Captain Payback Slots - Play for Free or Real Money

Crime fighting takes a front seat with a new slot from High 5 Games. Captain Payback is your alter ego, fighting the criminals of the world and providing payback to them and payola to you, but how hard will it be to capture the bad guys? Let’s take a look and find out….

Overview: Captain Payback

This game employs vibrant, cartoon like characters and symbols reminiscent of the 1950s, a cross between the colorful Archie comics and the characters in Superman. The thread of this era follows through with the sounds of an old-school slot and when you capture a criminal. Your hard work pays off when a retro TV screen appears on the Crime Watchers channel, announcing your victory.

Who will Captain Payback appeal to?

This is a medium volatility game with a wide range of betting options, which will appeal to low-stakes and high-stakes gamers. It also has a relatively high return-to-player ratio of 96.5% and maximum jackpot of $300,000, which is about $50k higher than the typical game—a benefit to all players.

The theme of the game will appeal to those who enjoy super hero and crime fighting slots like Rocket Man, Dead or Alive, Judge Dredd, Hotline, Jack Hammer, and Real Steel.

Gameplay: Captain Payback

Captain Payback has a standard 5 reels with 50 paylines. The game automatically plays all 50 lines, with a minimum bet of 1 cent. You can adjust the bet size only (not the paylines) from 1 cent to $3. Once you’ve set the bet, hit the Spin button to begin play.

Your symbols in the base game include the logo, 4 characters and the 10-Ace. Wilds appear on reels 2, 3, and 4. There is also a Lighting Strike symbol, which will trigger a bonus game.

Three or more symbols constitute a payout, with multiple winning lines available.

Additional features

While Wilds only appear on reels 2, 3 and 4, they can become Expanding Wilds if a potential payline can be made. Getting multiple Wilds means multiple Expanding Wilds, leading to a significant win.

Special features: Captain Payback

Capture Bonus

Three Lighting Strike symbols, appearing on reels 3-4-5, will trigger the Capture Bonus. You will get 5 free games on a different reelset, and the bonus cannot be retriggered. The bonus will end when you have used all 5 free spins or after the Jackpot Bonus has been played.

During this round your symbols include 4 characters: the evil doctor, the thug, twins Nickel & Dime, and an adorable robot named Rob N. Steel, along with Jack-Ace. Three or more symbols constitute a payout. There is also a Wild symbol, but it only appears on reels 2 and 3 and doesn’t expand

Jackpot Bonus

To achieve the Jackpot Bonus, you need to capture all 4 characters. This occurs when 3 or more of the symbols appear on a winning payline. This is a Pick Bonus with 10 levels. The first through ninth levels each have 5 pick options. You choose one of five new characters to reveal your award. It will be either Collect or Advance (to the next level). Each level has a corresponding value, from 5x to 1,000x your bet. The bonus ends when you hit Collect or make it to the tenth and final level.

What works?

Expanding Wilds

As noted above, Expanding Wilds can show up on one, two or three reels. Landing all three, at minimum, would allow 4 of a kind across all 50 paylines, with the potential for 5 of a kind. That makes for a very grand payback, indeed, without the need for criminal behavior!

Bonus Games

Two bonus games are always better than one. At minimum, you get 5 spins, while you get 5 spins and potentially 10 levels of bonuses if you manage to achieve the full potential of both bonus games in one fell swoop. That would equate to 1,000x+ your bet.

What doesn’t?

No Autoplay

Anyone used to employing the Autoplay feature will be disappointed. The game typically goes much slower without it.

Ease of capturing the criminals

The second bonus game is dependent on you capturing all 4 criminals in only 5 spins, since there is no way to retrigger the Capture Bonus. This can be difficult, meaning that getting to the Jackpot Bonus is a difficult feat, and once there it can be just as difficult to make it through all 10 levels.

Having a standard 10 spins during the Capture Bonus would give players a much better chance of getting to play the Jackpot Bonus, but that’s wishful thinking on our part.

The Scores

Graphics & soundtrack 4/5

The graphics have a cartoon-like quality with vibrant colors and a very retro look, which is in keeping with the theme of the game. The basic spin sound is like an old-school slot, and wins announce “It’s Payback time” along with a bell ringing. The bonus has significantly more bells and whistles, with a TV screen announcing the bonus via the Crime Watcher channel. And every time you capture a criminal, it’s announced on the TV as well.

Originality & creativity 3/5

While it’s a typical good guy vs. bad guy scenario here, they make the villains fun, like the twins named Nickel & Dime and the robot named Rob N. Steel. The Expanding Wilds aren’t terribly unique, but the Capture Bonus is and we do like the thrill of the chase. The final Pick Bonus is certainly fun, unless you go out on the first few rounds.

Play value 4/5

This is a medium volatile slot with a good range of betting options. You’ll see a fair amount of wins due to the Expanding Wild feature, many of which can be substantial. An RTP of just over 96% reinforces the play value.

Jackpot potential 2/5

Your biggest wins come during the Jackpot Bonus, which can be difficult to achieve. Then there are 10 tiers you have to make it through, and the bigger prizes don’t come until you’ve hit at least 5 of those tiers.

Repeat play 3/5

This can be a fun game, with regular base game wins. The TV interruptions during the bonus rounds are diverting and the RTP of 96.5% is on the higher end of things, meaning the return on your money is better than about 50% of the slots out there.

Total score:16/25

Captain Payback is definitely a game to test out. Most will find it enjoyable and with regular Bonus wins, it stays interesting.