The Final Countdown Slot - Review for Canadians, Demo Play & Payout Info

Introduction

With 6 Reels, 4,096 ways to win and high volatility this game will not lack for excitement - it promises to be a roller coaster from start to finish. Big Time Gaming has pulled out all the stops on the features front - cloned reels (which you might recall from Queen of Riches), Heading for Venus Free Spins round, Super Mega Wins and massive multipliers.

All of this is sound tracked to the Europe classic, The Final Countdown! What's not to enjoy!

Theme and Graphics

We always get excited about the release of a new Big Time Gaming slot. This innovative software developer leads the way in creating exciting and immersive online slots games that are packed with great features, and The Final Countdown is no exception. Big Time Gaming has made sure that they’ve perfectly married the slots theme to the song lyrics, as we get ready to depart on our journey to Venus.

The game takes place against a cityscape of high-rise buildings, silhouetted against a bruised-looking sky. Colourful beams of light shine up from some of the skyscrapers, lighting up the night sky, as if to emphasise the rocket-powered journey to the stars that lies ahead.

And of course, there’s the music. Every spin of the reels generates bursts of music from the iconic Europe single that stormed the charts back in the 80s. And once you hit the Free Spins bonus rounds, you get to hear the full song in all of its glory!

How to Play

The first thing you need to know, when playing The Final Countdown for the first time, is that all of the controls you need are located at the bottom of your screen, just underneath the reels.The controls for the game are very straight forward:

• If you look at the bottom left-hand side of your screen, you’ll see the wagering options. Change the amount of your wager per spin by clicking or tapping on the arrow keys, which lets you choose to pay between 0.20 and 20.00 per spin. 
• The controls for the The Spin button is located at the bottom right-hand side of your screen - press, click or tap on it to set the reels in motion, then wait to see where they stop.
• The Final Countdown offers players access to an Autoplay function. You can choose up to 100 automatic spins, and you’ll be invited to set win and loss limits that will end the feature before all of the spins have been completed.
• The hamburger menu, which is located just below the fifth and sixth reels of the game, gives you access to the game’s paytable and settings. You can toggle sounds on and off, read the game’s rules and access the paytable, which we’ll go into more detail about in the next section.

Ways to Win

In a Ways to Win game like The Final Countdown, you don’t need to line up three or more matching symbol across an active payline to win a cash prize. You only need to land matching symbols on adjacent reels, although there are still some criteria that you need to abide by. For instance, the first example of a winning symbol must appear on the first reel, furthest to the left-hand side of the screen. Subsequent matching symbols must appear on adjacent reels, in any position.

Cloned Reels

With every spin, there’s a chance that the Cloned Reels feature will spring into action. When it does, between 2-4 reels synchronise with each other, spinning up identical symbols in identical places. This feature only applies to reels 2-5, but it massively increases the chances of generating winning combinations, so its appearance is always welcome.

Wilds and Scatters can also be cloned, when the reels synchronise with each other. In the case of Scatters, this could force the Free Spins bonus feature round, where three or more Scatters are involved, as well as triggering a Scatter Pays win in the process. Meanwhile, any Wilds that appear on Cloned Reels increase in size, thereby generating the potential for further wins, since Wilds can substitute for all other symbols on the reels, apart from Scatters.

Cloned Wilds increase in size according to how many reels they cover. A Wild appearing on two Cloned Reels will generate a Multiplier worth 4x for any wins it contributes to. Over three Cloned Reels, a Wild brings a Multiplier worth 27x, and if it fills the maximum four reels, the Wild Multiplier increases to a mighty 256x, which can generate some spectacular cash prizes.

Max-win 25,200x

Volatility High

RTP 96.56%

The Final Countdown RTP

Some gamers - and even reviewers of slots games too - seem to think that the RTP, or Return to Player ratio of a game relates to expected winnings. Yet just a moment’s thought should serve to prove that this simply isn’t credible. For example, with an RTP of 96.65%, this would mean that players would be guaranteed to win 96.65 for every 100.00 they wagered, which would be neither desirable nor practical. After all, if you knew that you were going to end up making an overall loss, there’d be absolutely no incentive to play slots games at all!

Volatility

Volatility is just another word for risk when it comes to online slots games. Choose to play games that perfectly chime with your own attitude towards risk, and you’ll have a fun and entertaining gaming session, whether or not you hit a major cash award.

In the case of The Final Countdown, the game has been classified as being highly volatile, so it’s one for the high risk players. You may find that you seem to be hitting plenty of low-value wins, but a glance at the paytable will quickly show you that many of the game’s symbols won’t return your stake money, even if you spin up six of a kind combinations. So keep a close watch on your balance, and aim to play the game as much as you possibly can in demo mode, before deciding to wager real cash on the outcome of your spins.

Paytable

Highly volatile games, such as The Final Countdown, have the potential to deliver some huge cash payouts, so the poor returns on lower-value symbols won’t be of much significance. But if your budget is rather more modest, low-value wins that don’t even cover the cost of your bet can quickly impact available funds, so knowing what might be ahead is useful information.

The game’s Scatter symbol, represented by the letters FC, delivers the highest rewards, as well as initiating the game’s feature bonus rounds too. Three Scatters will reward you with 6x your stake, whilst 4, 5 or 6 Scatters results in payouts worth 20x, 50x and 100x your wager, respectively. And once again, if Wild Multipliers are involved in the win, these figures can increase dramatically.

Free Spins and Bonuses

During the base game, there are two different bonuses that can be applied to your wins. The Reel Clone feature will duplicate symbols across the reels while the Clone Wilds feature expands and delivers a multiplier of 4x, 27x or 256x.

There is also the Heading for Venus round that offers up 15 free spins. During this round, clone wilds will land on the reels and multipliers between 4x and 888x can be applied to your wins.

Overall Review

The Final Countdown is a thrilling online slot from Big Time Gaming. While it’s not exactly Danger High Voltage 2, the game has a similar format and offers players the chance to experience some great winning opportunities.

The internet is full of praise for The Final Countdown, offering more than enough reasons to give it a go. Some of the recurring reasons for widespread praise and for choosing to play The Final Countdown include:

• An engaging theme that is equally matched by an attractive and popular soundtrack.
• A plethora of multipliers that really adds to the excitement of the game.
• A bumper bag of great design and gameplay which combine to create a beautiful looking slot that all sorts of players enjoy.
• Volatility that really boosts the excitement of the slot and guarantees that when wins do roll in it is really time to celebrate.
• Creativity that demonstrates one of the reasons why Big Time Gaming is such a popular choice within the iGaming industry.

Disclaimer: The Final Countdown trademark / license is owned by Big Time Gaming. This site is not endorsed by Big Time Gaming.