Great Blue Review - Editor’s Impressions
The Great Blue game is one of the most popular Playtech slots online despite being one of their oldest games. While you can see the age of the slot with its dated graphics and sounds, it remains a fun slot to spin the reels on, and its paytable can give you various rewards.
However, playing the game for a 150-spin cycle, we found that small wins land more frequently. Meanwhile, the occasional larger win land due to stacked Wilds or two Scatters on the reels. We found that two Scatters often landed on the reels but never enough to trigger the bonus feature during our test cycle.
We dive into the bright blue waters of this slot to discover its bonus features, characteristics, theme, and more in our Great Blue slot review.
Overview of Great Blue Game
The digital Great Blue slot machine is similar to classic slots and is a three-row, five-reel slot that Playtech created. With up to 25 adjustable paylines, players can choose how many are active, along with the bet per line, to adjust their stake.
The bet per line ranges from £0.01 to £2, and on the side of the slot, you can see the various paylines. Clicking on one of the paylines will activate that number of paylines, though you can also do it using the buttons at the bottom.As such, the betting range is technically between £0.01 and £50 if you set the paylines to one active line and 25 active lines. However, playing a slot without having all the paylines active is akin to wasting money. So, the actual betting range with 25 paylines falls between £0.25 and £50 per spin.
This slot has various ocean-themed icons, like the killer whale Wild and the giant clam Scatter, as special symbols. Meanwhile, the high-paying symbols are the sharks, sea turtles, seahorses, starfishes, and yellow fish. The low-paying symbols are the card symbols 9, 10, J, Q, K, and A.
Great Blue RTP, Payout and Volatility
Players will semi-frequently see Wild stacked on the reels, which can award big wins, as the Wild’s payouts start at 10x your bet, going up to 10,000x your bet if five are on a winning payline. The 10,000x for the five Wilds is the maximum payout in the game.
Further, the Scatter can also award up to 500x your bet if five or more land on a winning payline. Meanwhile, the game’s volatility is medium to high, giving you semi-balanced gameplay with slightly more frequent wins but still scattered large wins. The RTP for the game is 96.03%, which is just a tick higher than the industry average.
Great Blue Graphics and Gaming Experience
The graphics are slightly outdated but still offer a crystal-clear view of ocean creatures, with animated sharks, sea turtles, orcas and more on the reels. The game’s graphics are semi-realistic cartoon-style, with bright colours and an underwater background.
Meanwhile, the music doesn’t play unless you spin the reels and is closer to game effects than a musical soundtrack. This design is very reminiscent of land-based slot machines, which gives players a nostalgic feeling. The game’s theme also stirs memories of movies like Free Willy.
Great Blue Bonus Features
The base game doesn’t have many bonus features, though the Wild can be considered close to it. The Wild lands on all reels and doubles all wins as it substitutes for all symbols except the Scatter. It also tends to land stacked on the reels to fill one, delivering more possible wins.
However, while testing the Great Blue real money gameplay, it’s clear that the best feature of this slot is the Free Spins.
Great Blue Free Spins
Scatters can land on all reels, and three or more will activate the Sea Shells Bonus, aka, the Free Spins. Players will receive eight Free Spins with a 2x multiplier as the base reward. However, five clams will also appear on the screen, and players can pick two of the shells for additional spins and multipliers.
During this Pick Me bonus, you can get up to 33 bonus spins and multipliers up to 15x. Once you’ve picked your clams, a pop-up will show you what you’ve won, and you can press continue to activate the Free Spins.
Further, if another three or more Scatters land on the reels, it awards 15 additional Free Spins using the same multiplier as the triggering spin. There’s also no limit to how many times you can win additional Free Spins.
What Are the Pros and Cons of Playing Great Blue?
Before looking for a Great Blue online casino, consider the following pros and cons:
Pros:
- 10,000 max jackpot
- Free Spins can be won indefinitely
- Simple to play game
- Wild and Scatter symbols
Cons:
- Slightly outdated graphics and sound
- Only slightly above average RTP
Where to Play Great Blue Online
Players looking to test this slot can play the Great Blue slot demo on our page for free. Once you feel you’ve familiarised yourself with its gameplay, you can play it at BitStarz Casino or find our complete list of Playtech casinos that offer the game to UK players.
Summary of Great Blue - With Free Spins and Pick Features
The Great Blue real money game remains a popular option, partly due to its exceptional paytable rewards. With medium to high volatility, Free Spins, and fun symbols, this slot is a good option to try out if you love the deep blue sea and movies like Free Willy.
However, as with all slots, there are a few tips you should consider before playing. Instead of changing the active slot paylines, rather change the bet per line to adjust your bet and keep all 25 paylines active. Further, ensure your bankroll can comfortably support your stake, as you might play for a while with the semi-high volatility.
However, after thoroughly evaluating this slot, as we do with all our online slots reviews, we found it to be a worthwhile option. Try the Great Blue slot demo on our page to help understand the gameplay, and always play responsibly.
A slot from Playtech and has the ocean and the underwater theme that goes with it. You get the main character being the killer whale (acts as a wild symbol) and then there are the others such as the shark and the turtle, yellowfish, sea horse, and starfish. As well as those premium symbols you also have your standard 9 to A representing card symbols that are often found in many slots. Here is something to say about this slot in that it is a 25 liner with 5 reels which gives plenty of opportunities to get wins. The number of lines and bet per line can all be adjusted to your liking which is always a welcome sight to see on a slot as some of them tend to take that option away from the player when they force you to play at all lines. The wilds are stacked in this game and thus there is an opportunity to win big if you can get a few of the reels stacked especially during the free spins where you will have the multipliers coming into play. To trigger the free spins you will need to get 3 or more scattered seashells.
What can I say about playing this slot, having done over 1000 spins on it and having done spins on 0.75 stakes up to 12.50 per spin? Was able to get 6 features coming at an average of 177 spins per feature is not a bad average. How about those features, as I said to get 3 scatters or more to start picking, and first you start with 8 free spins and a 2x multiplier but this can be boosted by picking correctly where you will get to increase your multiplier or get additional spins. You can also retrigger the free spins. A gamble feature is also available for those like myself to try to double their win or more.
As for the features that I have had on this game 6 of them as I said an average of about 65xBet and the best one at 131xbet.
A catchy tune is also played during the free spins feature.
When you open two seashells and not get an increase in multiplier can be disappointing as you really want to get those multipliers up as you only start with 2x but two good picks can increase that to 15x. Some features can be low-paying as well.