There’s definitely a ‘Squatch in these woods, at least for players willing to bet big enough to draw out the famous cryptid. The Legend of Bigfoot offers a potentially huge payday for players who are lucky enough to follow Bigfoot’s trail deep into the woodland setting. Barcrest and SG Digital offer another fine slot machine with a big bonus round, a big bet high stakes option and some special surprise features. The long journey isn’t always fun though, and players should be ready to give up a few creature comforts.
Unfortunately, The Legend of Bigfoot is not an especially good-looking slot machine. It’s still competent, but it’s lacking a lot of polish that might be expected. The game features a nice enough background of some dense woods, along with a 3D animated Bigfoot that wanders in for certain special features. The game starts to slip when it comes to symbols though. While it uses some generic “A, K, Q and J” symbols, these are actually some of the better-designed pieces. Each one is bright and colorful with a wood-like texture to it. The higher value symbols are far worse. They appear to just be copy and pasted stock images of beavers, raccoons, eagles, moose, wolves and mountain lions. It’s odd that the higher-value symbols are so disappointing and underdeveloped.
In general, the game seems to be missing some of the finishing touches that would really complete the experience. Winning paylines have cute dancing animations for the letters, but the higher-value animals tend to just flash in place. The big win cinematics are just generic fireworks. The special animations for when a Bigfoot feature triggers or a Bigfoot bonus hits are well done, but the gaps for the normal game really stand out. The sound design is also a little rough. While the soundtrack is a fairly nice banjo and country music mix, the sound effects are odd. The chimes and bells for winning paylines are okay, if a little generic, but the reels settle into place with loud clicking noises that are downright distracting. These little flaws poke some holes in the experience and make playing for a long session a little less fun.
The Legend of Bigfoot is a 5-reel online slot machine, with a variable number of paylines. Players who bet less than 2.00 credits only get to play on 10 paylines. A 1.00 credit is a 0.10 line bet on 10 lines. Players who bet at least 2.00 credits get to play on 20 paylines. A 2.00 bet is a 0.10 line bet on 20 lines. This comes with a matching change in RTP. Players who bet less than 2.00 only have a 94% RTP, while it goes up to 96% for 2.00 and higher bets. All paylines have to start on the leftmost reel and run to the right.
The majority of normal spins are uneventful with no special features, and there are no natural wild symbols in the base game. Occasionally, Bigfoot sightings can trigger and spice up the game though. Bigfoot can show up after any spin and decide to help flip things around. There are 5 potential special features that can trigger during a Bigfoot sighting. Bigfoot can swap any symbol on the reels to turn a losing spin into a winner. Bigfoot can shake the entire game board to cause random wild symbols to appear and potentially trigger new wins. Occasionally, Bigfoot will also show up to shake the entire game and change the 2nd and 4th reels into completely wild reels for that spin. The final two features help with triggering the bonus game and will be covered later.
The Bigfoot sightings are obviously the main excitement for players on the normal slots. Unfortunately, the advantage to betting at least 2.00 credits a spin is so great that it’s basically required. This means that bankrolls can drain fast, especially since normal spins can go quickly and there aren’t that many ways to catch back up after a cold streak. The highest payout is only 25x the total bet for 5 of the mountain lion. Most payouts are going to be 25% wins from getting 3 card symbols, although these do occasionally add up quickly on lucky spins. Getting lucky with wild reels or random wilds is the main way to hang on in the basic game. The main goal is to just survive until the bonus round triggers because it’s hiding most of the money.
The Bonus Game
During any normal spin, players can trigger the bonus round by getting a Bigfoot bonus symbol in the 1st, 3rd and 5th reels. It is also possible to trigger the bonus game through a little luck with the Bigfoot sightings. Players who get bonus symbols in the 1st and 3rd reels can potentially trigger a Bigfoot respin last reel, which gives them a second chance to get another bonus symbol. There’s also the general Bigfoot respin reels feature. This counts up the bonus symbols on the reels and sets them aside. Bigfoot then spins the reels again and any new bonus symbols will add onto the existing counter and potentially trigger the game.
The bonus game is a fairly involved set of stages, built around following Bigfoot’s trail. The beginning is fairly simple. Players start at level 1 on the trail, which gives them 8 free spins and 2 random wilds that appear at the end of every spin. The wilds are generally a nice addition that at least helps stack up some minor wins. The hook is that any bonus symbols that appear on the reels will go into the counter at the top of the screen. If players get 3 Bigfoot tracks before they run out of free spins, then they get to move up a level. Moving up a level locks any remaining free spins up, and starts an entirely new set on the new level. Reaching level 2 gives players 7 free spins, and 3 random wilds now appear for each spin. Again, if players can get another 3 bonus symbols before running out of free spins, they’ll go up another level.
Until level 6, each new level gives players one fewer free spin, but one more random wild. Reaching level 6 keeps the player at 4 free spins but gives them a whopping 7 random wilds for a few very loaded free spins. The most important part of the bonus game is that running out of free spins at a higher level doesn’t automatically end the game. Running out of free spins simply makes the player lose 3 bonus symbols and fall down a level. If there are still free spins remaining at that level from when they first climbed up, they can continue playing and possibly trigger the next level again. The bonus round only ends when players have lost all of their free spins at every level in the game. This means that lucky players can get a lot of free spins that can up to a big payday.
The Big Bet System
As is common in Barcrest slot machines, there is a big bet system for players who are looking to pay a little more for boosted spins. In big bet mode, players pay a premium for a set of 5 spins at the 2.00 total bet paytable. The extra money goes toward extra features in the set of 5 spins. The bonus game can trigger normally in this set of 5 spins. Note that going to the bonus round doesn’t actually end the 5 spins. They will resume once the bonus game is done. The big bet system has a higher RTP of 98%, but with more money on the line the swings are obviously much worse.
The 20.00 credit set of 5 just makes the Bigfoot sightings feature trigger more often. The 30.00 credit game keeps the more frequent Bigfoot sightings and modifies the Bigfoot bonus symbol to be 2-spaces high for the set. Note that it doesn’t count for two if both spaces show up in a spin, it still just counts for one. This does make it a little more likely that the bonus symbols will show up though. The 50.00 credit game extends this even further. Not only are the Bigfoot bonus symbols 2-spaces high in the 5 spins, but they stay 2-spaces in the bonus round. Again, one completely showing up doesn’t count for 2, but it does make it a little easier to get further along the trail.
The End of the Trip
Overall, The Legend of Bigfoot is a fairly fun free game that’s still a solid recommendation. It is only really meant for players comfortable with betting 2.00 credits a spin though, since there’s no reason to accept a 94% RTP just for some minor special features. The ideas are fun overall. The Bigfoot sightings are an exciting surprise for the main spins, and the bonus game can be really exciting. It’s also nice that the big bet feature feels a little less intrusive. It’s there for anyone looking for high roller play, but players can still see most of the special features with regular spins. It would be nice if the design was more polished, but being a little rough around the edges doesn’t hurt it too badly. It’s still a good option for some quick, exciting play.