Star Clusters 2 – Overview
In 2020 Big Time Gaming released a pretty unique slot game called Star Clusters. Which for some reason I didn’t post about, even though it’s one of my more favorite Big Time Gaming slots.
Now, 5 years later, Big Time Gaming is releasing a follow-up, simply called Star Clusters 2.
This game uses the same symbols as the original. Different colored gems, but they do seem a little more shiny on this second installment.
The base game starts with a grid of 4 by 4 symbols. And as the name might suggests, it uses a cluster pays mechanism. 5 or more of the same symbols that are horizontally and/or vertically connected count as a winning combination.
Besides normal paying gem symbols, you will also find normal and golden wild symbols, which are stars. Scatter symbols also appear. But they can only appear after winning reactions.
Star Clusters 2 comes with a massive maximum payout of 34.500 times your bet and is a high volatile slot game.
Features
Wilds
The game features 2 different wild symbols. Normal wilds and special golden wilds. Both act the same, but golden wilds come with a random multiplier of between x2 and x100. If more than one multiplier wild is used in a winning cluster, the multipliers are added together.
Reactions
A winning cluster will be removed from the reels and each winning symbol is replaced by 4 new symbols. Reactions keep going until you have no more new winning combination.
Free Spins Feature
Scatter symbols can only appear after reactions, when the big symbols are split into 4 new symbols.
4 scatter symbols will award 10 free spins and any extra scatter will add 1 more free spin to that.
Free spins are played on a screen that is filled with 8×8 symbols, which will also split onto 4 new symbols when you get a winning combination. So the total symbols can become 16×16 on the screen.
During free spins there is a general multiplier active that starts at x1 and goes up by x1 after each winning reaction, with no limit.
That multiplier is only applied to wild symbols. If a normal or golden wild symbol lands, the general multiplier is added to the number. So for instance a normal wild and a x5 general multiplier will become a x5 multiplier on that wild symbol.
4 scatter symbols during free spins will award 4 extra free spins and any extra scatter symbol will add 1 more to that.
Buy Bonus
For 60 times your bet you can buy 10 free spins and for 160 times bet you can buy 18 free spins.
Verdict
I really loved the original Star Clusters slot. And this follow-up does feel very similar, but does have some distinguished differences.
First, the big one for me. On the original game you needed several winning reactions in a row to trigger free spins. And then you would receive only a small number of free spins, most of the time just 2, 3 or maybe 4. On this game you just need 4 scatters to get 10. I like this better. The multiple reactions mechanism is always a bit frustrating when you keep missing that last one.
Both games use the multiplier wilds, but here they are added together. On the original they multiplied each other. I like both just fine, because on this version the multipliers can go up a lot higher, so it turns out almost the same.
Overall Star Clusters 2 is well done sequel with enough differences. And I am not sure which one I like the best. But I do like them both, a lot!
How do you feel about these Star Cluster slots. I know they are a bit different than “normal” slot games. I would love to hear your comments below.
Play Star Clusters 2 now at any Big Time Gaming casino listed.
