Nordic Heroes

RPG games are known for being one of the most popular genres of video games in history, and RPG elements can be found in everything from casual social networking site games to fitness apps on your phone. Nordic Heroes is an attempt by IGT to incorporate these concepts into an online slot, and they've done a very good job of it. The graphics of this game look like they're straight out of a top-tier MMORPG-style title, the genre of video game that uses the characteristics the most, and the game world is one of the most-depth that we've ever seen for an online slot.

Basic Slot Format

Consider the following slot layout: five reels and three rows with 30 paylines. This is a pretty typical way to set up a game, but that's about the only thing typical that you'll see in this slot (read more). Coins start at $0.01 to give you a minimum bet size of only $0.30 per spin, so you don't have to be a high roller to enjoy this game, but the coin sizes also become large enough that high stakes players will have reasonable bet sizes to use as well. Overall, this game is set up in a way that will appeal to a large audience.

Symbol Set Issues

At any given time, there are a total of nine regular paying symbols. However, depending on the character you're using and the world you're in, the graphics used for those symbols can change around a bit. The wild symbol pays 1,500x for five of a kind or 300x for four. However, you'll also be able to get 1,000x for five of whichever character you're using. That character will have a main weapon and a secondary weapon as well. The main weapon earns 500x, and the secondary weapon earns 250x, both of which are for five of a kind wins.

The remaining five paying symbols depend on the game world you're in. When you start in the forest, for example, you'll get 200x for five of the tree with a 150x for five of the glowing purple mushroom. Give berries gets 120x, which only slightly drops down to 100x for five of the coins or five of the horse emblem. We want to point out here that IGT (click for more) has kept the payouts consistent, and when the graphics for the symbols switch because of the character or world change, the payouts stay the same.

Battle Bonus

There is a battle scatter symbol in this game, and you'll only see it on the first, third and fifth reels. This symbol doesn't offer a payout, but it does offer a chance to play the Battle Bonus set of free spins. You'll square off against a series of up to three enemies, and the symbols that show up on the reels will determine who you hit and if they hit you back. The outcomes of these battles determine how much XP you get, which in turn determines how much you level and what extra goodies you unlock in the form of new characters, worlds, attacks and other features.

Special symbols show up during these free spins. There are wild multipliers of 2x and 4x that appear on the reels, and extra scatters for the enemies are also left on the reels. In the forest level, they'll be worth 10x your total bet for four (the most that can appear at once), and in the sea level, they're worth up to 5x for three of a kind (multiplied by your entire bet).

Mystery Multipliers

As if IGT didn't pack enough excitement into this game, there are also randomized multipliers. If you don't trigger the Battle Bonus round, you can randomly get a multiplier based on your level. If you're level five or below, your multiplier can go as high as 20x. If you're level six, you can get a 25x multiplier as well. Finally, if you're level seven or higher (the maximum level is eight), you'll get a chance for multipliers as high as 30x with many of the lowest multipliers taken out of the running to give you better chances of getting the larger multipliers.

Our Thoughts

It's hard to deny that IGT has done a great job with Nordic Heroes. It's clearly one of the best RPG-inspired slots that we've seen, and it has a ton of different features with extremely well-developed graphics. This is the type of game that could drive the video slots genre in a new direction where replay value is much more important than whatever the next new game happens to be.