Year II Slot Machine

Casino Web Scripts is taking us back in time, way back, to the beginning of it all, when we were nothing more than cavemen and women.

As simple a time as it was, it seems humans had more than enough knowledge to carve out a 3×5 grid filled with 5 reels and 50 winlines. Not to mention a whole host of different features, such as expanding wilds, a Jackpot Bonus, a Ice Picking Bonus, and some free spins.

In truth, we know it took many years just to figure out how to make the wheel, but it’s good fun to have such an engaging and dynamic design to play around with. So many online slots use the same themes over and over, but this brand is always trying to think outside the box. Sometimes they miss the mark, but here they got it just right.

The Dawn of Time

This is likely going to be the part that you’ll find boring, for we need to ensure you know how to play and can navigate the control panel with ease – if you’re a pro and have been playing slots for years, feel free to skip on ahead. Though there’s no harm in brushing up on your knowledge, especially when it comes to a game you’ve never played before.

As far as Year II goes, it operates much the same as any real cash casino game – a plus button and a minus one can be used to increase or decrease the money you’re betting with. The lowest pay-in begins at €1, meaning that your initial stake would be approximately €50, assuming you don’t tweak the winline volume. In regards to the top end payment, you’ll be flashing the cash with a €1,000 per line, aka €50,000; all those with money raise your hands now.

Aside from reducing your cash or winlines amounts, you can’t do much to lower the maximum wager; even 1 winline at €1,000 is still a lot to pay. Not to mention the volatility will be off the charts – nobody, other than those highly practiced in high volatility titles, will want to tackle Year II in that mode.

What we enjoyed most about this slot machine, controls wise, was the Fast Play option. Watching reels spin over and spin can get dull, especially if the speed in which the game progresses is no better than a snail's pace, and so an improvement on the ante is always welcomed. Sadly though, the Fast Play here is lacklustre. There’s an improvement, but not enough of one, for our liking.

A Wall of Ice

You can’t just drop on by your local store when you’ve travelled this far back in time, and so you’ll need to get hands on and become involved with some manual labour. The bonus is an ice-picking round, where you chip away at the frozen water to start rolling in the money; hit ‘collect’ and it’s all over.

As far as innovation goes, it’s limited, but at least Casino Web Scripts has attempted to offer a variation to the main game rather than simply slapping a fancy title onto the free spins and then passing it off as a ‘special feature’.

Rolling Along

To be in with a shot at one of the three jackpot prizes, which you’ve probably spotted in the base game, you’ll need to get your caveman friend to spin the bumpy stone wheel. There’s plenty of other options listed on there, meaning that the top payouts are hard to come by, but a x500 multiplier is pretty sweet regardless of whether you secure a jackpot or not.

The mini level looks great, just as the Ice Picking Bonus does, but you’ll have seen the format a thousand of times over, and not just from this brand.

Back to the Future

When the game ends, you’ll be dropped back into the here and now, leaving behind the complexities and dangers that life in the Stone Age was littered with. So what are our initial thoughts? Year II looks brilliant, and if that was the only aspect we had to judge the game by, then this online slot would walk away with a full five stars, but there’s more to it than that.

The bonuses are tired, a revamped version of what we’ve seen previously, which reduces their quality and fun, more so for returning gamers. And then you have the issue of a middling paytable, with the cash rewards never breaking into the big leagues.