Hercules High and Mighty Slots - Online Casino Games 2023

Hercules is the Roman version of Greek hero Heracles. Legend has it that he was the son of Zeus and blessed with incredible strength. His story is best told through the many different adventures he faced, including his most famous Twelve Labours of Hercules. As a youngster, Hera, the jealous wife of Zeus, sent snakes to kill Hercules as an infant. Legend has it the youngster simply strangled the snakes that were sent to see him off.

What is clear then is that Hercules is not someone to be trifled with lightly and his exploits are the basis of the Barcrest slot Hercules High and Mighty. The reels are held up by chains and placed between two pillars, another subtle reference to Hercules. So how does this rather unusual-looking slot deliver on the Hercules story as well as the mechanics of the slot itself? Let’s take a closer look and find out.

Overview: Hercules High and Mighty

What we have here is a rather unusual 5×5 reel slot with up to 100 pay lines in play per spin. The number of paylines in play depends on the size of your wager. The minimum you can wager to get all lines available per spin is $0.50. During the base game only 50 lines are in play. However, this is doubled when you trigger the Mighty Reels feature.

You can of course increase the size of your stake per line in order to increase the value of your bet. This gives you a minimum wager of $0.50 and a maximum wager of $500 if you want to play with the full complement of paylines. You can also use Barcrests Big Bet feature to wager larger sums on the next five spins to trigger the Mighty Reels feature, with certain features added or removed to give you a greater chance of a win for your larger bet.

Who will the Hercules High and Mighty slot appeal to?

Greek or Roman mythology is always one of the most popular types of slots and it’s easy to see why. The myths and legends of this era are rich grounds when it comes to developing slots. They are so imaginative and they allow developers to come up with some unusual and different features and the Hercules High and Mighty slot certainly has this in abundance.

The Big Bet feature will also attract players who want to wager more on a spin, but want some additional features for that extra cash. The fact there are three different options, each of a different bet size, makes this flexible enough for people to use, but there are those who will equally be put off by having to pay an additional premium to access some of the features on the slot.

Gameplay: Hercules High & Mighty

There are essentially two ways you can play this slot. There is the standard way, by clicking the reel following setting up how much you want to wager on each bet. Secondly, you can use the Big Bet feature behind the purple button to wager a set amount, with some additional bonus features, in the hope that those features can result in a profit.

Big Bet option

For Big Bet there are three options. 20 Coins sees Mighty Reels awarded when any part of the Hercules Wild is in view on any of the next five spins. 30 Coins sees the same, but in addition the four low value symbols are removed from the reels. For 50 coins, you can have the same as 30 coins but the Mighty Reels will persist until you do achieve a win of some form (though a profit is not guaranteed).

Big Bet is a feature which can pay off in a profit, large and small. It can also result in a heavy loss if none of your five spins turn into a decent profit. Therefore, you should decide if and when you want to use this feature wisely.

In the base game you spin the reels as you would ordinarily. There are a number of different symbols on the reels. The four playing card symbols are the lower value symbols. Characters and people from the Hercules legends represent the higher value symbols. These include the Nemean Lion, the Hydra, Cerberus, as well as Zeus. Lower value symbols offer payouts of up to 50 coins per payline. Higher value symbols offer payouts of up to 250 coins per payline.

However, it should be noted that symbols are stacked on the reels and you can win considerably more than these single line jackpots by landing multiple winning paylines together on a single spin.

Additional features

To help you land more wins you can land the Hercules Wild. This too is stacked on the reels and can substitute for all low and high value symbols to create winning paylines.

The key to this slot however is the Free Spins round and this is unlocked by landing three or more of the Gold Coin symbols anywhere across the reels. Three will see you win 8 free spins, four gives you 12 free spins and land all five to unlock 20 free spins. Once free spins are triggered, you switch to a different reel set and the Mighty Reels feature is unlocked.

With this feature, any time you land part of a Hercules Wild anywhere on the reels, the reels will expand to include the full 100 paylines and any winnings on these new reels are calculated. This feature is active in all Big Bets too and in the free spins round, you can even retrigger the bonus to earn more free spins and a greater chance of profit.

