Big Bass Reel Repeat: Slot Overview
Editor’s note: This review is based on an early access version of the game. We may update the review after the full release if necessary.
Software provider Pragmatic Play and partner Reel Kingdom are back at it, with yet another Big Bass release. Since they’ve used just about every other gimmick under the sun (not really, but you know), this time the angling duo has decided to break physics and adopt time travel to add a streak of novelty to their long-running series of fishing slots. Hence the word ‘repeat’ in the title of Big Bass Reel Repeat, a sci-fi rendition, which foreshadows the way the bonus round can be repeated at random (under certain circumstances) to help rack up extra fish and dough.
During the base game and bonus round, the sci-fi aspect seeps in around the edges. There is a futuristic pattern on the money symbols, a ray gun pay symbol, and the Fisherman looks like a hip timeline trickster from the 1980s, but a lot of the visuals are regular Big Bass stuff. Plant life, bubbles, background fish, the uzhe. Still, the synthwave soundtrack and the animations between the base game and bonus round are retro-futuristic, so you know, players might not be fishing on another planet, hard to say, but there’s a definite sci-fi bent that you don’t really find in other Big Bass slots.
A bubble demarcated 5-reel gaming grid is Big Bass Reel Repeat’s play area. Each reel holds 3 rows of symbols, and there are 10 paylines lining up wins left to right from the leftmost reel. With three feature buys and an ante bet, the RTP is the same in all instances at 96.51% as when betting 10c to $/€250 on each spin, while the math model is highly volatile. When using the ante bet, there are three choices – 3x the bet for a higher chance to win the feature, 3.2x for a chance to trigger the Repeat, or 5x for a higher chance to win the feature and Repeat.
Big Bass Reel Repeat’s pay symbols are 10-A playing card ranks, fish (they are the Money symbols), boxes, ray guns, dragonflies, and boats. A line of five matching royals awards 5-10 times the bet, whereas the rest are worth 20x to 200x for a 5 OAK winning combination. Fisherman wilds replace all of the pay symbols to help make wins, but they only appear in the bonus round.
Big Bass Reel Repeat: Slot Features
Get 3, 4, or 5 scatters on the screen in the base game, and the reward is 10, 15, or 20 free spins, respectively. Should 2 scatters hit in the base game, a third scatter may be brought into view by a respin or may just randomly appear after the initial spin result. Before the free spins round starts, players pick a card to possibly reveal a modifier:
- More Fish! – more Money symbols are present on the reel strips with a higher chance of bigger value in the round.
- Higher Multipliers! – the multipliers awarded at retrigger points have increased values of x4, x6, or x20.
- 3 Fisherman to Retrigger – only 3 Fisherman symbols instead of 4 need to be collected to retrigger free spins. Also, when multipliers are awarded they apply from the next spin instead of from the next batch of retriggered free spins.
- MEGA – all previous three modifiers are revealed.
During free spins, each Fisherman wild collects the prizes from Money symbols in view, which range from 2x to 5,000x each. Fish symbols can also randomly land as 2×2 or 3×3 giant symbols in free spins. Fisherman symbols are collected as well, and every 4 Fisherman symbols collected retrigger the feature, granting +10 free spins and a multiplier upgrade. The second, third, and fourth levels grant a multiplier of x2, x3, or x10, respectively.
Also, during free spins, if there are Fisherman wilds in view but no Money symbols, Money symbols may randomly appear on the reels. If there are Money symbols but no Fisherman, a hook may pull a Fisherman into view, or when there are Fisherman wild symbols but no Money symbols, a Bass-ooka! animation may occur to change all symbols on the screen except Fisherman symbols into something else.
Feature Buy
Players are able to trigger free spins for 100x the bet, while 160x the bet buys free spins where a Repeat feature may randomly start the round again when it ends, while keeping the current winning amount. Thirdly, 1,250x the bet buys free spins with the MEGA modifier guaranteed.
Big Bass Reel Repeat: Slot Verdict
Aye, well, that’s another Big Bass slot in the bag. How many are we up to now? It’s a lot, whatever the number, though Big Bass Reel Repeat does make an effort to try to be a bit different from the rest. It’s the most overtly sci-fi of the bunch, and the ’80s futuristic vibe isn’t a bad one. Reel Kingdom has incorporated the wireframe/retrosynth stuff quite nicely, and the cut-scene animations are neat. At the same time, Big Bass Reel Repeat definitely looks like a Big Bass slot, which might be critical for pulling loyal-to-the-end fans in for more.
As for the features, Big Bass Reel Repeat has relatives such as Big Bass Splash and Bigger Bass Splash, where modifiers may be granted before free spins begin. The difference here is that players get one pick only, and there is less variety. You might get lucky and flip the MEGA, in which case all three modifiers will be active, a situation that must have potential, considering the 1,250x price tag to buy it. In general, Big Bass Reel Repeat seems to have a strong bonus/ante buy focus, not only because of the massive MEGA buy, but also because the 160x buy and certain ante bets are the only ways it is possible to trigger the Repeat feature – which is kind of weird, since the game is literally named after it.
What’s also a bit odd is that the MEGA buy has all three modifiers, yet players can buy all five modifiers in Bigger Bass Splash for 350x, and both it and Big Bass Splash have the same win cap as Big Bass Reel Repeat’s 5,000x the bet. Furthermore, the max win frequency in both Splash slots is more favourable than the probability figure attached to Big Bass Reel Repeat. Apologies if this got overly mathematical, but when you’re 300 deep in a slot series, you have to dig in to find reasons to pick one over the rest. With Big Bass Reel Repeat, whilst the theme is kind of fun, it was hard to find many convincing reasons to recommend this over a number of its siblings.
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