Fortune favours the brave so don’t hold back
NetEnt’s slot Divine Fortune rarely has a dull moment as you’re taken back to Ancient Greece. Whether that’s Pegasus appearing as an Expanding Wild or re-spinning during free spinning, this is pure all-out entertainment as I’d expect from our Swedish friends.
Expectations of this video slot are sky high as usual
When your job revolves around video slots, playing them, reviewing them and having to decide which are hot and which are not, you start to have key dates in your calendar.
And the ones circled in the thickest red pen of all are the release dates of a big NetEnt game. That happened a few weeks ago but Divine Fortune is still fresh in the LeoVegas Casino and now I’m going to give you my assessment of it in a way that’s as honest as a prisoner taking a lie detector test.
The issue with new NetEnt slots is that so much is expected of them. It’s like the release of a new Steven Spielberg film or Dan Brown book. Or the new Coldplay album.
Though that one’s a little different because no-one actually asked for another one.
Warlords: Crystals of Power set new boundaries in terms of visual effects in a slot and going back a bit longer, Guns N’Roses was quite honestly like nothing I’d ever seen before in a slot, especially in terms of the insanity of the bonus features, all played to the backdrop of some of Axl Rose’s biggest hits.
So the question isn’t so much: how good is Divine Fortune? Rather it’s: is it up to the standard expected of a NetEnt slot?
Divine Fortune is available to play on your Desktop but that’s only one method. Another is to take the Minotaur, the Medusa and Pegasus around with you in your back pocket and play it on your mobile.
The flavour of Ancient Egypt is scattered all over this slot
The Divine Fortune slot has its theme Ancient Greece. Not the first time a game has gone down that route with Zeus by WMS (and other slots with the prefix Zeus) and more recently and Hercules High and Mighty, reviewed last year and available to be played for free.
So it’s no surprise that the symbols are iconic elements of Ancient Greece. There’s the Medusa (sporting a hairstyle full of snakes that even Lady Gaga would find weird), a Lion (Leo’s Greek cousin) and the Minotaur, a creature with the head of a Bull and the body of a man. A pretty strong man. Think Dwayne Johnson or Vin Diesel…but without the protein shakes and personal trainers. There are some cool statues surrounding the reels and just above the reels, you’ll see the value of the three different Jackpots displayed: Minor, Major and Mega. More on that later.
There’s some slightly over-dramatic music going on in the background as you play and when the last couple of reels fall into place, a rather clunky sound. A bit like the sound of a prison door being unlocked. I guess that guy failed the lie detector test after all.
Pegasus Wild feature can get you off to a flyer
It’s worth mentioning at this point that a few hardcore NetEnt fans may well be a little disappointed with Divine Fortune one way or another. True that it doesn’t have the absurdly good trailer that Warlords do, there isn’t a character here who basically is the game as happened with Gonzo all those years ago. And it may lack the wacky humour element present in a slot like Copy Cats. It’s hard to argue with any of these accusations because they’re true.
But to dismiss the Divine Fortune slot on any of those grounds is as silly as a Steve Martin film from the 1980s. Take your pick. I like Dirty Rotten Scoundrels.
NetEnt have made a great slot that may lack a story as such but good on them for creating something completely new. Besides, in terms of features and the variety of them, this is just as good as anything I’ve mentioned of theirs. Here’s what you can look forward to…
Pegasus Wild
The white flying horse is the Wild and when he appears (which could be anywhere on the reels) he’ll give you re-spins. If he’s on the bottom of the reels you’ll only get one but if he appears at the top you’ll get three- he’ll slide down one position after each re-spin. But occasionally Pegasus becomes an Expanding Wild and there’s no horseplay when that happens. Rather you can expect, yes expect, a decent win.
Free Spins
Three Free Spins symbols anywhere and you’ll get some…free spins. Bet you didn’t see that one coming. You can get as many as 12.
If you want to moan about the fact that a) there should have been another season of Friends. B) They shouldn’t have messed with the shape of the Toblerone chocolate or c) You can’t re-trigger the free sins here…then now’s your chance.
Although the last one isn’t strictly true. It’s true that you don’t normally get extra spins but because Pegasus does exactly the same here as he does in the base game, meaning you have the chance to get plenty of re-spins. And him appearing during another re-spin means more re-spins. So the non-triggering of free spins is a mere technicality. In addition to the original ones, I got as many as 15 extra ones during the free spins round.
Jackpots
On the bottom right there’s a vase with three holes. Fill those with precious stones and you get a chance to go for one of three Progressive Jackpots. Unlike say Gong Xi Fa Cai (link when ready in UTR) you’re not guaranteed to win one of the three and it’s true that the minor one is pretty minor. But you accumulate wins as the feature goes on and you’ll probably end up with more that way than you’d win by taking down either the Minor Jackpot anyway.
And yes, the Jackpot here is unlikely to reach the levels of the absurdity of say Mega Moolah or Hall Of Gods where you’ll never have to work again. Simply because the amount it starts with is considerably lower.
But then again, there’s still considerably more to be won than in many other Jackpot games.
Not ground-breaking but great slot-making
The fact I’m giving Divine Fortune the thumbs-up shouldn’t come as any more of a surprise to you than the fact that Gwyneth Paltrow got to a stage where putting up with Coldplay’s Chris Martin on a daily basis was just too much for anyone. I like the theme, the symbols, the graphics and Pegasus’ presence in both the base game and the free spins really added something. In some cases, plenty of respins. So yes, it’s not going to re-invent the wheel like some previous NetEnt slots but that’s not to say it isn’t a great game. It will surely be a regular in a prominent position in the jackpot categories at online casinos.
Ready to win the jackpot? I’ve listed the top Indian casinos who offer Divine Fortune below.