Gator Hunters Slot Review
Something real big is movin’ through the swamp…and it ain’t just the water ripplin’. Nolimit City’s variation of hunting season is upon us in Gator Hunters, and it’s not clear who’s being hunted and who’s doing the hunting.
These giant lizards have been causing trouble for many years, but there’s one gator that’s got every hunter’s back up. This slippery little sucker has become somewhat of a living legend, with bigger balls than a North Atlantic whale and twice as nasty.
America has been the subject of Nolimit City’s risqué releases, including Land of the Free and Home of the Brave. This time, we’re trying our hand at gator huntin’ – a sport that requires a good eye, steady hand, and plenty of moonshine, it seems.
After sharpening our shooting skills in Duck Hunters, we’re ready to take on something a little more deadly…even if we did get off lightly the first time around. Targeting fluffy ducks is not quite the same as facing the flesh-tearing jaws of gators, but we’re willing to risk it all for the privilege.
Without further ado, let the hunting season commence!
Base Game & Features
Gator Hunters is another ‘extreme’ volatility release from Nolimit City, consisting of 6 reels, 5 rows, and a Scatter Pays mechanic. Winning combinations are configured when 8-14 matching symbols land anywhere on the grid, regardless of their position.
The 4 highest-paying symbols represent red, yellow, green, and blue Characters, followed by baby crocs, traps, moonshine, binoculars, and boots. Additionally, Normal & Super Eater symbols transform into Wilds, substituting for all symbols except Scatters.
Each of the 9 paytable symbols offers a fixed payout between 0.15x and 60x your bet, where applicable. When a winning combination occurs, winning symbols are removed from the grid, allowing new symbols to drop in from above via an Avalanche Feature.
Eater Symbols
During gameplay, special Eater symbols appear simultaneously and only activate when there are no winning combinations on the grid. There are two types of Eater symbols available, as follows:
- Normal Eater: Removes a random number of paytable symbols and their instances, triggering an Avalanche event. After this, the eater symbol transforms into a single Wild.
- Super Eater: Acts in the same way as a Normal Eater, only it receives a Multiplier of x2, x3, or x10 before transforming into a Wild. If the wild symbol is part of a win, its current Multiplier is applied to the total win amount.
Revolver
In addition to Eater symbols, special Revolver Icons activate when there are no Eater symbols or winning combinations on the grid. Each revolver contains a set of Bullets with Multipliers or empty positions.
Once active, the cylinder will spin to reveal the Total Win Multiplier from the following options:
- Purple: 2x, 3x, 4x, 5x, 6x, 7x, 8x
- Blue: 10x, 15x, 20x
- Orange: 30x, 50x, 75x
- Red: 100x, 150x, 200x, 300x, 500x
- White: 1,000x, 2,000x
If a bullet is selected, the revealed Multiplier is added to the Total Win Multiplier, which is applied to the current spin and any winning combinations. A maximum of 6 Revolver Icons of the same or different types can appear in the same spin.
- Normal Revolver: Spins once, regardless of whether it selects a bullet or empty position. However, it can spin again if activated by a Super Fire Revolver.
- Super Revolver: Guarantees to spin one more time.
- Super Fire Revolver: Forces all Revolver Icons with bullets to spin again.
Nolimit Booster & Bonus Buy
Players within permissible and accessible regions can purchase up to 4 Bonus Buy options and 4 Nolimit Boosters:
- Bonus Booster: Guarantees a Bonus Scatter on reel 2 for 2.5x your bet per spin (RTP 96.07%)
- Revolver Roll: Guarantees to award a Super Revolver for 90x your bet (RTP 96.08%)
- Super Fire Spins: Guarantees to award a Super Fire Revolver with 5 bullets of different colours for 400x your bet (RTP 96.09%)
- Masacre Spins: All revolver symbols are replaced with Super Fire Revolvers with 1,000x or 2,000x bullets for 1,200x your bet (RTP 96.09%)
- 10 Swamp Spins: Instantly triggers Swamp Spins with 3 Scatters for 70x your bet (RTP 96.06%)
- 12 Frenzy Spins: Instantly triggers Frenzy Spins with 4 Scatters for 200x your bet (RTP 96.05%)
- 15 Gator Spins: Instantly triggers Gator Spins with 5 Scatters for 500x your bet (RTP 96.12%)
- Lucky Draw: 50% (3 Scatters), 25% (4 Scatters), 20% (5 Scatters), 5% (6 Scatters) for 250x your bet (RTP 96.10%)
Gator Hunters Free Spins
Triggering the Swamp Spins mode requires 3 Scatters to land within the base game, awarding 10 Free Spins.
