, but these can even combine to enhance their modifying effect. You can winup to 10,020x your stake, which is solid, and we had good fun in our test session at least.
You win by forming clusters of3+ matching symbolsvertically or horizontally anywhere on the grid, and winning symbols are removed via theCascading mechanic. This allows for new and/or existing symbols to drop down to fill the gaps, and this process repeats as long as you keep winning. Winning symbols generatePowerpoints, and these are collected in a meter. This increases your level, which again increases the win multiplier.
Landing a 4-symbol horizontal win in any stage of the game triggers theColumn Blaster feature. All symbols except wilds and modifier symbols are then blasted from the relevant row by a special symbol, which again adds points to the Powerpoint meter. Landing a 4-symbol vertical win triggers the same feature, only vertically.
TheZapper modifieris triggered when you land a win with 5 or 6 matching symbols, and this Zapper symbol removes 1 to 4 symbol types when triggered by a 5-oak cluster win. If you trigger the feature with a 6-oak cluster win, 3 or 4 symbol types will be removed. In the bonus round, you get zappers whenever you land a 5-8 of a kind win.
If you land a win with both vertical and horizontal symbols, you trigger theBomb modifier. The bomb explodes after the win calculation, removing itself and all adjacent symbols. If a multiplier wild is affected by the bomb (see below), it multiplies the number of awarded Powerpoints accordingly.
Landing3-oak winsawards a wild symbol in one of the empty positions left behind after the symbols are removed. In the bonus round, thewilds may come with multipliers of x2, x3, x4, x5, x10 or x25. These are not win multipliers however, but they will instead multiply the number of Powerpoints you get which again increases the win multiplier.
Some of the modifiers described above can also combine their powers in different ways when they appear adjacent to each other. This increases their respective powers as follows:
TheBonus Roundtriggers when1,000+ Powerpointshave been collected in the meter, and the number of free spins you get depends on the amount of Powerpoints you have accumulated. Thegrid expands to 8 rowsduring the bonus round, and you can also winextra free spinsduring the feature. Non-UK players, and anyone eligible, may buy the bonus round, and you get8, 12 or 16 free spinsfor75x, 140x or 250x your stake,respectively.
We had a grand time testing Space Wars 2: Powerpoints, and it’s nice to see NetEnt back in top form even though they release far fewer games per year now than they used to. Anyway, we have whipped together a brief and edited highlights video from our 200 spins test session, and you can check it all out by hitting the play button below.
Although the original Space Wars was pretty solid stuff when it was released all the way back in 2013, Space Wars 2: Powerpoints is light years ahead in terms of both features and math model. This is as it should be, of course, and NetEnt has created a highly competent, charming and competitive grid slot with this release. In terms of effect, the features may not be all that innovative, but it kind of feels like it when you play.
We especially enjoyed the combo modifiers, and it all comes together in a satisfying and highly entertaining way that eventually culminates in the bonus round. The expanded grid gives you more room to breathe, and the 10,020x potentialfar exceeds obvious competitors like Play’n Go’s ‘toonz’ range. Space Wars 2: Powerpoints is well worth checking out for both grid slot enthusiasts and fans of the original, although the two games are mostly similar in terms of the visual presentation.
Pros
Cons
Space Wars- seems like a decent warm-up game for the one at hand, or perhaps one to try for nostalgic reasons. NetEnt’s classic original still holds up pretty well in the visual department, and you get wild stacks and a free respin with cloned symbols per win. There is no bonus round however, and the max win is 1,000x your stake.
Reactoonz 2- is Play’n Go’s successful follow-up to their iconic original, and it comes with a 7×7 cluster pays grid with cascading wins. Winning clusters award electric wilds and charge the quantumeter, leading to different modifiers like energoon and gargantoon wilds, x2 multipliers and the possibility of 5,083x payouts.
Gigantoonz- is an even grander installment in the ‘toonz’ range from Play’n Go, at least in terms of size, and it plays out on an 8×8 cluster pays grid with cascading wins. The quantumeter awards 3 different modifiers, as well as the 2-step gigantoon mega wild, and you can win up to 4,000x your stake.
Space Wars 2 Powerpoints
