Jack Hammer 3 – Overview
Back in 2010 NetEnt released a 50’s gangster themed game called Jack Hammer. Back then the game made quite an impact and was a popular title. Now almost 15 years later the game gets its second installment with Jack Hammer 3 – Diamond Affair.
Most of the theme remains the same. The same cartoonish style gangster theme with Jack Hammer being the detective. Seems like it’s all set in New York. It’s a fun look and very recognizable.
The game uses 5 reels that are each 6 symbols high and uses scatter pays. 8 or more of the same symbols, no matter where on the reels, will count as a winning combination.
Low paying symbols are objects like guns and diamonds. High paying symbols are the characters. There are also wild symbols and free spins symbols on the reels. And lastly Jack Hammer, which is a special symbol that will upgrade symbols.
Jack Hammer 3 comes with a low maximum payout of 1.332 times your bet, but is also a medium volatile slot game.
Features
Sticky Win
The Sticky Win feature is active during both the base game and free spins.
It will trigger when landing a winning combination, or at least 3 free spins symbols. You will receive free respins where all winning symbols and free spins symbols will stay on the reels. If your win improves during the respin, you will get another respin. Until the win is no longer improved, or the screen is filled.
Jack Hammer Feature
When a Jack Hammer symbol appears during Sticky Wins, it will upgrade the winning symbols into a higher paying symbol.
Each Jack Hammer symbol will also add a multiplier to the winning symbols, which can increase each time a new Jack Hammer symbol lands.
Multipliers are reset back to zero after Sticky Win is over during the base game.
Free Spins Feature
5 or more Free Spins symbols will award between 10 and 20 free spins, depending on the number of symbols.
During free spins the multipliers on the symbols, collected because of Jack Hammer symbols, are not reset between spin. Also the Jack Hammer symbol seems to appear much more often.
More free spins can be won during this feature.
Bonus Buy
You are able to buy the free spins feature for 75 times your bet.
Verdict
I have to be honest. The game looks very nice, but not that different from earlier titles. And it seems to be the same for the features.
I know there are some differences, like the symbol upgrade and the multipliers. But somehow it almost feels like I’m playing the original game. And this is probably because of the low payouts.
These days slots should really give a punch, payout wise. You should be able to win a couple of thousand times your bet. And because this game only goes up to a maximum of around 1.000 times bet, symbols pay very low. Almost full screens only give you like maybe 20, 30 times bet. With a multiplier this might go up to 100 times. But still, it’s low. And makes for a bit of a lackluster game.
Too bad that they didn’t make this third installment a high volatile game with huge win potential. I think when they would have chosen to do that, the game could have been a huge hit. Because the features themselves are pretty fun.
Like always, judge for yourself. Play the demo below or start playing for real at any top NetEnt casino.
