Who doesn’t love a good spaghetti western? Yes, at some time or another, we’ve all imagined we’re Clint Eastwood in A Fistful of Dollars, or The Good Bad and the Ugly. Dusty, Wild West towns in the middle of nowhere, with creaking boardwalks, swinging saloon doors, and gunfights. A lot of gunfights.
Thanks to one of the best gaming developers out there, NetEnt, you can now immerse yourself in the lawless times of the 1860s in the unlikely setting of a slot machine. Far from being simple games with bar and fruit symbols, slots now are sophisticated games with different themes, video graphics, and sound.
Dead or Alive is a perfect example of slots whisking players away to a fantasy world as part of their spinning entertainment. It’s the casino equivalent of the best action-adventure games.
Are You a Sharp-Shooting Gunslinger?
The Dead or Alive slot is a huge favorite with casino players. You begin in some town in the middle of nowhere, surrounded by nothing but desert and mountains. The only noise you hear is the whistling wind, distant thunderclaps, a dog barking, and the sort of eerie whistling you get in those blockbuster films.
You see five reels, each with three rows in this entertaining game. As with all slots, the base game sees you trying to match at least three of the same symbols on successive reels on one of the paylines (there are nine of those in this instance.) If you do, you win a prize straight off the bat, or should that be a weapon? A repeater rifle reloading is a sound effect that greets each spin
The lowest-paying symbols are the cards of 10, J, Q, K, and A, all of which are nicely drawn to replicate a pistol grip style. High paying symbols are the tumbler of whiskey, cowboy boots, hat, a revolver with ammo, and the sheriff’s badge – all good props for any serious Western movie. There is also a Wild symbol, the Dead or Alive wanted poster, which will substitute for all other symbols out there, increasing your chances of making a winning line.
Life could sometimes be something of a gamble in the Wild West, especially if you accidentally knocked someone’s drink over in the saloon, but gambling is the name of the game when you play Dead or Alive - available at many online casinos in the UK. Land three scatter symbols, represented by the double revolver symbol, and you win through to the bonus feature round. Here, you get 12 free spins – not only that, but all wins in this feature round are worth twice as much as normal.
Wild symbols can also fall in the bonus round, and if they do, they become “sticky” and remain in place for the remainder of the spins. Soon you could find yourself with so much cash you’ll be accused of robbing the local bank – or train.
But perhaps the best news of all is you can enjoy this atmospheric Wild West slot without fear of falling foul of the law enforcement men from the sheriff’s office and without being run out of town, or even shot dead!
Clint Eastwood, incidentally, not only survived the cinematic version of the wild west, he’s still going strong and filming – aged 91.
High Volatility Game
If you’re wondering how much you could win (or more likely lose) playing the Dead or Alive slot, the best indicator is the published Return to Player Percentage (RTP), which in this case, is 96.8%. That’s fairly standard for a modern slot and suggests that, statistically, you would get back $96.80 for every $100 that you bet if you were to play for thousands of hours.
However, our research shows this is also a high volatility game, which means if you were to play several sessions, the results from each could be wildly different. You might lose a little one time, lose more next time, win a bit – then have one of those great sessions where everything comes right, and you win a tidy amount, perhaps because your luck was in during that bonus round of free spins.
All in all, it’s a great game to play and will suit slots fans of all capabilities. If you enjoy those Western movies, then this is definitely something you should try out. Importantly, never gamble more than you are comfortable with. It’s a form of entertainment, after all. If you’re unsure, you can probably search online for free demo versions of all the major slot games – this is a great idea if you want to see how a title plays before putting in any of your hard-earned cash. Good luck if you’re going to give it a try – and watch out for those bandits.
