Medusa II

If you're a mythology buff, then you probably know the legend of Medusa in Greek mythology. She was born as a Gorgon with the appearance of a beautiful woman but cursed with the fact that anyone who looked at her face would instantly turn to stone. NextGen's second title in their line of games is Medusa 2, and this slot has a ton of features that provide an incredible amount of action that really fits in perfectly with the story of this Gorgon monster.

Layout and Format

This title by NextGen (read more) uses five reels, three rows and the 243-ways format. Betting is based on multiples of 25 coins. The coin sizes themselves range from $0.01 to $2 apiece, so the overall betting range is $0.25 to $50 per spin. This will cover reasonable bet sizes for you no matter your budget or bankroll, which is typical of NextGen since they are pretty inclusive with how they set the prices for playing their slots.

Basic Payouts

Let's start out by looking at the basic payouts in this game. The wild symbol shows up in a few different ways and is stacked on every reel in normal play. It will substitute for anything but the scatter. Five of a kind for the wild earns 500x, but you can also get 50x for four or 20x for three. This symbol drives most of the regular gameplay, so it's the most important symbol in the game. Along these lines, it's not surprising that this wild is the face of Medusa herself.

Next up is the helmet symbol with a snake crawling through it, and that gets you 400x for five of a kind. A 300x win is available for five of the medallion with three snakes on it, and you'll also be able to earn 200x for the soldier that has been turned to stone. A 200x win is also there for five of Medusa's quiver of arrows, her weapon of choice in the mythology surrounding her, and you'll get 100x for five of the golden bracelet.

Five lower-tier symbols are used in this game with stylized A, K, Q, J and 10 symbols. These are made to fit the Greek mythology theme perfectly, and they all pay out 50x for five of a kind. You'll also earn 20x for four of a kind and 5x for five of a kind for all five of these symbols.

Soldier Wilds

The Medusa wild symbol shows up stacked in this slot (more here), but there's another way to get it as well. On random spins, a soldier will appear on one of the reels trying to attack her. She'll turn him into stone, and that will turn the entire reel into wild symbols. Considering that this is a 243-ways format game, that adds up to a lot of wins in a hurry if it's used to create a winning combination, and that's in addition to whatever other wilds appeared on the reels from normal gameplay.

Locked Reels

Another random feature in this game is the locked reels feature. On random spins, two or more adjacent reels will lock in together to show the same set of three symbols. This simply boosts your chances of hitting multi-line wins, and it adds value to those spins. This is a key element of the free spins bonus round described below.

Scatters and Free Spins

The scatter symbol is the symbol for the Medusa II slot, and it pays 250 times your whole bet for five, 125x for four and 50x for three. Pick up three or more of this scatter to trigger the free spins bonus feature. You'll get 10 free spins to start with, though they can be re-triggered indefinitely with three or more scatters for an additional five free turns. During the free spins, every single spin is given the locked reels feature that we described above. This means that you're getting a ton of chances to nail multi-line payouts, so it's an especially valuable feature.

In Conclusion

This title by NextGen is a good example of a game that delivers both graphically and in terms of gameplay. It has a lot of action and a lot of features, and it's very visually pleasing as well. This is typical work from NextGen, who is known for producing high-quality games.