Steam Tower Slot
Steam Tower is a lovely-looking 2015 release from the slots kings at NetEnt. This steam-powered game has a fixed 15 pay lines and 5 reels, plus a number of lovely bonus features and wonderful graphics. The theme of the game is ‘steam punk’ – the idea that modern technology can be applied to the Victorian age, yet powered not by electricity, but by steam. The hero of this game uses his steam-powered harpoon to ascend a mighty tower where a beautiful Victorian maiden is in dire need of a little bit of rescuing from a snarling dragon. The further up the tower our hero ascends, the more beneficial it is to the player.
All the symbols in this game are suitably Victorian-themed, including playing card values from jack to ace, and the hero, the damsel, the tower and the dragon’s eye. You can select your coin size from 0.01 to 1.00, and your bet size from one to ten, but the possible pay lines are fixed at fifteen. Your final wager is coin size x bet size x 15. When you’re all powered up and the kettle is boiling, hit the spin button to see how far you can ascend. You win pay outs in the usual way – land three or more identical symbols in sequence on an active pay line from the left-hand reel.
Pay outs commence at 3x your stake-per-line for three jacks, up the the jackpot in normal play of 2,000x for that fiendish-looking dragon’s eye.
The steam-powered harpoon acts as the wild symbol, and substitutes for all other symbols. During free spins, each wild symbol you land wins you two extra free spins, and sees you ascend one level up in your quest to reach the top of the tower.
There is also one stacked wild (our hero in full profile). If you land him complete on any reel, you land ten free spins and you automatically ascend one floor.
The tower has a total of sixteen floors, and your aim is to climb all the way to the top. There’s a prize multiplier that increases for every three floors you ascend. For example, reach the second floor for a 2x multiplier, and then the fifth floor for a 3x multiplier and so on. Once you reach the top you’re awarded a prize of 1,000x your bet value. There are handy indicators to tell you which floor you are on, and how much your current multiplier is worth. You fall to earth once all your free spins have been used.
For a long time it seems NetEnt have been unable to do anything wrong, but we have to say Steam Tower is just a little bit of a steam-dampened squib. The bonus tower-climbing feature is fine, but there is just not enough to keep you entertained during the main game, so it’s purely a case of hoping for free spins. There are good chances of winning decent payouts with the tower-climbing shenanigans though, so if you’re a fan of NetEnt slots, you’ll no doubt want to chance your steam-powered arm.