The design in The Wild Life is simple but rather nicely done - set against the backdrop of the sunlit African plains, the reels include A, K, Q and J symbols designed in animal print style. They're joined by cartoon zebras, giraffes, rhinos, elephants and lions. Land 3, 4 or 5 of the latter on a single payline for a payout of 50, 500 or 2,500 coins. It’s important to note it comes with win both ways wins meaning you can win when you get 3 or more of a symbol across 3 paylines starting from the leftmost or rightmost reel.
The roaring lion is the game's wild - it can land on the middle 3 reels only and substitutes for everything apart from the scatter (the map of Africa). When the wild hits, it will expand to fill the whole of that reel. You can be very lucky and benefit from 3 fully wild reels!
3, 4 or 5 Africa scatters anywhere on the reels triggers the game's Free Spins Bonus feature - here you'll be awarded 10, 15 or 20 free spins. The expanding wilds are once again in play on reels 2, 3 and 4 during the feature. Better still is the fact that they will be locked in place for the remainder of the feature whenever they hit. Every time a scatter lands during the feature, another 2 free spins will be added to your tally.
Neither the design nor the features on offer in The Wild Life are particularly wild - everything is very neat and tidy though. The simple visuals are nice and clear and very well drawn and the bouncing African-style backing track is an ideal accompaniment. The stacked wilds help things along nicely in the base game too.
The potentially wild action comes via the Free Spins Bonus feature - if you manage to land multiple frozen stacked wilds early during the feature, the coins can quickly rack up. The Wild Life combines crisp design with simple gameplay to good effect.
It's not the most beautiful or innovative slot game you'll see but for some bouncing, safari-style entertainment, it does the job just fine. It’s highly volatile so bear that in mind. I also recommend you try Icy Wilds (also by IGT) which also features wild reels and is high variance.