X-Wild

Most of us believe we need loads of variety, because why wouldn't we want more options. We remember a time when you walked into a fast-food restaurant and had only around six or so options on the menu. Wasn't that just easier? Sometimes it's the same with the best online slot games, in that we feel that more flash, more paylines, more bonus features etc., are the way to go. But what about a slot that gives you frequent joy from its one bonus feature? X-Wild is a slot that declutters the experience, and with respins triggered far more than what you’ll be used to, why not go for simple?

When looking at X-Wild, you'll see that there's a large X that basically creates a cross of the diagonal sort through the reels. The reason for this is how the game creates its X-factor, no pun intended, but we'll cover this element in more detail when we come to the bonus section of this review. The studio that created X-Wild is 1x2 Gaming, and for this one, they've gone for a simple fruit look and feel, although there is perhaps a bit more flash than other slots online such as Fruits and Beyond, or Fruit Shop, which also went for the same theme.

When we said things were simple here, we were also talking about the mechanics. You won’t find anything fancy like Megaways or clusters, but rather a straightforward 5 reel, 3 row grid hosting ten paylines on which players can land 3, 4 and 5 of a kind winning combos. X-Wild gives you various different amounts which you can choose to stake, which fall between a minimum of 0.10 per spin and 100 per spin. You won't find the reels too volatile, as 1X2 Gaming have implemented a medium variance, so while that doesn’t necessarily mean wins will be flowing like a fruit punch, it does mean wins are usually easier to come by. The most you’ll be in with a shot at winning is 1,500x your stake, which isn’t amazing but also not terrible either.

Whenever a slot goes and uses fruit as the theme, you might assume that the developers ran out of ideas for something more interesting. Regardless, fruits as symbols do get the job done in acting as vessels to form wins. As the lowest value symbols, there are cherries and lemons, with oranges, strawberries and plums having slightly higher values, with grapes and then watermelon with the highest fruit values. The highest paying regular icon is the 7 for 3, 4 and 5 of a kind wins.

There’s a wild icon that can come to your aid, in that it acts as all regular symbols in order to complete winning combinations.

The bonus feature of X-Wild is effortless to grasp and, compared to most other online slot machines, is actually really basic.

The cross covers only parts of reels 2, 3 and 4, which you can’t miss when looking at the reels. Should you land a wild symbol in any of the windows that the cross covers, you’ll be rewarded with a respin. The wild that initially landed in the cross will stay in place for the respin. And if another wild lands in the cross on the respin, there will be another respin, and so on.

Wins on respins will have a multiplier applied to them according to the number of wilds in the cross windows. So, for example, if there are five wilds on a respin and you land a win, your win will get a 5x multiplier.

As you might be able to tell, wilds probably land in windows covered by the cross quite often, meaning you’ll be landing high quantities of respins. Is this good? Of course, it is because it means that wins could be coming in from spins you don't even have to place stakes for. While there isn't a free spins feature or the added value of a second bonus feature, we think players will be more than impressed at the volume of respins X-Wild has coming their way.