Game in Action
Play’n Go’s Wild North takes you into the wintry cold of the Scandinavian forests. Wild animals inhabit the symbols on the reels and they have been beautifully drawn – as we have come to expect from Play’n Go. Bear, Owl, Lynx, Wolf and Reindeer are all there alongside your fairly standard card symbols. In the background the snowflakes dance and the Northern Lights shimmer.
Unlike many other Play’n Go slots, this one feels rather mellow, which is a nice change of pace. The base game offers little beyond the Lynx Wild, which is always a welcome sight. But once you get into the Bonus Round, things get a little bit more interesting, especially since there are 7 unique bonus features.
Bonuses
You’ll need three Northern Lights scatters for the bonus round to get started. Before anything else happens, you’ll see a wheel with seven symbols (each animal on its own, all of them together and the Northern Lights once more), which is predictably spinning. Depending on where it lands, you’ll get one of the following seven features:
Eyes of the Owl – A single free spin is awarded, which will come with two large Owls (2×2) that stick onto the reels. They’ll stay stuck until you hit a win, which is nice, but not huge.
Wolf Pack – Another single free spin is awarded here and this time you’ll get a large Wolf (also 2×2). Should you spin in another Wolf, you’ll get another free spin. On top of that the Wolves are wild and sticky during all spins.
Running Reindeer – Again, you get a single free spin. The Reindeer appears as a stacked symbol on reels 2 to 4. Should the Reindeer cover all of reels 2, 3 and 4 or in case they create a 3×3 block, you’ll get a re-spin. Reindeers are also sticky.
Wild Lynx – Things are picking up and here you get 3 free spins. During the spins one or two of the reels are completely Wild, but since you could end up with nothing as well, this one is hit and miss.
Savage Bear – Once again you’ll get one free spin and it comes with a multiplier between 5x and 30x. In other words, it’s all or nothing with this one.
The Great Wilderness – Three free spins will be yours and a mega 4×4 symbol will cover reels 2 to 5. Depending on what lands on reel 1, you could end up with some awesome wins.
Wild North Explorer – A grid of 20 tiles will appear on the screen and you can take your pick. Among the options of what will appear are coin prizes, any of the free spin features, all of them, an “X”, The Great Wilderness or a Wild Lynx. With any of the latter three, however, you are booted out of the feature.
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Summary
Wild North is a bit of a game of patience. Whilst it’s great to have a variety of different features, it would be nice to get more free spins. If you suffer a dry spell, you may not launch the bonus round for hundreds of rounds. At other times you’ll be seeing the wheel of fortune every few spins.
Overall Play’n Go has managed to provide a slot with some entertaining gameplay. Visuallly rewarding, you’ll get a relatively relaxed slot that has nevertheless some fun to offer. But really, nobody would have complained about more free spins.