Lightning Gems
The wombat says: Lightning Gems is a bright and vivid slot from NextGen Gaming based on the theme of gemstones. OK, so it’s not the most unique of ideas, but this game has some added extras that sets it apart. And the graphics are turbo charged compared to their earlier games like the Irish Eyes slot and Alice and the Red Queen to name a few. These are the kind of sparklers that the bloke in the Wish Master slot likes to get his hands on.
Will lightning strike twice in this gem of game? Let’s fire up the reels and find out…
Look and Feel
Well, we’re not quite sure where the reel action is supposed to be taking place, but it’s ruddy spectacular.
Rolling green hills, snow-topped mountains, sheer cliffs, a whole host of stars, and some seriously moody storm clouds make up the background to the reels, while the soundtrack is all very dramatic and filled with thunder.
Well done to NextGen for creating a great atmosphere.
Game Play
Lightning Gems is a standard 5 reel slot with 3 rows and 10 pay-lines – which does seem a bit on the mean side, when you compare it to the likes of the Euro Golden Cup slot machine, does it not? But don’t panic my dear Wombat friends, the lines will pay out both ways which means you have more like 20 ways to win.
Your bling bling symbols on the reels are made up of 4 precious stones in various different colours that include; red rubies, yellow amber, blue sapphires and green emeralds as your high value symbols while the playing card suits; hearts, diamonds, spades and clubs make up the lower values. Keep your eyes peeled for the rubies, these red stones are the games’s biggest payers and will scoop you 8, 50 or 125 coins if you land a 3x, 4x or 5x combo.
The Wild is a golden Lightning Gem star thing which will substitute for all other symbols on these gemstone reels to help you form winning combos – except for the glowing blue diamond Scatter symbol, but more on that later…
Wild Features
That’s right there are 2 Wild features in the 20 pay-line Lightning Gems game (the same as the Flowers Slot incidentally) that are guaranteed to tickle your fancy. And best of all, they show up not only in the base game, but during the free spins round, too!
The first is the Wild Nudge feature that randomly appear after any reel spin to nudge your Wilds up or down in order to create a winning combo.
The second cheeky extra is the Wild Wins feature which can randomly add more wilds to the reels on any spin.
Free Spins
Land 3x or more of the blue diamond Scatters anywhere on the reels and you’ll scoop 10 free spins with some rather excellent extra features to boot. A whopping 10 extra Wilds will be added to each reel before your first spin, and then additional Wilds may be added at random on any bonus spin afterwards.
Plus, after any spin, the reels may also slide up or down in order to return the Wilds to the reels and form more winning lines. EEEK! Finally, if you land another 3x or more Scatters during the Free Spins round the bonus will be re-triggered.
Conclusion
Lightning Gems slot is a nice new addition to the gem stone theme slot catalogue. It looks impressive and the Wild Features and Free Spins drop often enough to keep you throughly entertained. It’s a big ‘thumbs up’ to NextGen from us at Wombat Towers!