Gorilla Kingdom Slot Review
Released in April 2020, this game can be played at online casinos such as Maria Casino, Royal Panda or Mr Green.
Theme and general information
NetEnt likes nature themes. Whether they are more realistic, more fantastic or somewhere in between, lush green, drums playing and bird chirping, that’s sort of their thing and thus, they do it exceedingly well.
The scene in Gorilla Kingdom is set in the deep jungle, the Gorilla’s realm. Insects buzz around, the waterfall is visible in the distance and wild animals are at home on the reels. The soundtrack underscores everything pleasantly. You’re almost tempted to swat away mosquitos that aren’t even there.
On the reels we get the low value playing card symbols from 9 to A and high value animals that have been drawn in beautiful detail, giving them a more realistic than cartoonish look. We get a pangolin, an okapi, a horn billed bird, a leopard and the gorilla as the highest paying of them all, who is worth 4x our stake for 5 of his kind. This may not seem a lot, but let’s not forget that this is a slot with 1,024 ways to win, which means five gorillas anywhere on adjacent reels will score a win.
There is no wild in the game, which makes the base game rather boring. The scatter is a rough blue diamond that can land on all five reels.
You can play this game from 0.10 to 350.00 per spin, which makes it suitable for all budgets.
Symbol upgrades in the free spins
Since there isn’t anything interesting to write about in the base game, we jump straight to where the action is with Gorilla Kingdom. Collecting 3, 4 or 5 scatters on the reels will give us 10, 15 or 20 free spins to start with.
Now the Gorilla appears not just in its usual form but can also land as a mask, making him an additional special symbol. These masks can be collected on the right-hand side where the high value symbols are stacked up totem-like. These animal panels have six slots each that need to be filled with those Gorilla masks.
Once a panel is filled, it will then transform into the Gorilla as well, and we continue to collect more masks to hopefully transform the other animal symbols as well. Whenever an animal transforms into the Gorilla, we get +2 free spins. Interestingly, the animals transform from the higher value to the lower value symbols. Whilst they will all be upgraded to the Gorilla, it is the leopard that is transformed first.
Additionally, the scatter still appears in the free spins. When we get 2, 3, 4 or 5 of it, we will get a further 3, 10, 15 or 20 free spins, which can continue just about indefinitely.
Verdict: A great-looking slot that only picks up speed during the bonus game
The theoretical RTP (Return to Player) of Gorilla Kingdom is 96.1%, which is decent for a slot with medium volatility. Wins aren’t too hard to come by, though it is mostly the Gorilla that scores bigger wins.
Gorilla Kingdom is well-executed and beautifully drawn. It’s a solid slot with a good bonus round. The base game has nothing going for it, mind you, so you’ll only be waiting for those blue diamonds to land.
This is the first time NetEnt uses this feature, which has perhaps been borrowed from another slot we’re recently reviewed, Pink Elephants 2 (or its predecessor). As such, this isn’t exactly an original idea either, though they at least gave it a bit of twist by upgrading to the highest possible symbol right away.
There’s nothing inherently wrong with Gorilla Kingdom and wins can be solid with a maximum potential of 2,857x our stake. But it’s also not a game you may revisit often.