Cowboys and Aliens manages to combine two themes that couldn’t be more different, using both the Wild West look and the aggressive alien invader together in the same design. It might not be a modern looking slot machine, but the chosen design works for it, as it takes a comic book like style and applies it here. Both the science fiction genre and the Wild West have their own set of fans, and they typically don’t overlap. I for one enjoy both, so I had fun testing Cowboys and Aliens. Keep reading to find out if it’s any good.
There are a total of 5 reels in Cowboys and Aliens, with a rather limited 9 paylines on them. There are also free spins, scatter symbols, bonus games and wilds in this slot machine that was created by Playtech, while its jackpot will reward you with up to $50,000.
Features of Cowboys and Aliens
The game isn’t interesting just through its theme alone. The features were well thought out, with wild symbols present, with two bonus games that involve aliens and their weapons, with scatter symbols and the free games with comic strip wilds that they trigger.
The wild symbol is your typical basic feature, which simply substitutes for other symbols, as long as they’re not bonus or scatters. It will also give players prizes that vary between 50x and 10,000x, the line bet being taken into account here. The prizes require the wild symbol to form its own combinations, with three to five wilds used in them.
We get the scatter symbol as well, the game logo representing it. This is another symbol that does what you expect from it, meaning that it can give you free spins and prizes that multiply the total bet, not the line bet. The prizes are average, going from 1x to 100x the bet, quite a few other slots doing better than that.
Free Games Feature
When you have 3 or more Logos appear anywhere in the game, the prize you get is accompanied by a round with 8 free games. During each spin, one rectangle area turns into a wild, with four symbols turning into such a symbol. During each spin, this rectangle shaped wild moves to a different section. The scatter and bonus symbols are not present in the free spins.
Alien Attack Bonus
With the Bonus symbol on the reels 1 and 5, during the same round, you get the Alien Attack feature, where you fight against the evil aliens. Three choices are in front of you when the feature starts, the character you pick each having a different weapon and a different number of shots to fire.
First, we get Zeke and the six shooter gun, a weapon with plenty of accuracy and a total of six shots offered with it. Next, we have Verity, with the whip and also six attempts at hitting the targets. The final option is the Indian Warrior, using the bow and shooting a total of 12 arrows.
Each alien that is killed will get you extra ammo and an x2 multiplier. Once you run out of ammo or when you kill all the incoming aliens, the bonus feature ends.
Alien Weapon Feature
The Ray Gun symbol is a bonus game trigger and it only has to appear once, on the 1st reel, to start this feature up for you. You get one to four shots with the gun, each symbol that is shot turning into a wild.
Betting options and jackpots
The betting system is a standard one for a game that has 9 paylines, reaching values of up to $45, while the starting point is at $0.09. You always bet one coin for each line, with a fixed number of 9 coins, but the denomination can change, the extremes being $0.01 and $5.
A 10,000 coins jackpot is the most you can take home from it, with its value being anywhere between $100 and $50,000.
Design and symbols
Cowboys and Aliens is an unusual theme, but it didn’t come to them directly. It was actually a movie with the same name, plus a comic book before that. The comic book is the one that the slot seems to draw inspiration from and it shows in the way the symbols are designed. Comic book style drawings are used everywhere, so the slot has a certain charm that you will enjoy.
Symbols: Spaceship (wild, 10,000 coins), Logo (scatter, 100x the bet), Ray Gun (bonus), Bonus (scatter), Sheriff (1,000 coins), Girl (750 coins), Alien (500 coins), Priest (250 coins), Indian Warrior (250 coins), Ace (125 coins), King (125 coins), Queen (75 coins), Jack (75 coins) and 10 (75 coins).
Is It Worth Playing?
The game is a good slot, especially since it does justice to the original comic book, and it’s not just based on the movie. The design gives you the real graphics, there are good prizes offered and the bets are not too high.
Cowboys & Aliens Comic Book
This slot was created based on a graphic novel that was released in 2006. It had a total of 105 pages and its creator was Scott Rosenberg, while writers were Andrew Foley and Fred Van Lente. The graphic artists are Luciano Lima and Dennis Calero. Though the concept of the graphic novel came to Rosenberg in 1997, it was almost a decade later that it was made. Previous attempts to make a movie out of it failed, though once the graphic novel was out the movie was eventually released as well.
The action in the graphic novel revolves around cowboys that were hired for caravan protection, only to be attacked by Indians and then be witnesses to an alien ship crashing on Earth. The aliens proceed to attack, trying to conquer the entire planet.
This Cowboys and Aliens slot is offered by all online casinos with Playtech software, playable either in practice or in real money mode.