You can also land multiple expanding Hercules Wilds on the reels during free spins which offers you the best chance of unlocking some of the bigger wins available on the slot.

Special Features: Hercules High and Mighty

Play two ways

One of the most impressive features of the Hercules High and Mighty slot is that you can elect to play two ways. You can use the traditional spinning reels as you would on any other slot or the Big Bet option, which for a set price gives you five spins with some bonus features enabled. It is your choice how and when to use these features as you play.

Free Spins

The Free Spins bonus round is activated by landing three or more gold coins on the reels. During Free Spins a different reel set is used and the Mighty Reels feature is in operation allowing reels to expand to include the full 100 paylines and offering the player a chance of some better value wins.

Hercules Wild

The Hercules Wild will substitute for any of the high or low value symbols in the game to create winning paylines and during free spins and Big Bet rounds, it serves as the instigator for the Mighty Reels bonus, where the size of the reels increases and additional paylines added as the Hercules Wild symbol expands to cover the entire reel.

What works?

Play Two Ways

The fact you can play this as a standard slot, or with the Big Bets does give the player an option on every spin and that is no bad thing. The Big Bets option is variable, you can win some large sums, but you can also win next to nothing. This means it is not a gamble you will always win, even with the additional features enabled.

Mighty Reels

The Mighty Reels feature in the free spins round and also on Big Bets is a great way to increase win size. Multiple line wins is the only way to achieve bigger wins in this slot. By having Expanding Wilds that increase the size of the reels and also doubles the number of paylines is a great way to achieve this.

Stacked Symbols

The base game on Hercules High and Mighty is O.K. But, to be honest, it isn’t as exciting as the free spins round or the Big Bets option. However, the fact that all symbols are stacked on the reels does mean that at least some of the time, you can land some decent sized wins.

What doesn’t?

Small jackpot

As this is based on players winning multiple paylines on a spin, the actual payline jackpot in the game is very small indeed. As such, it’s not going to attract players who want to play a slot with potentially big wins.

Very variable payouts

Hercules High and Mighty is most definitely a medium to higher variance game. How you catch it on the day will depend on how it plays for you. Sometimes, you can win some great big amounts, other times the slot will play as tight as any big jackpot game and wins can be hard to come by. Patience and sensible bankroll management is the key to enjoying this slot.

Few bigger wins hard to hit

There is a possibility to land some big multiple payline wins on this slot. This is especially true during Free Spins and Big Bets. But these are very rare with most wins in small or medium sized amounts. It does require patience to hit bigger value wins and at times, it can be expensive to do so.

The scores

[wp-review id=”11568″]

Graphics & soundtrack 2/5

I can’t say I was blown away with the graphics on this slot. The sound is fine and dramatic enough. The symbols on the reels are clear and easy to follow, but there’s just a lack of character with the symbols. You get the feeling things could be considerably more dramatic and interesting.

Originality & creativity 4/5

Barcrest has added some nice touches to this slot. They made it an unusual size, with some unusual features and a choice of ways to play. That makes it highly original. Certainly fans of slots that are very different from the norm will be happy with what they see.

Play value 2/5

Unfortunately, Hercules High and Mighty is a volatile slot. As such, the play value can be very poor, especially over the shorter term. Longer term it offers better hope for a more profitable payout but you may need to be very very patient to hit those bigger wins.

Jackpot potential 2/5

With a top base game jackpot of a 250 coins per payline, this isn’t a slot that is going to attract the big jackpot hunters in any great numbers.

Repeat play 2/5

There’s lots of interesting things on the Hercules High and Mighty slot. I like the Big Bet feature a lot as it is exciting, but it is very expensive to play that way continually. In the end, the base game feels a tad boring compared to it, which makes this a slot you are not likely to come back to often, unless you choose to play Big Bet all the time.

Total score: 12/25

Hercules High and Mighty does lots of things in its own way. While some of them work, the end result is a base game slot that just lacks a bit of excitement compared to the other features. If you’re patient, you can get a lot from this slot, but the base game is nowhere near as exciting as the Big Bet.