X-Men (Playtech)

X-Men first appeared in comic books in 1963 and more recently hit Hollywood success with a series of films released from 2000 onwards. Some years ago Cryptologic released an X-Men slot as part of their Marvel Slots range which was based on the comics and now Playtech have released a new version based on the films.

The game uses the 5 reel, 25 line format and has a max bet of 10 coins per line or 250 coins total. You have a lot of choices when it comes to bet levels with the lowest coin size starting at 0.01 and the highest going up to 1.00. This makes for a max bet range of between 2.50 and a big 250.00 per spin.

On the reels you have two types of character symbols - Heroes and Villains. The Heroes are Professor X, Wolverine, Nightcrawler, Storm and Cyclops. The Villains are Magneto, Deathstrike, Mystique, Sabretooth and Juggernaut. The Hero symbols have a blue background while the Villains have a red background.

The top line win on X-Men is for the five Wild symbols which pay 10,000 coins for five of a kind or 100,000 coins if you are playing 10 coins per line. After this you five sets of Hero and Villain symbols which give you two ways to win each of the smaller jackpots. Second highest pay is 1,500 coins for either five Professor X or Magneto symbols.

X-Man has three bonus features. The first is a reel based bonus called the X-Bonus. To win this bonus you need to get an X shape with hero symbols on the middle three reels. Every time this pattern appears you instantly win five times your total bet.

The second bonus on X-Men is the Heros Vs Villains free games. To win the free games you need to get three or more of the scattered X-Men emblems. You then win an unlimited amount of free games with a twist. The free spins have two modes;

• Heroes Mode (Preview)
  Only Hero symbols appear on the reels with the exception of the Extra Wild Magneto symbol. You get to keep spinning until a Wild Magneto symbol appears anywhere on the middle reel. You then go to the Villains Mode.
   
• Villains Mode (Preview)
  On Villains Mode you get a total of 8 free games where all of the symbols are villains except the Extra Wild Professor X. Getting a Professor X symbol anywhere on the middle reel takes to back to Heros Mode.

The free spins keep going until you run out of Villains Mode spins. You only get 8 but as you can go back and forth between the modes the free games can go on for quite a while if you are lucky. We have seen similar bonus on other slots but the idea works particularly well with the Heros Vs Villains theme.

The final bonus on X-Men is the Mystery Jackpot Feature. The game has four randomly awarded progressives that have starting ranges between $50 and $100,000. The top jackpot has been won at over $1,000,000 so these Marvel Jackpot can offer some serious wins. No specific bet level is required to qualify for the jackpot feature.

Winning the Jackpot Feature means you will get one of the four jackpots. To find out which one you will take home you move to a pick a box style bonus where you have to match three symbols to win. There is a time limit so you have to pick quite quickly or the positions are automatically selected for you.

Playtech have done a great job with all of their Marvel Jackpot slots and X-Men is no exception. The game really captures the theme from the films and the Heros Vs Villains free spins fits in perfectly. Add to this the random progressives and you have a very exciting and potentially rewarding game to play.