Azteca

The Tomb Raider slots have been some of the most successful games for Microgaming. Playtech has clearly seen this and released Azteca which is very similar in both theme and style to the original game from Microgaming. The good news is that the game is as good as the Microgaming hits.

The game has an Aztec adventure theme with a female adventurer who look strikingly similar to Lara Croft. On the reels you also have masks, monkeys, planes, Aztec pyramids, bags and the now common A though 9 symbols.

Azteca is a 20 line game with the option to bet up to 10 coins per line. Coin sizes start at one cent and go up to 50c at most casinos. This makes for a max bet range of between $2 and $100 per spin. As usual the more you bet the bigger the potential wins.

The Aztec pry amid symbols are wild and substitute for everything but the adventurer and the masks. Getting five pyramids on any active line awards 10,000 coins per con bet or 100,000 at max bet. The wilds also make up the second highest line pay which is a nice 2000 coins.

The adventurer symbols are scattered and are the key to the free spin bonus. Get three or more and you win 12 free spins with all wins tripled. Five scatters pay a nice 500X your bet or 10,000 coins at max. The free games can be won during the feature an unlimited amount of times. Top jackpot on the feature grows to a very handy 300,000 coins.

The mask symbols are the key to the second of the bonus games on Azteca. You need to line up three or more on an active line aligned left to right. This is very similar to the mask bonus found on the original Tomb Raider game. If you get four or five masks you get a bonus multiplier or X5 and X27 respectively.

Once activated you move on to a second screen stage where there are eight gold items on the screen (View Screenshot). You get to keep picking items until you either reveal a collect symbol or a pyramid. If you reveal a collect symbol the bonus ends and any wins are paid. If you triggered the bonus with four or five scatters your win is multiplied by either 5 or 27.

If on the bonus you reveal the pyramid you move on the the second stage of the bonus game. Here you have to choose between one of two golden orbs to reveal an extra multiplier of either 5X or 7X (Screenshot). The bonus then ends and wins are paid. You can get some huge wins of up to 14,175 times your line bet if you trigger the feature with 5 scatters.

For example if you win $20 on the pick stage and then get X5 on the second stage you win $100. But if you triggered the feature with five scatters you win $20 X5 X27 or a nice $2700. In our opinion this bonus is better than the mask bonus on the original Tomb Raider slot machine.

Azteca also has a gamble option where you can try to increase your wins by doubling. The good thing about the double up is that there is no house edge - the odds of winning are natural.

While Azteca is clearly cashing in on the success of the Tomb Raider slots it is a great game in it's own right. The free spins offer some big jackpots and the mask bonus also gives you the chance at hitting big. Overall a great video slot from Playtech that will be popular for years to come.