Direct Hit Featuring Money Zone - Review, Demo Play, Payout, Free Spins & Bonuses

Introduction

WMS is a well-respected brand of long standing and part of the SG Gaming group. It is known for its innovations in payout mechanics, multi-coin and multi-line secondary bonuses. WMS free slots are popular in the US, from where the company receives 70 per cent of its revenue, but it is a fully international operation. The Money Zone feature is an interesting invention, intended to shake up industry practice as they did with Battleship Direct Hit Megaways. Direct Hit is a welcome addition to the range of free play slots offered by online casinos across the world.

Direct Hit featuring Money Zone uses a seven-reel grid with seven rows It has no paylines, using cluster pays instead. The minimum bet size is 0.20 and the maximum is 100.. There are six regular symbols: radar scanner, rabbit rifle, grenade, crossbow, walkie talkie and ammo box. The wild is a shield carrying a large W.

Theme, Graphics and Soundtrack

The graphics are fairly straightforward. The background is a peaceful landscape with no signs of warfare. A young soldier stands to one side of the reels occasionally saluting while the light electro-pop soundtrack pops along. The real focus is on the movement of the grid with 49 symbols spinning, exploding and cascading while the Money Zone hovers about. It’s oddly pleasant to watch.

Direct Hit featuring Money Zone RTP and Variance

Direct Hit featuring Money Zone has an RTP of 93.9 per cent, which is significantly below average. The variance is low-to-medium, although this is disputed with some sources judging it as high.

How to Play Direct Hit featuring Money Zone

1. The object of the game is to form clusters of at least five winning symbols on adjacent reels. A cluster is a group of identical symbols in each symbol touches another along a vertical or horizontal edge. Diagonal contact does not count.
2. To set your bet level you need to click on the coins icon. This brings up a plus and minus button, which allow you to move through the bet choices.
3. If you choose to play with automatic spins, click the small play button above the main play button. You can set auto mode to exit when you reach a specified loss level and a single win limit. 
4. Click the Spin button to start spinning the reels.
5. The symbols will fall into the grid, and winning combinations will explode and disappear. At that point cascade occurs, in which the existing symbols will fall into the vacant spaces and new ones will be added to fill the grid. If there are any new winning clusters, they will be counted and another cascade triggered. The limit to the number of cascades in a round is 10.
6. The wild symbol substitutes for all symbols except for Gems.
7. The Money Zone feature is a square grid which can vary between 2x2 and 6x6. On every spin it will cover a portion of the main grid at random, and at the start of any cascade or spin it can move to another position and change its size. If you land care packages in the zone, you may reveal gems and trigger the free spin features.
8. We strongly encourage the principles of safe gambling. Please gamble responsibly. Do not bet more than you can afford. Your online account offers you time-out and self-exclusion functions, so please remember to make use of these. We want you to enjoy playing and to stop playing when the fun stops. 

Bet Sizes and Paytable Wins

The bet range is from 0.20 to 100. The maximum payout is 2,331x

The cluster sizes run from 5x to 20+x, and the highest multipliers for each symbol are as follows:

Radar

20+ = 20,000

Rabbit Rifle

20+ = 8,000

Grenade

20+ = 5,000

Crossbow

20+ = 3,000

Walkie Talkie

20+ = 2,500

Ammo Box

20+ = 1,500

Max-win 1,000x

Volatility Medium

Top RTP 93.90%

Direct Hit featuring Money Zone Bonus Features

Care Packages

These appear only in the base game. On any spin or cascade one package could land on the grid. If it lands outside the Money Zone, the symbol it lands on will turn wild. If it lands inside the Zone, the same happens but other symbols within the Zone may also turn wild.

Free Spins Bonus

Each care package contains a gem corresponding to the package colour, and you will collect that gem if the package lands in the Money Zone. You’ll see there are three gem outlines at the top of the Zone grid, and you need to fill all three during one spin in order to trigger the Free Spins Bonus. Two or more blue gems award the Blue Super Spin; two or more red ones award the Red Free Spins. Once you have collected three gems you won’t be able to collect any more in that round. 

Red Free Spins

This awards three free spins. Cascades are capped at 10 per spin.

Blue Super Spin

One super spin is awarded. For each symbol in the Zone a number appears to show how many instances of that symbol are stacked in that position. In subsequent cascades when the Zone moves, stacks are added all symbols in the new Zone, including previously stacked symbols.

Direct Hit featuring Money Zone Review: Our Verdict

For a slot with no bonus game this is surprisingly compelling. The payout is low and the RTP even lower, but there’s a real novelty to it that kept us playing stay longer than we expected to.

Disclaimer: Direct Hit Featuring Money Zone trademark / license is owned by WMS. This site is not endorsed by WMS.