Playtech has created a terrific looking game here. Joining the lower value A to J playing cards are 4 brightly coloured, gem-encrusted rocks. The most lucrative of these is the red stone which will get you 20 times stake if you land 5 of them on adjacent reels. Helping to create those wins is a wild that replaces everything bar the scatter.
Gem Burst is played using a Win Cascades and Multipliers feature - after a successful spin, the winning symbols are blasted away and new ones drop in and replace them. These cascades continue as long as a new winner is created. Each successive cascade win also increases a multiplier. Land 4 or more cascades in a row and the payout gets a 5x boost.
The likeliest way to mine a big payout comes via the Blasting Free Games feature - land 3 or more dynamite scatters and you’ll win between 6 and 30 free spins. Before the free spins begin, place your dynamite bombs underneath the reels.
You can put 1 or multiple bombs beneath each reel - whenever the newly added crystal symbol lands on a row with dynamite underneath, it explodes to reveal a mystery prize. If there’s more than 1 bomb on that reel, the mystery prize gets a multiplier of 2x or 3x depending on the number of bombs.
Where you place your bombs varies the volatility in this feature. Bombs on reels 1, 2 and 3 are lower variance with bombs on reels 4 and 5 the highest variance options. The cascading reels are in play during the free spins, complete with the standard multipliers up to 5x.
Gem Burst is a simple game but one that comes together very nicely. The sound and visuals are very high end and there’s plenty of action on offer from the cascading reels. The best winning opportunities are presented in the free spins round though.
Get on a roll there and the combination of cascading reels, multipliers and mystery prizes can deliver some potentially explosive results. If you like cascading multipliers, Legend of the Jaguar from Playtech is highly recommended.