Safari Sammakes a somewhat surprising comeback, almost 10 years after the original Betsoft release. Known for their many 3D cinematographic video slots, the Malta-based developer has converted this follow-up release into a colorful, cartoonish african adventure. The 96.3 % RTP has been lowered in the process for whatever reason, but it’s still above average.
The most innovative thing with the original game was how you could win by landing stacks of vertically matching symbols. This feature has been carried over, and it comes with a collapsing reels mechanic also here. Call of the Wild triggers randomly to sprinkle the grid with wild reels, and you’ll see nothing but that during the bonus round. It might be a welcome reuninon for casual punters, but hardcore gamblers will hardly get a thrill out of this one.
Central to the game is theCompass Wild, and it steps in for all regular pay symbols to help you form winning combinations. The wild pays the same as the highest value Sam symbol, awarding 10x your stake for 5 on a payline. ACall of the Wild featurecan trigger at random times, and this means that 1 to 4 reels will be covered completely with compass wilds.
Whenever you land a reel with 3 matching symbols stacked on top of each other, you win a 3-of-a-kind payout. The matching symbols collapse (meaning they are removed), and new symbols drop down to fill the gaps. This is like a miniCascading Wins feature for individual reels, and the process goes on as long as you keep landing new 3OAK vertical wins.
You trigger the Bonus Round when you land at least3 of the Acacia Tree scatteranywhere in sight. You will first be awarded a smaller scatter win, and3, 4 or 5 scattersgives you7, 12 or 20 free spins, respectively.
You will trigger the Call of the Wild feature on every single free spin, meaning that up to 4 reels can turn wild on each spin. In addition, all new symbols that replace vertical Safari Stack wins are guaranteed to be wilds in the bonus round. It’s safe to say that stacks of wilds abound, and you can win up to 500x your stake per spin.
The base game features gave us a bunch of smaller wins here and there, but nothing of significance happened before we landed 3 scatters. There is some annoying bonus round loading time in this game, and you can skip to 1:58 if you just want to see the free spins play out. Hit the play button to start the 3-minute highlights video.
While the original Safari Sam came with semi-realistic 3D visuals, BetSoft has gone for a more cartoonish visual style in this follow-up title. The somewhat innovative Safari Stack collapsing reels win mechanic has been carried over, but it’s hardly a headliner feature. It can, on rare occasions in the bonus round, give you the crucial 5th wild reel you need to crack the single spin max win of500xyour stake.
Overall, Safari Sam 2 is a decent enough reunion, but the RTP has been lowered from the very solid97.5 %, to a more ordinary 96.3 %. The volatility is still medium, and the game obviously caters mostly to casual players. The Call of The Wild feature makes the bonus round unpredictable and fun, and it can hand out some okay payouts in the base game too.
Pros
Cons
Safari Sam- seems like an obvious choice if you like the game at hand, even though it was released all the way back in 2012. The RTP of 97.5 % makes it stick out, and you will benefit from random 10x wilds. The bonus round comes with an animal multiplier wild of your choice, and you can win up to 2,500x your stake.
Primal Hunt- is a more gritty animal title from BetSoft, spun around the legendary sabre-tooth tiger. You will benefit from stacks of wilds, and the bonus round comes with stacks of 2x and 3x multiplier wilds. This volatility has a bit more teeth here, but you can also win up to 4,420x your stake.
Wild Five- is a Safari-themed title from Skywind Group, and it comes with a high value diamond wild. The game revolves around the bonus round, where you upgrade animal symbols chronologically for ever-higher payouts up to 1,970x your stake.