Throughout this mode, the Total Win Multiplier is persistent, applying to winning combinations from spins in which a Revolver reveals at least 1 bullet. In addition, landing 2, 3, 4, 5, or 6 Scatters awards a further 5, 7, 10, & 15 Free Spins, respectively.
In this round, one of the following Upgrades is awarded:
- Extra Bullet 2x: All revolvers will award an additional 2x your bet bullet
- Extra Bullet 10x: All revolvers will award an additional 10x your bet bullet
- Super Eater: All normal eater symbols are replaced with Super Eaters
- Super Revolvers: All normal Revolver symbols are replaced with Super Revolvers
Frenzy Spins
Alternatively, landing 4 Scatters in the base game triggers the Frenzy Spins mode, awarding 12 Free Spins. In addition to the Swamp Spins feature, a additional +2 Upgrades are randomly awarded instead of one.
Gator Spins
Gator Spins is another Free Spins mode, triggered when 5 Scatter symbols land within the base game, awarding 15 Free Spins. In addition to the Swamp Spins feature, an additional +3 Upgrades are selected instead of one.
Apex Predator Spins
Finally, landing 6 Scatters in the base game triggers the Apex Predator Spins mode, awarding 18 Free Spins. In addition to the Swamp Spins feature, all 4 Upgrades are awarded instead of one. Furthermore, the ‘Super Revolver’ upgrade is replaced by Super Fire Revolvers.
Extra Spin
Regardless of jurisdiction, every player has the opportunity to purchase an Extra Spin at the end of a game round. The extra spin will continue the current Total Win Multiplier and all Revolvers with any remaining bullets.
The total win Multiplier is applied to all winning combinations from spins in which a Revolver/Bullet appears. The price of the Extra Spin is based on the Total Win Multiplier and remaining Revolver symbols.
If the price of the Extra Spin is less than or equal to the win of the previous spin, the Extra Spin option will be presented.
Our Honest Verdict
Well, we survived our first gator hunt and what an experience it was. Although we didn’t take home any meat for the barbecue, we were rather pleased with how things panned out, and by that we mean we’re grateful to have all our limbs intact.
With Gator Hunters having many similarities to Duck Hunters, could this be the start of a new series for Nolimit City? Granted, neither release is as iconic (or raunchy) as Kenneth Must Die or Seamen, but it is equally as innovative and slightly more rewarding than the latter with its 25,000x max win potential.
As big fans of Duck Hunters, we can distinguish many noticeable differences between the two instalments. The first area of note is the removal of the xWays/Infectious xWays mechanic.
In Duck Hunters, the xWays mechanic was responsible for increasing random Multiplier positions. While we still have Multipliers available here, it’s not as exciting as having a full screen of big Multipliers coming together to enhance scattered payouts.
Admittedly, the highest Multiplier values from Revolvers are far more hardcore than those found in Duck Hunters. That being said, its significance in terms of value depends on the type of Revolver and the coloured bullet(s) it contains.
During testing, we witnessed several Revolver symbols, but they either awarded smaller Multipliers or failed to land on a Bullet position. Hacksaw Gaming has toyed with the idea of a Multiplier Wheel in SixSixSix, but its values are nothing compared to Nolimit City’s standards.
Gator Hunters feels like the next big leap of Duck Hunters. Some of its Nolimit Boosters are quite interesting and lend themselves well to the in-game features, although they can be pretty brutal at times. The Revolver feature sells Gator Hunters for us, though Bomb symbols and Infectious xWays upgrades are sorely missed.
All in all, we feel Gator Hunters is a firm upgrade to Duck Hunters, although some of its bonus buy features require larger minerals than the occupation of gator hunting.
*The images found in this slot review are currently from Demo Play. On average, our reviews are written prior to the initial release date and before real play is available.
