Starburst
Starburst is a NetEnt slot and like most titles in the NetEnt stable, is clearly laid out. In many ways, it’s a stripped-down game with an old school arcade feature to it. It has one main feature – the Starburst Wilds – but the potential to land a pay out of R900,000, it’s a serious game as well as being pleasing on the eye.
Estimated reading time: 3 minutes.
Design
This game has remained one of NetEnt’s most popular titles and that is partly down to the way it looks. The play takes place against a black backdrop which emphasises the vibrant colours of the symbols on the reel. The graphics look particularly sparkling on a HD screen. The symbols are coloured jewels and there is also the standard ‘seven’ and ‘bar’ symbols from old-fashioned fruit machines. The play is fast-paced and is supported by a gorgeous sound-track that helps to underline the intergalactic theme.
Gameplay
Starburst is an easy-to-play slot that features five reels and ten play-lines. That's fewer than most modern online gamers are used to, but with this particular slots title, that isn’t too much of a disadvantage, as we will see.
You can play from as little as R1.9 a spin to R1987 per spin so it accommodates small stakes players and beginners, as well as experienced gamers. Autoplay is available and the jackpot is x5000 your stake, so in theory, you could land a payout of R948,746.
As mentioned above, there are only five jewel symbols, along with the seven and bar symbols. This small number means that winning combinations pop up frequently, which makes up for the small number of pay-lines. It is also possible to win if you land blocks as well as lines of symbols, so payouts are regular.
Starburst Wild
The game doesn’t have a Free Spins feature or the kind of inventive bonus games that appear in many modern slots titles. In that sense, it is a pretty minimalistic slot to play, but it does have one unique selling point – the Starburst Wild. When the Starburst Wild symbols appear on any of the middle reels, they expand to fill the whole reel and stay there for as many as three re-spins, leading to an accumulation of winnings.
The good news is that if a new Starburst wild symbol pops up during the re-spin, it will also expand and remain in place along with the existing wilds to give the player another re-spin. In fact, this can go on indefinitely as the feature only comes to an end when there are no new Starburst Wilds on the reel. Should you manage to bring up three expanding Wilds, it is possible to land some enormous wins, up to R948,746. It's also worth noting that the base game can also lead to some big pay outs.
Conclusion
Starburst isn’t the flashiest of NetEnt games, but it combines simple, beautiful graphics with stripped-back game-play. It will appeal to serious gamers and beginners alike. Starburst is unlike anything else you will see in the modern online gaming world, and its potential pay-out that puts it into the serious slots title bracket.