The reel set up in Hercules High and Mighty is a little unusual - the base game action plays out on a 5 reel, 50 payline machine. Keep a special eye out for Hercules who is the game's wild though - when a 3-symbol high expanding wild lands in full view, it will activate the Mighty Reels feature.
The upper set of reels, which are usually locked, are opened, doubling the number of active paylines from 50 to 100. The wild will then expand vertically to fill the entire reel window and a new payout is then made.
The other main feature on offer in Hercules High and Mighty is the Free Spins feature - to trigger it, you'll need to land 3 or more of the coin scatter anywhere on the reels. Three coins give 8 free spins. Four award 12 with 20 on offer if you land 5 scatters.
Once again, the Mighty Reels feature will become active if you land a fully formed expanding wild symbol. You can re-trigger the free spins feature too by landing 3 or more scatters giving you a potential 40 free spins in total.
Hercules High and Mighty, like other Barcrest titles, also comes with a Big Bet feature which is a series of 5 linked spins that offer some tidy little extras for a price.
Opt for the £20 Big Bet and the Mighty Reels will be unlocked when any part of the Hercules wild lands on the screen. The £30 Big Bet also opens up the Mighty Reels when any part of Hercules hits - it also removes the lower value symbols from the reels.
Most expensive is the £50 Big Bet - once again, the Mighty Reels are available once any part of Hercules hits. In addition, they'll lock into place until you land a winner. The lower value symbols are also removed here.
The RTP increases the bigger the stakes you play. A £2 per spin or under its 94%. Over £2 and it increases to 96%. In Big Bet mode it rockets to 98%.
Visually, Hercules High and Mighty is typical Barcrest - joining the lower value playing card suit symbols are comic book style images of the multi-headed dog Cerberus, Hydra, a lion, winged-horse Pegasus, Hera and Zeus. They can land fully stacked to fill entire reels. 5 Zeus on a payline pays 250 coins.
The ancient Greek gods have proved a happy hunting ground for slots developers recently. The Age of the Gods series from Playtech has proved a big hit. This Barcrest offering is certainly a little different. It doesn't pack in quite the variety on offer in their Playtech equivalents but does offer plenty of action, especially when you land the expanding wilds and open up the full 100 paylines.
Throw in a decent free spins feature and Hercules High and Mighty becomes well worth a look if you enjoy the ancient theme. Variance wise it’s in the medium to high range and has quite a lot of similarities to WMS’ Zeus 1000 (well, it should be as it’s all part of Scientific Games).