Introduction
It's appropriate that the release of Play 'n GO's Annihilator pokie coincides with the 30th anniversary of the band's second album, Never Neverland, which is considered by fans to be among the best of their extensive back catalogue. This pokie features an eight-song playlist to choose from and is packed with iconic images ranging from founding member Jeff Waters' guitar to details from their album cover designs. The three bonus features are even named after songs or albums - Set the World on Fire, In Command and Fun Palace. If you're not familiar with Annihilator and their music, don't worry. Even for the uninitiated, there's plenty about this game to like.
How to Play
When you launch the game, you'll be presented with an animated overview of its three features. Press continue to get to the reels.
1. Before you start, check the menu button to the far left at the bottom of the reels. Here you can customise sound, voices, bet adjustments and the speed of the reels when you play. You can also toggle sound and reel speed with the sound and lightning icons to the right of the menu button.
2. If you need to check details of the game's features and pay tables, touch the orange information button. Wins on the pay table are displayed as multiples of your selected bet.
3. Adjust your bet in the bottom centre of your screen. The bets range from 0.10 to 100.00, so use the arrows either side to find and select the amount you want to wager per spin.
4. To the far right is the Auto Play feature. This allows you to set your preferences, such as number of automatic spins, adjust your loss and win limits, and set other events as cues that will stop the auto spins.
5. Finally, choose your soundtrack. Touch or click on the Playlist button underneath the reels and it will expand with a playlist of eight of Annihilator's hits. You can pause, shuffle or play them in order.
Annihilator Bonus Features
In Command
In Command is a bonus that is triggered on a completely random basis. The feature grants free spins with a Wild guaranteed on each spin. The Wilds then expand themselves to fill the entire reel, and if there's no win, you'll keep getting re-spins until you do.
Fun Palace
Triggered by three doll symbols, Fun Palace is all about picking dolls to reveal prizes. Prizes on offer range from 1x to 50x your bet. Prizes less than 10x will let you have another pick. A prize of 10x or more will signal the end of the bonus feature. However, if you're lucky enough to pick a doll that reveals the Demon Scatter Symbol, then the Set the World on Fire bonus starts.
Set the World on Fire
There are two ways to trigger Set the World on Fire - either from three Demon Scatter symbols on the reels or via the Fun Palace bonus feature. The mansion in the background is then engulfed in flames, and you're granted eight free spins. The expanded Wild shifts from one reel to another before each spin, leaving a fire trail across the reels that can be either one or three symbols high. Any Scatter symbol that appears during the feature will add an extra two spins, up to a maximum of 50 free spins. Any Wild landing within the fire trail will turn the whole fire trail Wild. The maximum win on this feature is 5000x your bet.
Annihilator Graphics and Soundtrack
You don't have to be an Annihilator fan to marvel at the visual design of this pokie, but if you are you'll appreciate the attention to detail that has been put into its look and feel. From the obvious, like the animated Wild symbol featuring Jeff Waters to the subtle, like the chains from the album cover Metal incorporated into his iconic Guitar symbol, everything to do with the band and its music has been cleverly stitched together to create an eerie atmosphere. From the moment the game loads, when you get a glimpse of the Fun Palace graffiti on the walls of the background mansion just before the reels appear, you'll be immersed. When you achieve a big win, you'll be treated to a guitar solo from Mr. Waters himself as the winnings are counted in.
Pokies based on rock bands always feature their music - NetEnt's Ozzy Osbourne pokie is a good example. On Annihilator, you can choose from a selection of their hits to play as you spin the reels, with the option to have the tracks play through or shuffle. But it's worth pausing the music just to listen to the metallic sound effects and lightning bolts as the reels spin to hear how much has gone into the audio on this game.
Annihilator Paytable Wins
All paytable wins are left to right, and highest win per line is payable only. Symbols will yield on three, four or five of a kind. Payouts are expressed in multiples of your bet.
Alice = 30x, 6x, 1.5x
Guitar = 25x, 5x, 1.2x
Broken picture = 20x, 4x, 1x
A = 5x, 1x, 0.5x
K = 4x, 0.8x, 0.4x
Q = 3x, 0.6x, 0.3x
J = 2x, 0.4x, 0.2x
10 = 2x, 0.4x, 0.2x