X-Men is one of Playtech’s comic book slots and as always it was created with official license obtained from Marvel Comics. The X-Men universe is a hugely popular one, with multiple movies created based on it already, Hugh Jackman being typically the main character, playing the popular Wolverine. Though the game doesn’t use real photos of the actors, the characters do borrow heavily from the movies, so it seems mostly based on the series of films released between 2000 and 2009, which have brought over $3 billion total at the box office.
This comic book themed game has 5 reels and on them up to 25 active bet lines. There are some very cool features onboard, especially the free spins and their unlimited number potential, though the X-Feature and the wild symbol are also important. The $100,000 top jackpot is your big target here, with the Marvel progressive jackpots as the backups.
Features of X – Men
The game manages to be quite interesting, especially with its Heroes vs Villains mode in free spins, or with the X-Feature or the wild symbol.
The wild symbol remains a strong component of the game, especially since it triggers the top jackpot as well, but it doesn’t do much besides the usual job of substitution. From that role, the wild gets to help you from time to time, in forming new combinations. It doesn’t assist the scatter symbol, but it works in every other situation. When its own combinations are formed, using just wilds, it will give away prizes of its own and they tend to be quite impressive (the jackpot is at 10,000x).
X-Feature
This is a simple feature, yet one that can bring you some extra cash from time to time. All you need to get its 5x the bet prize is a mix of superhero symbols appearing in an X formation on the reels. The symbols needed for this have the blue background behind them.
Free Games Feature
Even more interesting, and perhaps the most entertaining part of the slot, is the round with free spins. It is triggered by the presence of 3+ scattered X-Men Logos in the game. At the same time, you also get a cash prize that multiplies the total bet by 1x to 200x, based on how many Logos were present.
Once free spins begin, you get the Heroes mode, where the free spins are unlimited, as the reels spin backwards. The Villain mode has only 8 free spins in it. The ones that get you to transition from one mode to the other are the two leaders of the mutants, Professor X and Magneto. Both symbols act as extra wilds for the duration of the free spins.
As you start in Heroes mode, you continue to spin the reels for free until Magneto contributes as a wild to the formation of a new combo. When that happens, the game switches to Villains mode and the countdown begins as the 8 free spins are used up. If Professor X contributes as a wild to a new combo while Villains mode is active, you are switched back to Heroes mode and its unlimited spins. This can keep happening until you run out of the original 8 free spins from Villains mode (they are not replenished when you switch from one mode to another).
Betting options and jackpots
To start with, we have the coins that are used. They vary between $0.01 and $1 in value and you can use up to 10 for each line. Since there are 25 lines, the top wager uses up to 250 coins, with a maximum value of $250.
A 10,000x jackpot is quite normal for Playtech, so the $100,000 maximum prize is not out of the ordinary either. What is less common is the collection of progressive jackpots that Marvel brings along, some of them being quite profitable if you get the random bonus game that triggers them.
Design and symbols
The game’s design is a good one, Playtech certainly did their job in this case, the symbols being a mix of heroes and villains, both mutants but on different sides. You can recognize which is which by the background color of the symbols, with blue for the good guys and red for the villains. The regular symbols are composed solely of characters from the movies, which you will recognize despite the symbols being mostly drawings inspired by the actors, and not real photos.
Symbols: Wild Logo (wild, 10,000x), X-Men Logo (scatter, 200x the bet of that round), Professor X (1,500x), Magneto (1,500x), Wolverine (400x), Lady Deathstrike (400x), Nightcrawler (250x), Mystique (250x), Storm (150x), Sabretooth (150x), Cyclops (100x) and Juggernaut (100x).
Is It Worth Playing?
A fan of the Marvel comics, and especially of this particular team of mutants, should just jump in, without giving it a second thought. The game is worth playing for sure, especially when you think of the free spins and the unlimited rounds it offers in Heroes mode. The $100,000 top jackpot is also worth pursuing.
X-Men, Marvel Comics
The X-Men are all superheroes, though their powers come from the fact that they are mutants, the next step in the evolution of humans. They first appeared in their own comic book, called X-Men, launched in 1963 by Marvel Comics. Designed by Stan Lee in collaboration with Jack Kirby, it gained a lot of fans and right now it’s one of their top comic books in terms of profitability. It started out as a comic book, but then movies were also created, animation series, TV shows, video games, books and even slot machines.
Since the slot seems to be inspired by the movies, we’re going to cover them a bit as well. Multiple movies were created in this universe, the first one being launched in 2000. The next movies were aired in 2003, 2006, 2009, 2011, 2013 and there are others that are also waiting to be filmed. So far, in 7 movies, the budgets reached a total of a bit over $1 billion, while the income at the box office is at over $3.05 billion.
The X – Men slot machine is offered through the Playtech platform, so if you want to play it for real or just to practice, look out for casinos that use it.
