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30 September 2024 
Prepare to be star struck with another instalment from the renowned Australian developer Big Time Gaming. Big Time Gaming are certainly one of the leaders in the industry, and the brains behind the hugely popular Megaways. They’re the developer behind some of your favourite games like Bonanza, Lil Devil, Danger High Voltage, Donuts and many more.
This time they’re back with another inventive game, Star Clusters Megaclusters Slot. This game introduces a new angle on their revolutionary Megaways mechanic.
I’m Seeing Stars
Star Clusters looks a little bit standard when you first load up the game, nothing too special here at first glance. The visuals aren’t exactly unlike anything we’ve seen before. However, what Big Time Gaming lack in visual aesthetics they more than make up with in gameplay, and they know that they’ve built something interesting enough to keep you captivated on this alone.
The background starts off yellow with a sort of cosmic glow, and will change colour dependant on the symbols you win with in the game. The sounds and music are great and something you’ll definitely appreciate on this Star-Spangled journey.
We’ve got a combination of gemstones on a 4×4 grid which works on a Cluster Pays system, so no paylines, and wins are achieved by landing a cluster of 5 or more matching symbols. There are 9 symbols in total with 4 being low paying symbols, 3 higher paying symbols and 2 different kinds of wilds.
The Base Game
The game starts off as a 4×4 grid with a total of 16 symbols on screen, and winning combinations are a cluster of 5 or more. This is where the game starts to get interesting, and a little different to what we’re used to.
Each winning symbol will be replaced with 4 smaller symbols and will re-spin giving you a chance for additional reactions, each successful reaction with any of the smaller symbols will employ a more familiar Cascading Reel mechanic that we usually see in Megaways games.
Smaller symbols will fall in to replace the gaps left behind and any additional hits with the original larger symbols will also split and react into 4 smaller ones. Cascading Reels are a welcome feature which will give you the opportunity to cash in on additional wins, and they’re necessary, because in this game the free spins are earned by hitting consecutive wins.
The game will return to an original 4×4 set up next spin when no more winning reactions occur. You’ll notice this game employs two types of Wilds, one of which is a regular wild, which will serve as a substitute for all symbols except the Gold Wild.
The Gold Wild substitutes for all symbols and up to two can occur per spin. Gold wilds will also increase your multiplier by an increment of one and any multipliers you manage to obtain will increment before the wins are paid.
It’s a little bit disappointing that hitting more than one Gold Wild at once will only increase the multiplier by one, but easy to forgive when used as part of a win, getting you one step closer to the bonus round. The Gold Wild Multiplier starts at x1 and will be carried into the bonus round with you if you manage to get there, but will reset at the end of each spin if no winning combinations are present.
Watch our review of Star Clusters Megaclusters Slot live on stream!
Star Clusters Megaclusters Free Spins
Megaclusters™ bonus will trigger when 5 or more reactions occur during a single spin in the base game and will award you 2 free spins, one additional spin is awarded for any subsequent reaction beyond the fifth.
The board in the bonus will change from a 4×4 set up to an 8×8 standard, and any gold multipliers you’ve accrued in this base game, or any you accumulate during the free games will not reset between spins.
Your set up going into this bonus will be vital for those big hits, but unfortunately, there is also a good chance you might enter into this bonus with a meagre 2 spins and a woeful multiplier. More spins will obviously mean more hits, but don’t be despondent by receiving fewer spins than you might be used to from a conventional megaways bonus.
Much like the base game, winning hits will split into smaller symbols which can hit, cascade and turn bigger symbols into smaller ones. This, in turn, will re-spin and possibly hit again. So, technically you get extra spins within the spins.
The bonus has the potential for a massive 16×16 grid size or 256 symbols so it’s hard to fathom where the next hit might come from when the game really kicks off and smaller symbols are absolutely everywhere! 2 Extra spins in this game are awarded when enough Gold Multipliers are obtained to reach a multiple of 10.
Our Verdict
Big Time Gaming has made something really special here and gamers will definitely enjoy the different dynamic they’ve gone with. The visuals and design are a little basic, but Big Time Gaming have put all their resource into creating something with enough character, that the fancy visuals aren’t necessarily needed.
Every single one of you that has played a megaways game has revelled in the smugness of being able to read incoming wins before the game highlights it. With this game, it’s not so easy, but it’s certainly fun to try. Big Time Gaming could have just as easily churned out a Megaways and called it a day, but it seems that the creative thinking of these guys and gals knows no bounds.
It can be cruelly volatile and one winning reaction off of a bonus will undoubtedly send you through an array of emotions. But it’s innovative, a LOT of fun and a revolutionary spin on a familiar concept that will no doubt earn its place in the heart of gamers.
Megaways fans are going to love this.
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