We’ve always been fans of the Universal Monsters slot series by NetEnt, but this Phantom’s Curse mobile slot simply fails to bring the chills.
From Frankenstein to the Creature From the Black Lagoon to the Dracula slot game; NetEnt can make even the most tired theme feel new again.
However, this Phantom’s Curse slot falls flat, with characters that look like they are dead inside, and generic symbols and music that makes you long for the catchy tunes of Microgaming’s Phantom of the Opera slot game.
Granted, the stage itself as the background is impressive. There’s a gloomy fog that covers the 5×4 reels and 40 paylines in the base game that brings a little tension, whilst the lavish golden-lit stage of the free spins scream opulence.
We’ve started to be a little wary of gambling games that promise unlimited free spins, much like NetEnt’s Phantom’s Curse.
It’s basically a way of saying you’ll get tons of free spins, but win little to nothing, or get just a few free spins with the potential for big wins, like in the Wild Run slot by NextGen.
This isn’t like that. It’s more like the first scenario, as you spin, spin, spin, hoping that something interesting might happen on screen.
Which, granted, tends to be the stacked wilds in the form of the masked Phantom, but honestly getting more than around 30x your bet is as hard as suddenly being able to sing falsetto.
It famously took an extra 6 months to release this game at Android and iPhone casinos, and it’s hard to see why.
There are some good wins to be had, mostly thanks to the Phantom’s re-spins, where you get wilds on reel 1 and 5, and the chance to get some decent 5 of a kind wins.
But mostly, the Phantom’s Curse bonus games feel like token gesture mean to keep you spinning, but hardly winning.
Maybe we were just really unlucky whilst we played, but nowhere did we feel we could come anywhere near as close as the 800x your bet top win this NetEntertainbment game advertised.
Stick to the Invisible Man Universal Monsters slot; there (ironically) the wins are fare more visible.
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Mobile Slot released | January 2018 |
Slot type | Video Slot |
Software | NetEnt |
Slot reels / paylines | 5 Reels / 40 Paylines |
House edge / RTP | 3.43% / 96.57% |
Slot volatility | Medium |
Coins range | 0.01 - 1.00 |
Min/Max bet | 0.20 / 200 |
Max win | 160,000 |
Free spins | Unlimited / Stacked Wilds |
Bonus rounds | Wilds, Click Me, Free Spins, Re-spins, |
Slot Themes | Music |
Wilds and Stacked Wilds: The mask is the wild symbol and can replace all other symbols over these 40 paylines to create a winning payline.
You also get stacked Phantoms on reel 1, and Stacked Christine and Stacked Mask symbols on reel 5, all acting as wild symbols.
They are different from the normal symbols by the fact that they are framed in gold.
Pick and Click Bonus: When two phantom stacked wilds show up on reel 1, and two stacked Christine symbols show up on reel 5, you trigger the click me Phantom's Curse slot bonus.
This bonus has two stages:
Masked Phantom Re-spin: when two phantom stacked wild symbols appear on reel 1, and two stacked mask symbols appear on reel 3, you get a free re-spin.
The nice thing here is that all these stacked symbols stay on screen for the free re-spin as wilds.
Scatters and Free Spins: 3 scatters on reels 1, 3 and 5 will trigger unlimited free spins.
Here you are taken to a golden stage, with a chandelier with 5 cords precariously sitting by the side of the reels.
There are no multipliers, but there are stacked of Masked Phantom wild symbols across all the other reels.
Every time you get a wild on one of the 5 reels, one of the cords on the chandelier is cut. Getting more wilds on the same reel, cuts cords.
Once all five reels have had wilds, or the chandelier gets broken, the free spins end.
We are going to make a lot of hardcore fans of NetEnt mobile games unhappy with this less than glorious Phantom's Curse slot review.
But honestly, a poorly executed theme and drab features that felt slow and dreary will make you feel like your money would be better spent actually going to the Opera; at least there's more drama there.
That said, stacked wilds in the free spins and extra wild symbols on the base game does elevate this enough not to be a one-star review.
The fact that this is a 40 payline slot with a minimum bet of 0.20 a spin is also friendly enough to give it a nod of friendliness.
Just probably not enough to make us come back.
Review by Lucky Mobile Slots, last updated: February 13, 2019 - Rating