Starscape is a 25-payline video slot which operates on the Microgaming software platform. This colourful sci-fi slot’s multiplier wild is the Starscape Logo and the scatter is the Spacecraft symbol. Players can test the game on this page for free or they can play the slot for real money in any of the featured Microgaming casinos.
In order to explore the final frontier, players should settle on their preferred bet first. “Select Coins” is used to choose the number of coins to bet, while “Select Lines” modifies the number of active paylines. Pushing +/- determines the coin value, ranging from 0.01 to 1. “Spin” starts the game and “Max Bet” spins the reels at the highest available bet. To automatically spin for a preset number of times, players should choose “Expert” and then “Auto Play”.
When 3 or more Spacecrafts emerge on the reels, the Match Bonus game is activated. Players can win up to 37,500 coins in this game. There are 25 blocks on display and behind 24 blocks there are 6 different types of symbols hidden. Players need to pick blocks until they find 4 of the same symbol. Behind 1 block there is a x3 multiplier value. If players find the multiplier, when they match the 4 icons the bonus win will be tripled.
A 1,000-coin jackpot will be awarded when 5 Burning Star symbols occur on an enabled payline.
Game Play
Select Coins: Select the number of coins to bet.
Select Lines: Alter the number of enabled paylines.
+/-: Regulate the coin size.
Spin: Initiate the spinning of the reels.
Max Bet: Turn the reels at the highest available bet.
Auto Play: Spin the reels multiple times in a row without interruption.
Starscape is actually a misleading game title, because it doesn't show any stars at all, and has nothing to do with stars either. What is symbolised are our own solar system planets, with only the sun as a star symbol. Hmm, Solarscape would suit in better. I'm not really surprised though, because there are other Microgaming games that have misleading game titles too, which I've already talked about in my other reviews. These designer guys should pay more particular attention to such 'minor' details, which doesn't matter at all to most players, but only to a very few people, like me. Hehehe.
The logo 'Starscape' is the Wild symbol, paying a nice 7000x the line bet for 5 of them. It doubles all wins with it, substitutes for other symbols except the Satellite Scatter symbol, but doesn't become stacked or expanded. Well, at least it's not a dumb WIld symbol. The Satellite is the Scatter symbol, paying the usual 100x total bet for 5 of them, and getting 3 or more of these Satellites trigger the Starscape Bonus game. Nope, it is not a Free Spins game. It doesn't exists here, but the bonus game isn't that all bad. Match 4 same symbols to win up to 37,500 coins, or 150x the total bet amount. There's one hidden 3x multiplier in those items which would help to achieve the maximum possible win. All the other symbols in the game pay from 1000x to 20x the line bet for 5 of each kind. Hmm, not that good, so I'll put the paytable down as average to low.
Starscape is a simple basic game, with 25 paylines, and only a Bonus game to provide the winnings. However, in the absence of any Free Spins game, the Bonus games do come quite often, and quite closely together too at times, which makes the game more enjoyable and playable. I've played it many times over the years, on and off but not regularly, simply because those good big wins have always eluded me. Nonetheless, I did manage to get the maximum win twice in the Bonus game, getting the highest paying symbol with that 3x multiplier, paying out 153x my bet amount, a little more than the stated maximum amount because it included payment for getting 3 Scatter symbols. That was good. On bad days, the payouts could range from as low as 5x to under 20x, but on most days, these could be up to a decent 60x the total bet amount.
Starscape is a fairly good game to play. It could have been much better it Free Spins games are included in, and with slightly better values for all the normal symbols too. The highest paying Sun symbol, with its 1000x line bet value, is just not high enough to give Starscape a good boost up the rating ladder.