Shields of the Wild slot review (Nextgen)

Shields of the Wild is a Nextgen video slot with marching soldiers who meet their unavoidable fate on the battlefield

That all sounds pretty depressing, but hey, past life was a lot harder on people than current times.

During the Middle Ages, the average life expectancy was around 32 years of age; if the Black Plague did not catch up with you, then you were likely to die in an old-fashioned land war.

Anyway, let’s have a closer look at the Shields of the Wild slot by Nextgen. In the past few months, Nextgen released some nice slots, including Polterheist and Kingdom’s Edge.

Nextgen finally seems to have seriously invested in a good team of graphic designers. Their slots have always been fun regarding gameplay, but they usually fell short of expectations in the graphics department.

How does Shields of the Wild work?

The Shields of the Wild video slot is not very complicated.

It has a 5 reel, 3-row setup with 10 fixed pay lines.

The minimum bet is only $€ 0.10 per spin, and the maximum bet is $€ 100 per spin.

Variance and payout percentage

Regarding variance, Shields of the Wild is positioned on the low side: you can play for a long time with your money; however, it is not easy to win big figure prices.

The theoretical payout percentage is 95.57%: not very impressive.

Symbols and payouts

The symbol that is worth the most is, of course, the wild symbol. Spin 5 wilds on a line and you will pocket 250 coins.

All other symbols (except the scatters) consist of types of shields, from the wild symbol and the premium symbols to the low symbols.

The highest paying shield is the one with the lion’s head on it. This awards you 100 coins for a 5-of-a-kind.

The shields with the bear, monkey or sheep are worth the same, between 50 and 75 coins.

All low shields earn you between 20 and 40 coins for a 5-of-a-kind on 1 of the 10 win lines.

Shield Wall Feature

The Shield Wall Feature is activated at random moments during the primary game. The arrows fly towards the reels, and all symbols (except the wilds) are incremented by 1 symbol.

This process can be repeated up to 8 x, with each round the value of the feature increases.

Marching Stacks Feature

3 or more scattered burning swords activate the Marching Stacks Feature.

You now get 5 free spins with a stacked symbol on the reel most to the right. An additional stacked reel with the symbol is added for each spin.

At the end of the feature, you will always finish with a full screen with the same symbols.

The higher the symbol, the bigger the final price. You win at least 20 x your total bet but, with a full screen with wilds, that can run all the way up to 250 x your total bet. Who doesn’t like that?

During the free spins, new scatters can appear, giving a symbol upgrade to nicer prizes.

Additionally, you can be treated to an extra Marching Stacks Feature at the end of the bonus.

Our verdict on Shields of the Wild?

The Shields of the Wild video slot is at best, a decent online slot machine.

The gameplay is not very special. The bonus features, however, are quite original and entertaining, but lacking depth.

Also, the payout rate is not very impressive.

3 out of 5 stars.

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