Game in Action
Screenshot of the Hook’s Heroes Slot
We’re not entirely sure what NetEnt was aiming for when they created the theme for Hook’s Heroes. These kids, and kids they are, are not heroes and by the look of them will never grow up to be heroes. Instead they’re a ragtag cartoon band, reminding us more of Peter Pan’s lost boys than even proper pirates. Plus, they are kind of obnoxious as well.
Beside the five kids (four boys and a girl) you get on the symbols, there’s also the Scatter, which is represented by a boy in a crocodile costume as well as Hook himself, who stands in as the wild. The soundtrack is somewhat reminiscent of Caribbean music, but it needs to be turned down in volume, because you won’t be able to listen to it on repeat forever.
Now, while the slot doesn’t sound loveable based on this alone, rest assured that the bonus features do make up for quite a bit.
Bonuses
The bonus feature all depend on the Scatters. When 2 Scatters land anywhere on the screen during the base game, you’ll get one of the three Bonus Features triggered randomly in a free re-spin. That can result in some nice winnings, and it will tide you over to those long periods when you are waiting to get 3 Scatters or more.
As soon as you get 3 Scatters, however, you can look forward to the Free Spin Bonus. Here you get to choose between the Mermaid Feature, the Pirate Feature or the Fairy Feature, which we’ll explain below. Should you score 4 Scatters, by the way, you can pick from 2 of the features and with 5 Scatters you can pick three times. You’ll be able to pick each of the features once or perhaps pick the same feature three times. It’s up to you.
Fairy Feature – This will give you 7 free spins and a cute little fairy (the only cute character in the whole game) will add between 2 and 5 overlay Wilds to the reels on every spin.
Mermaid Feature – This one will give you 10 free spins. The mermaid, who is hanging around on the right-hand side, looks as if one of her parents might have been a vampire. This one is really creepy, but she does apply a 2x multiplier to every win. A 4x multiplier is applied to winning combinations that contain a Wild.
Pirate Feature – Here you get 15 free spins. Although there are no Wilds in this one, it can be quite lucrative, because any three matching symbols anywhere on the screen will count as a winning combination. That means you win pretty often, though probably not a lot, because you’ll mostly get low-paying combinations.
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Summary
The bonus features, whether in the base game or in the Free Spins, make this slot rather interesting and keep things alive. If you can look past those odd characters, you may well enjoy what the bonuses have to offer. Bear in mind that winnings aren’t exactly heroic either, but you can manage some handsome payouts depending on the feature you choose, which is most lucrative with the Mermaid, but more interesting with the Pirate feature.
Hook’s Heroes is worth a look, simply for variety reasons. You’ll figure out yourself, if it is to your taste or not. We wish that NetEnt had made the characters a little more charming, mind you, and perhaps the soundtrack a little less repetitive.
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