Fire Stampede 2 Linked Awards: 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.
If there’s one thing humans are wired for, it’s connection. We love making connections, whether for friendship, business, romance, or whatever. Pragmatic Play partner Wild Streak Gaming likes to make connections in the online gambling space, and has even coined a system known as Connect & Collect. The studio used the mechanic in 2022’s Firebird Spirit, 2023’s Fire Stampede, and again here in today’s slot, Fire Stampede 2 Linked Awards. If you’re up for some connecting, let’s see what sort of differences Wild Streak Gaming has cooked up for the sequel.
Well, the two Fire Stampede slots don’t look hugely different. Like the first one, Fire Stampede 2 has a gaming grid on the right, some prizes in the top left corner, and a blazing bison beneath them. Behind the bison, the scenery has been switched from rocky canyon country to grassy plains with mountains in the distance. It’s a screen configuration that must have worked just fine for Wild Streak Gaming, not only in Fire Stampede, but before that, in Firebird Spirit. But, Fire Stampede 2’s loyalty to layout didn’t fire the imagination to any great degree, and even the prize values are the same as before.
Fire Stampede 2 is played on a 6×5 reelset, keeping in mind that the rightmost reel and the upper and lower positions on the third reel only land award symbols. Due to these special symbols taking up some of the space, there are 1,875 ways to create winning combinations. The game’s bet range is 25c to $/€250 per spin, and its math model is highly volatile. Of the three RTP configurations, 96.51% is the one you want, if available.
All pay symbols create wins by landing across adjacent reels, starting from the leftmost reel. From bottom up, we have 9-A card ranks, cacti, birds, gold nuggets, and bison. Winning combinations 5 OAK in length pay 0.4x to 0.6x for the royals, or 1x to 4x for the rest. Wilds may appear on reels 2, 3, and 4 to substitute for anything except scatters or Connect and Collect symbols.
Fire Stampede 2 Linked Awards: Slot Features
The stampede of features is made up of Connect & Collect awards, free spins, and a feature buy.
Connect & Collect
The Connect & Collect symbol appears on non-special positions on all reels except the rightmost reel. When Connect & Collect symbols are connected left to right from the leftmost reel, adjacent horizontally or vertically until the symbol chain reaches one of the special positions on the third or rightmost reel, they award the prize from the reached special position. On the rightmost reel, random groups of awards may be highlighted. If the chain reaches one of the awards in the highlighted group, all highlighted awards are granted. In the base game and free spins, the special positions on the third reel and on the rightmost reel may land these at random:
- Respins – only available on the third reel. When reached, 5 respins are awarded. During respins, all of the initial Connect & Collect symbols remain in place while other positions respin. Any new Connect & Collect symbols also lock in place. When respins are done, any connected awards are granted. If no chain connection reaches a special position during respins, players win 3x to 10x their bet.
- Money Value – when reached, a prize of 2x to 20x may be awarded from the third reel, or 10x to 200x from the rightmost reel.
- Add Wilds – when reached, wilds are randomly added to reels 2-5.
- Free Spins – 7 to 25 free spins are triggered, as well as a payout of 2x the bet made when reached by a connection chain.
- Mystery Prize – only hits on the rightmost reel. When reached, possible awards are the 25x Minor, 200x Major, 350x, 400x, 500x, or the 4,000x Grand prize. The Minor, Major, and Grand can hit with an x2 multiplier.
- Stampede – when reached, it adds the highest value symbols in random positions to the grid.
- Minor – only lands on the third reel, and when reached, it pays 25x.
Free Spins
Hitting 3, 4, or 5 scatters awards 7, 10, or 15 free spins plus a 2x payout. If Connect & Collect chains also reached a free spins award, then these are added to the total amount. The Connect & Collect feature works the same way as it does in the base game. When wild symbols hit, however, they do so with a multiplier of x2 or x3 that applies to all wins on that spin. If more wilds hit, their multipliers are combined. Additional free spins are won when reaching free spins symbols by a connection chain.
Random Awards
On random spins, a number of random wilds, Connect & Collect symbols, or highest paying symbols may be added to random non-special positions.
Feature Buy
For 100x the bet, players can buy instant free spins triggers from the base game. When bought, the triggering spin guarantees to hit enough Connect & Collect symbols to form a chain that reaches the special positions on reel 3, and at least one position on the rightmost reel, which only contains free spins symbols.
Fire Stampede 2 Linked Awards: Slot Verdict
As well as not looking massively different, Fire Stampede 2’s gameplay hasn’t changed a huge amount either. Connecting things is the game’s main selling point, and it’s not a bad feature either, though it is somewhat buried beneath brightly lit faux land-based visuals that players are likely to love or hate. Connect & Collect is quite a unique feature, offering an alternative way to possibly win cash, or at least, it was quite unique the first couple of times Wild Streak Gaming used it. In this instance, the novelty has worn off, partly due to the fact that Fire Stampede 2 is a sequel that looks a lot like the original.
Clearly, the first Fire Stampede sparked enough interest for the studio to give it a round two, rather than design a totally new game, though. Yet, a slight question mark hovers over the sequel, whether there are enough upgrades to really excite fans. The hypothesis is, yes. One of the attractive qualities is a near doubling of winning potential as the cap has been extended to 8,300x. Awards from special positions are mostly quite similar, with the addition of Stampede adding highest value symbols at random, which could be interesting, and the Minor, awarding 25x, which is less so. Mystery Prizes and multiplier wilds in free spins are a welcome add-in, as is the grouping award effect, though downgrading the Random Grand Award to just Random Awards might be seen as a sideways step.
In summation, Fire Stampede 2 is really one for fans of the first to savour. Fire Stampede 2’s new additions and swollen win cap are, on the whole, positive moves, but they might not be drastic enough to attract players who didn’t click with the way the original operated.
Write a comment