Master of Magic: First Strike Review
Light & Wonder has enough skilled studios working under the same umbrella that they can pretty much pull off any slot theme they like. This time, they've utilised the talented design team at HITSqwad to put this game together to great effect.
It is a nice balanced game that looks good from the moment you first lay eyes on it and it promises to be an interesting journey.
Design
The game is set in an old wizard's quarters, as you would hope, with various magical trinkets lying around. The cauldron bubbles away in the bottom corner and spell books lay scattered about—pretty standard stuff.
The symbols are regular playing card images for the low payouts and magic-themed symbols provide the bigger wins.
You can load this game up on your laptop, desktop or mobile phone if you want to, it works perfectly across all devices. And as for the soundtrack, it wouldn't be out of place in the 1940s classic fantasia—lots of high-quality production value here.
Game Play
Without any special game mechanics or modifiers, the base game can feel like a bit of a slog. Wild symbols will do their best to mix things up but it is the scatter symbols everyone is waiting for.
The bonus rounds are capable of providing not just entertainment but decent prizes as well so keep your fingers crossed that you activate one of these.
Win Potential
The progressive jackpot prize can grow to enormous amounts, especially the Grand Jackpot. Beyond those, the standard max win is 2,400x, which is decent enough for a medium volatility game. The return to player levels may vary ever so slightly but the version we played had a 96.15% RTP
Our Verdict
Master of Magic: First Strike is a colourful and carefully crafted take on the old video game that many of you may be familiar with. There are lots of nice audiovisuals to look forward to but it's going to be the progressive prizes that will steal the show.
Paul spent plenty of time in arcades up and down the UK discovering all of the best fruit machines and watching them grow into the incredible online slots we see today. He still loves the basic format but also has a soft spot for games with big bonus rounds that progress as you play. Immortal Romance is one of his favourite slots of all time.
Learn more about Paul here