Dazzle Me Megaways

Dazzle Me Megaways Slot Review

Dazzle Me Megaways from NetEnt is the successor of the iconic Dazzle Me, this time with a Megaways twist. The Dazzling Gems are back in NetEnt’s latest Megaways remake, featuring Wild Reels that build in height during the Free Games.

Read on for the full review.

SLOT FEATURES	Free Spins, Wild Reels, Increasing Reel Height
RELEASE DATE	20th May 2021
GAME PROVIDER	NetEnt
SLOT TYPE	Video Slot
THEME	Gems
REELS, ROWS, PAYLINES	6 Reels, up to 99,225 Megaways
BET LEVELS	0.10 – 50.00
MAXIMUM WIN	50,000x Your Stake
SCATTER SYMBOL	Yes – FREE SPINS
WILD SYMBOL	Yes – DIAMOND
BONUS GAME	No
FREE SPINS	Yes
RESPINS	No
MULTIPLIERS	No
JACKPOT	No
RETURN TO PLAYER	96.10%
VOLATILITY	Medium

Features

Let’s inspect all slot features more closely.

Dazzling Wild Reels Feature

• The Dazzling Wild Reels feature may be randomly activated during each spin in the Base Game and is guaranteed to be activated during each spin in Free Games.
• In the Dazzling Wild Reels feature, up to 3 reels from among reels 2-6 are chosen randomly at the start of the spin to be Dazzling Wild Reels.
• In the Base Game, only Wild symbols can appear on Dazzling Wild Reels during the initial spin and any non-Wild symbols can appear on these reels during the Avalanches.

Free Games Feature

• 4 FREE SPINS symbols appearing anywhere on the reels in the main game award 8 Free Games. Each additional FREE SPINS symbol activating the Free Games awards 4 additional Free Games.
• In the Free Games, there is at least one Dazzling Wild Reel each spin, and only Wild symbols can appear on Dazzling Wild Reels during the spins and the Avalanches.
• The number of Wild symbols landing on each Dazzling Wild Reel is equal to the Dazzling Wild Counter of that reel. Dazzling Wild Counters for each of the reels start at 2 and increase every time Wild symbols on the respective reel become a part of a winning combination.

Playability

NetEnt has opted to drop the Linked Reels feature that made Dazzle Me popular, so the core focus of the Dazzle Me Megaways slot is on the Wild Reels feature.

The concept of the math is interesting and has merit. The high feature hit rate allows the math to explode wins in the Free Games. The growing Wild Reels in the Free Games, together with multiple Wild Reels, makes for a massively volatile feature (although the Base Game brings the overall volatility down to medium). Triggering the feature is going to be difficult for many players out there who just won’t have the luck they need to spin the elusive trigger symbols.

It’s the placement of the Wild Reels that makes or breaks a play session. In the Base Game, where the game gives you a taste of what to expect, Wild Reels are relatively frequent. However, they tend to favour reels 5 and 6, effectively rendering them useless as they really need to be west of reel 4 to have any relevance.

In the Free Games, though, we have a twist. The Wild Reel height is increased each time a Wild Reel is involved in a win (including Avalanches), up to 7 symbols high. Of course, with any building element in the Free Games, you ideally need a hit in the first spin to get things rolling. The unfortunate shortcoming of this feature is that you’re dependent on the Wild Reel’s placement and, to benefit from the increasing height, the Wild Reel needs to be placed again on that reel and be involved in a win. Having said that, it can work well in your favour if there are multiple Avalanches on the same spin with the Wild Reels, as the Wild Reel height increases with each Avalanche.

As for the build… Dazzle Me Megaways is a longshot away from the tidiness and playability of the original. It lacks snappiness, it lacks fluidity and its sequences have unnecessary delays affecting its overall experience. After a spin, for example, the game pauses, then the screen dims, then a win rollup starts. You can only click through once the rollup commences, so you need to sit through the screen dimming sequence on every, single win. Similarly, when a Wild Reel is going to be added, the reels free spin for longer, then the animatic commences, the reel is highlighted and then the reels stop. Moreover, if there’s a win, you need to sit through the win sequence. This makes the game feel like it’s buggy.

Even during the Free Spins, the Wild Reel on every spin could be brought in a lot earlier. From the beginning of each spin, if there is one Wild Reel, it takes almost 10 seconds to stop the reels. If there are more Wild Reels, well, it takes much longer.

• WIN HIT: 1 in 4.23 spins (96.10% version)
• FEATURE HIT: 1 in 409 spins (96.10% version)

The Base Game can get a little tedious and repetitive. Although there is a large chunk of RTP in the Base Game (at 71.55%), which looks solid on paper, this figure is skewed up as the feature hit rate is so high (at 1 in 409 spins). The high feature hit rate naturally pushes up the RTP required to fund the base game, considering it take so many spins to trigger the feature.

RTP

• Base Game: 71.55%
• Free Games: 24.56%
• Total: 96.10%

Paytable Review

The symbols are, pretty much, identical to the original Dazzle Me so nothing overly new here. Sevens, Bells, Clovers and a bunch of Gems.

There are 85% or prizes at-or-below bet, which resembles a game of lower volatility.

The Glory Spin

The quoted 50,000x your bet max win is something that’s been missing from the industry for some time. It is a little infrequent though; NetEnt recorded the win once in a simulation run of 955 Billion games.

Audio

Audio is identical to the original Dazzle Me.

Delights and Surprises

• Good win potential in Free Games.

Shortcomings

• The rarity of hitting more than one Wild Reel,
• Favouring reels 5 and 6 for Wild Reels,
• The ridiculously high feature hit rate,
• The overall clunky gameplay,
• It’s lack of personality, and
• A feeling of cut corners and rushed release.

Conclusion

Dazzle Me Megaways was a fun game to test and it’s sure to catch player attention, at least for the initial recognition and attraction. If you’re familiar with the original, then you’ll like this. If you’re not familiar with Dazzle, well, check it out as well.

Aside from a few gameplay shortcomings, and that it’s a somewhat underwhelming attempt to ride the wake of a previous game, the game is definitely worth a spin. You’ll need to be lucky with the Wild Reels and Free Games feature but there are some rewarding outcomes tucked away in the Free Games. Hit a few Wild reels together in Free Games after you’ve built up the Wild Reel height and BOOM: Win City!

Dazzle Me Megaways gets 60 Spins out of 100 based on the following ratings:

PLAYABILITY	45
ORIGINALITY	25
BUILD QUALITY	60
MARRIAGE	85
IMMERSION	65
RUN FOR MONEY	65
INTEGRITY	75
TOTAL	60