Astro Cat Slot Machine
When you combine Japanese anime, Asian themed slot gaming and a liberal dose of Hello Kitty, aside from running the risk of being committed, what you get is the 1296 ways to win new slot game Astro Cat. Oh yes, we missed the space bit out, this cat has a lot going on! At first glance we weren’t sure if a designer had gone rogue or this was a serious slot production from Lightning box, turns out the eclectic theme is just part of the appeal of the game.
This free slot game is available on both mobile and desktop devices, and as a real cash slot. This game clearly hopes to dazzle with its theme, gameplay and innovative structure. As with the popular Druidess Gold slot machine from Lightning Box, Astro Cat uses the reelfecta system, where two 2x3 reels sit next to a 16 position grid reel in the centre. It looks a little confusing but mostly it plays like a 5x3 reel slot given the ways win format.
Theme
I simply cannot explain the theme on this game, there is just too much going on. The Astro Cat of the games title forms the game wild and is clearly on some crazy cosmic adventure. For some reason this has required a stop off in some form of ancient Asian backdrop, so you get traditional Chinese style framed reels, with a Japanese anime cat, and some fireworks as the bonus trigger.
There’s more Asian imagery across the rest of the reels too, with bonsai trees, koi carp, Chinese fans and lucky frogs all forming part of the pay icon montage. The rest of the pay symbols are filled out by the royal playing card symbols and for once we don’t mind, if all the symbols on this giant reel set were bespoke I think it would just venture over into too much.
The audio is good, not inspiring but it’s hard to produce one musical track to accommodate all the different styles, the sound effects are superb though and the animations and rendering are excellent. There is no doubting the visual credentials of this game at all, or the care with which the production work has been handled, this is a far cry from the old Fortune 8 Cat slot game.
Gameplay & Features
With a 1296 ways to win format, the min bet is 0.50 coins at a coin value of 0.01, this can be increased exponentially and up to a 5x bet multiplier can be chosen also. There are no pay-lines to select so it’s simply a case of hitting manual, or if lazy like me, auto-spin once your desired bet is selected. The base game play action is a little muted, like many new online slot game titles, Astro Cat is relying on a bonus system which builds in intensity to offer big combination rewards. The RTP is generous, the hit ratio on the other hand, not so much.
The Astro Cat wild symbol replaces all symbols on this game including, quite importantly the game scatter symbol which triggers up to 13 free spins. This might not seem like the luckiest number however the wild symbols on the reelfecta centre reel are persistent or sticky wilds, each time one appears it remains in place for the duration of the spins round whilst also adding an extra spin as a re-trigger. If you feel the entire centre box with wilds during the free spins round you can trigger one single mega spin. The symbol you don’t want to see is the poisoned glass, marked by the ubiquitous skull and crossbones, this will end the free spins round immediately.
Summary
The low hit ratio on this game might lead to player boredom in the gaps between the bonus free spins rounds were it not for all the other aspects which make this game entertaining. By combining so many different theme elements with an unusual game style, Lightning Box prevent the game becoming a niche title. One downside is the sheer complexity of the slot from a visual aspect, whilst players at Chinese online casinos love this type of game, players in Europe may not be such big fans.
