In today’s Sky Queen review, we will be exploring Mesoamerica which is the historical region and cultural area that begins in southern North America and encompasses the majority of Central America, for the non-geography buffs. Created by Playtech the Sky Queen slot machine has five reels and fifty paylines, and it can be played on Android and iOS devices for as little as 25p or as much as £500 per spin. It features a Fire Blaze Respin feature where the goal is to cover the reels with sun symbols to win fixed jackpots up to 2,000 times your stake, or cash prizes. Also, there is a Free Games feature that offers the chance to win up to 16 bonus spins. So, without further ado, keep on reading to learn our thoughts in this Sky Queen slot review.
Except scatter payouts which are paid for wherever they appear on the reels, wins in the five-reel, three-row video slot Sky Queen are paid when matching symbols appear on active paylines from left to right. Although there are 50 paylines in the game, bets are determined by assuming that 25 lines are active on each spin. The size of the coins varies from £0.01 to £20, with a £0.25 minimum and a £500 maximum bet. This is a very broad and customisable betting range which should have the preferences of most types of slot players covered. Except for scatter winnings, which are multiples of the entire bet, winners are multiples of the coin size.
The Sky Queen slot machine has a theoretical return to player of 96.56%, placing it squarely within the current market average of 96%. It is classed as a medium volatility game making it accessible to players of most skill levels.
In regards to the top payout on offer in this game, Sky Queen offers four fixed jackpots as part of the Fire Blaze slot machine series: Mini, Minor, Major, and Grand. The Grand Jackpot, which can be won by striking 15 Sun symbols during the Fire Blaze Respin Feature, is valued at 2000 times the total bet. The Fire Blaze Respin Feature also offers the chance to win the Minor (100x total bet), Major (500x total bet), and Mini (20x total bet) jackpots. We will learn about this feature more later on in this review.
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The Sky Queen's overall design is pleasing and of high graphical quality, but not particularly striking. The widely recognised Mesoamerican theme is there, with all thematic boxes ticked, including an alluring tribal female that is easy on the eye, and all of the symbols—particularly the Sky Queen wild symbol, which animates and grows when it appears in a winning combination—are skillfully designed and developed. Overall though with a muted purple-toned jungle backdrop and a plain gold border around the reels, the Sky Queen slot seems to lack some of the visual pizazz that other slot games have in swathes.
The Fire Blaze Respin Feature is played on a separate screen that displays the values of the four jackpot prizes at the top of the screen in addition to the values of each symbol. This does help to break up the plain nature of the base game screen but is not that much of an elaborate change.
Similarly, any attempts of immersion seem to have been abandoned as the Sky Queen game doesn’t have any soundtrack, just some of the sound effects you would expect to hear when playing a vintage fruit machine. While for some players this is preferable, as they can select their own tunes to spin the reels to, it is still nice to have the option of a soundtrack (that can be turned on and off) than to not have one at all.
A, K, Q, J, and 10 royals are among the symbols, along with jewellery serpents, bowls, and leopards. With five offering you 3x your stake, the leopard is the highest valued non-special symbol. The Sky Queen herself is the wild symbol and she only appears on reels 2, 3, 4, and 5. This symbol is able to substitute for all other symbols except the scatter and the sun in order to form winning combinations.
The full paytable for the Sky Queen slot game is as follows:
Jewelry
award players with up to 50 coins.
Feathered Serpent
award players with up to 50 coins.
Bowl
award players with up to 50 coins.
Sun
have values of 1x, 2x, 3x, 4x, 5x, 10x, 15x or 50x the total bet
The Temple
pay up to 50x a player's total wager
Sky Queen
the wild symbol and in the base game appears on reels 2-5, while during free spins it can appear on all reels. The Sky Queen can stand in for all other symbols aside from the temple and the sun symbol. Landing 5 wild symbols will award a payout of up to 75 coins.
Playtech's Sky Queen can be played on a PC, tablet, or smartphone. The game loads straight into your web browser and is optimised for mobile devices. Any platform will display the game beautifully, and you can play it on the go without worrying about losing any of the gameplay details. The lack of a soundtrack also comes as a positive for mobile players, because playing the game muted or on low volume will not affect the overall immersion of the game.
The Sky Queen slot machine features two distinct bonus features, free spins and the Fire Blaze respin bonus feature. Both elements are explored in more detail below:
Eight free spins are awarded automatically when three, four, or five scatter symbols land anywhere on the reels in order to trigger the Free Spins Bonus Round. This does not seem like a very generous amount of free games to win, but there are several factors about this bonus that players need to note. For example during the Free Spins Bonus Round, the Wild symbol appears on all reels. Landing three scatter symbols anywhere on the reels can award an additional eight free spins. If a player is able to land six Sun symbols or more then they can trigger the Fire Blaze Respin bonus round from the free spins bonus round.
The Fire Blaze Respin Feature, which awards three additional spins, is activated by landing six Sun symbols or more. Either a Star icon or a cash value will be shown on each sun symbol.
All Sun symbols become sticky after the feature is activated and stay in place for the three re-spins. The number of respins that are available is reset to three each time a new sun symbol is landed. All awards that are displayed on the Sun symbols at the end of the feature are totalled and awarded to the player.
It is possible to win the Mini, Minor, Major, and Grand jackpot prizes during the Fire Blaze Respin bonus round. When fifteen Sun symbols show up on the reels, the player wins the grand payout. Any held star icon has the potential to pay out the Mini, Minor, or Major jackpots. These are all fixed jackpot prizes ranging from 20-2000x
There are a lot of Mesoamerican-themed slot machines out there, so is the Sky Queen slot able to stand out from the crowd? If we are being honest, the answer is no. While the graphics are of high quality, they are not anything new, and they are not enhanced by any soundtrack. The RTP of 96.56% is very respectable, but nothing exceptional, and the game is also middle-of-the-road when it comes to volatility. The base game payout of 75 coins feels on the lower end, and while the top prize of 2,000x stake is impressive, players have to jump through a lot of hoops to achieve them.
The free spins bonus round does offer players a bit more than they may have bargained for, however. While the initial amount of free spins awarded is not great, the fact that wilds can appear on all reels, free spins can be retriggered and the Fire Blaze respin round can be activated from the free spins themselves, all make this bonus leave a positive impression. The Fire Blaze Respin bonus itself, while exciting, is something we have seen time and time again in Playtech slot games and does not particularly inspire.
Overall, the Sky Queen slot machine is not going to break any records or win any rewards for its gameplay, but, if you are looking for a straightforward Mesoamerican slot machine to play, or are not someone who cares too much about aesthetics, then you will still have an enjoyable experience spinning the reels of this game.
Rating: 6.0
The most frequently asked questions regarding the Sky Queen slot machine are as follows: