After reviewing Boomerang’s second installment in the Lightning Chase series,Temple Frenzy Lightning Chase, we thought our criticism of the Boom+ ante bet option in their first release,Lady Merlin Lightning Chase, had made them drop the feature altogether. Instead, it’s back with a vengeance in Wild Esqueleto Lightning Chase, but it makes more sense this time.
First of all, the ante bet options do not affect the5,000x potentialthis time, but you need both Wild+ and Boom+ active to get an RTP well above 96 %. The Boom+ option gives you 3 random base game wild features, instead of just expanding wilds, and you also get 3 bonus round options. Audiovisually, the game is very similar to the originalWild Esqueleto, but this follow-up is far more complicated.
The premium symbols pay between 4.5 and 7.5 x your stake for 5 of a kind on a payline, and theEsqueleto Wildpays 10x your stake for the same. Of course, the Wild symbol also steps in for regular pay symbols to help complete wins, and you can choose to turn on/off the Boom+ and Wild+ options between base game spins.
Turning on theBoom+ ante betwill cost you25 % more per spin, and this activates theWild Feature Meteryou see on the left-hand side. Without the Boom+ switched on, you get the default expanding wild feature, which means that each wild that lands expands to cover the full reel. With the Boom+ ante bet turned on however, the meter cycles randomlybetween 2 additional wild features:
TheWild+ ante bet optionalso costs25 % more per spin, but you’ll pay100 % more per spin if you go with both the Boost+ and Wild+ together. Anyway, the Wild+ option adds extra wilds to the reel strips of reels 2, 3 and 4, and activating/deactivating these ante bet options has a significant impact on your RTP (from 93.19 to 96.86 %).
TheCoin symbolcan land with prizes between1x and 888x your stake, and landing a Collect symbol at the same time means that all present coin prizes are collected as a win. Landing6+ coin symbolswithout any Collect symbol present triggers theHold & Respin feature.
The triggering cash coins then become sticky on an otherwise cleared grid, and only Coins, Collect symbols and/or blanks will land. You start with 3 respins, and the tally resets each time you land at least one new sticky coin symbol. Thecash coin values range from 1x to 25x, with the rarely seen888x as the top-tier coin. TheCollect symbolimmediately collects all coin prizes during the feature.
You trigger theFree Spins Choice featurewhen3 scattersappear on the same spin, but you only get a choice if the Boom+ ante bet is switched on. If not, you get the default 13 FS bonus round with expanding wilds, and here’s the other2 options:
You can retrigger the bonus round withextra free spinsby landing3 scatters, and you get the same amount of extra spins as you got in the first place.
Finally, there is aSide Strike featureavailable in some jurisdictions, and this allows you to win extra prizes as you spin the reels. Choose either the red or green chip, depending on which one you think you’ll see most of, and place bets up to £/€125. You can then win prizes of5x, 2x or 1x your stake, depending on how many times your chosen chip appears in comparison to the other. The Side Strike feature comes with an RTP of97.96 %.
We played with both the Boom+ and Wild+ ante bet options switched on, so you get to see a lot of the 3 different wild features in the base game part of our 5:42-minute highlights video. We trigger the Hold & Respin feature at 2:25, and then finally the bonus round at 3:37. Check it all out for yourself by hitting the play button below.
We criticized the first Lightning Chase installment, Lady Merlin, for having a rather pointless Boom+ ante bet option, since there was hardly any game left without it. With Wild Esqueleto Lightning Chase, Boomerang Studios have decided to complicate things further with a second Wild+ ante bet option, but at least you get both the FS round and Hold & Respins round no matter what you choose. Of course, you get only the expanding wilds bonus round without Boom+ active.
Even with both ante bet options active you can still play with a bet size well below £/€1 per spin, and it’s a far more entertaining game that way. The ‘Day of the Dead’ theme is decently done with an upbeat vibe, but the visuals haven’t changed much since the original release. There are a bit too many features and options crammed into this release though, but at least the options you get make more sense this time. The no ante bet RTP of 93.19 % is far into deal-breaker territory, and the5,000x potentialis lower than in previous installments (but perhaps more realistic).
Pros
Cons
Lady Merlin Lightning Chase- is the first installment in Boomerang’s series, and it’s hardly much to speak of without the Boom+ feature on. With the ante bet however, you get a progressive wild multipliers bonus round and a solid 25,600x potential. There is also the hold & respin feature either way.
Temple Frenzy Lightning Chase- is the second release in the Boomerang range, and the top-tier cash symbol pays 888x your stake in the hold & respin feature. The bonus round gives you extra wilds, and you can win up to 17,760x your stake.
Wild Esqueleto- is Boomerang’s original ‘Dia De Los Muertos’ installment, and it comes with a 5×4 grid and 178 Connecta Ways system. It’s a far less complicated game overall, but you get a bonus round with extra wilds, as well as a £/€100,000 jackpot. The regular max win is only 16x your stake though.
