Pirate Pays Megaways Review
Pirate Pays Megaways is the latest pirate-themed slot from Big Time Gaming, the Australian developer famed for their unique Megaways slots. This 6-reel, 117,649 ways to win slot boasts a unique Wild Compass feature that sees a compass symbol spin before special bird wilds cover the reel in whatever direction the compass is pointing. Players can win the game's eye-watering maximum prize of 104,400x their stake by way of an epic Kraken Bonus Round that sees players win free spins with huge win multipliers.
Design
Pirates Pays Megaways is a fairly well-designed Megaways slot that sees the reels set into a grand pirate ship that cuts through the ocean waves at pace, making its way towards hidden treasure on a distant island. All in all, this slot looks pretty easy on the eye, however, no matter how realistic the ocean looks, we have to say the animation around the bottom of the boat seems a little bit clunky.
In terms of symbols, low paying symbols are your standard Big Time Gaming 10, J, Q, K, A whilst high paying symbols are green, red, blue and purple jewels. Special symbols include a compass wild, parrot wild and a treasure chest for the scatter symbol.
One thing that really bugged us throughout the duration of our gameplay was the soundtrack. Maybe it's because we played an early access version of the slot and it wasn't completely polished, but every single time we span the reels using the autospin feature the music reset completely, it made for an agonising audio experience which is such a shame because it's clear a lot of time went into making this slot look good.
On a side note related to the game's audio, we also recognised some audio that had been pulled directly from Who Wants to be a Millionaire Megaways, it's no biggie as many developers utilise assets from older games, but this was quite evident here.
It's a strange game when it comes to design because, on one hand, we're genuinely impressed with how it looks, but on the other hand, it's doesn't really give off any pirate vibes at all. The ship more looks like an expensive galleon utilised by the Spanish Armada or English Navy. Rename this slot naval pays and they might have stood a bit more of a chance with us (even though the name isn't nearly as catchy).
Gameplay
This slot is your stereotypical Big Time Gaming slot. It features 6-reels and an additional horizontal reel that runs across the bottom of the game screen, it's this additional reel that adds an extra symbol to reels 2, 3, 4 and 5.
All of the buttons used to play this slot are found on the right-hand side of the reels, if you've ever played a Big Time Gaming slot before you'll know exactly where to find everything.
Win Potential
This high volatility slot has an RTP of 96.23% absolutely eyewatering maximum win, seeing players win up to 104,400x their stake.
Maybe it's down to poor luck, but we found Pirate Pays Megaways to be a bit of a slog, we span the reels for over 35 minutes, racking up more than 400 spins before we managed to trigger the Kraken Bonus Round.
Our Verdict
Despite some glaring issues in terms of design, this slot is seriously cool... We're big fans of the Wild Compass symbols and Kraken Bonus Round... With 104,400x stake on offer, how can we possibly say no to this pirate-themed slot!
A keen sports bettor, Sam took his first foray into the world of online slots when Bonanza Megaways caught his eye, he’s never looked back since! He joined the team in 2019 and has developed an encyclopedic knowledge of online slots, he isn’t afraid to voice his honest opinion when reviewing new games, even if it does ruffle a few feathers.
Learn more about Sam here