Game in Action
Screenshot of the James Dean Slot
NextGen Gaming manages to bring us a visually interesting slot with James Dean. Somehow they managed to capture the era and a certain moodiness that James Dean was so well known for. The soundtrack is a little odd, however. If the reels stand still, there’s a light tinkling sound audible and once the reels turn, we’re getting a more rock’n roll kind of soundtrack, which is a little grating.
On the reels we find two version of James Dean himself, one with a purple background and one with a blue background. Both versions come with different features if they show up often enough. Additionally we have a Hollywood Walk of Fame star, a motorcycle, a race car, a film reel and sunglasses – all items we would associate with the young Hollywood rebel.
Bonuses
The slot offers three main features and perhaps one or two little extra you can look forward to. When the blue James Dean shows up three times on the reel, re-spins will be triggered. You’ll be getting 3 re-spins, where all wins will be tripled. Additionally reel 2, 3 or 4 will turn completely Wild. The blue James Dean is also the Wild symbol in this game.
The purple James Dean will also need to show up three times in order to launch you into the “Pick-me” game. Depending on which option you pick, you can end up with 10x to 30x your stake, but it is possible to get as much as 150x your bet.
The purple James Dean may also show up during the Free Spin Round, where all wins are automatically doubled. Should you catch three purple Deans during Legendary spins (if you win any), a 5x multiplier would apply, which would grant you as much as 750x your stake.
The Free Spin Feature is triggered when three Walk of Fame Stars show up on the reels. You’ll receive 10 free spins, if you get three or more scatters. During the Free Spin Round all wins are automatically doubled, but to make things a little bit more interesting you can also collect Legend Spins. Those will be added to a tally whenever a Clapper Board shows up. The Legend Spins play out at the end of the regular free spins and, as mentioned, come with a 5x multiplier.
Summary
James Dean is a pretty solid game, whether you know much about the actor or not. The slot is visually pleasant, but we really wish the background music that you get to enjoy when looking at the paytable would play throughout the game.
The bonus features and various multipliers can result in pretty nice wins, but at times there can be long stretches of no wins at all. We were lucky enough to get launched into the Free Spin Feature fairly early on, but during out test we didn’t manage to see the re-spin feature, which is apparently fairly rare. Nonetheless, the slot proved enjoyable, even though we had to mute it at some point.
Our rating: