Thunderstruck II Slot Review – Thor Approves

Basic Features

As the name suggests, Thunderstruck II is a sequel to a Microgaming classic released more than ten years ago now, and quite a few things have changed. The original Thunderstruck, while a decent slot in its own right, was never really anything to brag about. The sequel aims to change that, with 243 paylines (more than 10 times the average for video slots) and an interesting, albeit somewhat ill-thought-out bonus game. While the lack of any sort of jackpot is very disappointing, the game is fully mobile-ready and runs great on a handheld device, which, coupled with the low coin price, will earn it some fans.

Thunderstruck II Slot
		Software:	Microgaming	Double option:	No
		RTP:	96.60%	Mobile version:	Yes
		Progressive:	No	Coin value:	£0.01-£0.05
		Autoplay:	No	Bet value:	£0.30 – £15
		Quick spin:	No	Max. bet:	£15.00
		Reels:	5	Free spins:	Yes
		Paylines:	243	Bonus round:	Yes

For the most part, Thunderstruck II plays like a very average slot, with no special features about it except for the bonus rounds you activate by hitting three “Scatter” symbols (more on that later). It doesn’t really have a jackpot, but randomly a Wildstorm event will happen which will turn up to five rows in huge Wild symbols, and big winnings are always guaranteed (I won about £1,000 from just two Wild rows). The presentation is pretty great – the images, while not as many as in other slots, have a lot of details on them, and the music is pleasant and non-intrusive.

Paytable

Not counting the Wild and Scatter symbols, Thunderstruck II has twelve, half of which are somewhat disappointing – they’re just letters and numbers, namely A, K, Q, J, 10 and 9. While many slots have two or three letters (they’re cheaper to make and easier to figure out in terms of how much money they bring), six has to be the most I’ve ever seen for a slot like this. Naturally, they bring the least amount of money, from 5 times your bet up to 150 times. A Viking ship can give you up to 250 times your wager, while the Bifrost – the rainbow bridge that connects the nine realms – will pay up to 300 times what you invested.

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The remaining four symbols all represent the game’s main characters, namely Valkyrie, Loki, Odin and Thor. We’ll ignore for a moment the fact that Valkyrie is more of a title than a character from the Norse mythology (it’s like naming someone Knight) and instead focus on the fact that she gives the least amount of money out of the four main characters, namely – 350 times your bet if you get 5 of her lined up. Loki is next with 400, Odin, the king of the gods, comes second with 450, and Thor himself can give you up to 500 times your wager. Last, but not least, is the Wild symbol, which uses the game’s logo as its face, can obviously substitute for any other, but will also net you up to 1000 times your bet if you line a few of them up.

Bonus Rounds/Free Spins

The big special feature of Thunderstruck II is called the Hall of Spins. Yeah, I think it sounds kind of dumb as well, but hey, I only write about slots, I don’t make them. Anyway, its basic shtick is that when you get three Scatter symbols, aka Mjolnir, aka Thor’s hammer, aka the rarest bloody symbol in the entire game, you get brought to the Hall of Spins, where you harness the power of one of four figures from Norse mythology, mentioned above. Each of them gives you a set number of free spins alongside some kind of bonus.

Valkyrie gives you 10 free spins and a 5x multiplier, Loki gives you 15 free spins and randomly turns symbols into Wilds, Odin brings 20 free spins and random multipliers (up to x6), and finally, Thor gives you 25 free spins and consecutive wins increase the multiplier up to 5x. So basically, the more free spins you have, the less good the bonus is, which seems fair… Except for the fact that you don’t get to choose which hero you get. It’s not even random, it’s a lot worse than that. The first 5 times you enter the Hall you’ll get Valkyrie, the next 5 – Loki. On your 11th trigger you’ll be getting Odin, and on the 16th and onwards your patron shall be Thor. Yes – if you want to get Thor’s bonus you need to activate an already really rare bonus at least sixteen times. That is inexcusable. I can understand if the bonus round happened every 4-5 spins or so, but it’s actually a bit rarer than in other games, which means that you’d need 200 or even 300 spins at the very least for a chance to get Thor’s bonus. It doesn’t take a genius to figure out that very few players will ever get that far. It would’ve been a much better idea to just have a random bonus, like in PlayTech’s The Avengers, rather than go for this rather ill-thought-out system.

Experience of Playing the Slot and Other Recommended Games

All things considered, Thunderstruck II is definitely a very solid slot. While it does have its flaws, such as the ridiculous conditions for unlocking some of the bonus rounds and the rather disappointing jackpot (or lack thereof), it makes up for it with a very creative bonus game, beautiful graphics and respect for its source material. While the winnings weren’t exactly as frequent as I would have liked them to be, when they happened they were larger than most I’d personally ever gotten, so ultimately it evens itself out, though the infrequent winnings and the conditions for unlocking the later stages of the “Hall of Spins” mean that you need to load yourself with a lot of patience if you want to properly enjoy the game. If you’re looking for a slot with a lot more bonus games and features that also happens to feature Thor, then the absolutely excellent The Avengers is definitely worth a look!