Thunder Screech

Travel to the vast Western plains for an encounter with the mighty thunderbird on the slot from Play’n GO. Thunder Screech is taking you on an exhilarating journey across five reels with wild substitutions, sticky Thunder Wilds with multipliers, two random modifiers and respins as well as a free spins round that can lead to wins of up to 5,000 times your bet.

Slot Details

Thunder Screech is a video slot with five reels, three rows and 10 fixed pay lines. Wins are awarded for three to five matching symbols on a line from left to right. Available on desktop, tablet or mobile, you can bet from 0.10 to 100 credits per spin. The game has medium volatility (6/10) with a default RTP of 96.20%. However, some operators will offer it with its secondary settings of 94.20% or even just 91.20%, always check the help files before starting to play.

A serene nature scene in the American West is opening up when you load the game with autumn-coloured trees announcing the arrival of the cold season. Tribal totem poles flank the wood-encased reel set which is populated by wild animals found in the region. Not missing either is the mystical dreamcatcher for some spiritual assistance in your reel adventure.

The pay symbols start at the low end with card royals from 10 through to A, assembled from rough wooden planks and awarding 2x to 3x your bet for a single five of a kind. They are followed by beavers, otters, skunks, foxes and ravens. Hit five on a line to win 10x to 75x your stake. The thunderbird totem is the wild, appearing on reels two to four only and performing the usual substitution duties while a dreamcatcher acts as the scatter.

Thunder Screech Slot Features

Initially, Play’n GO named the slot Thunderbird Strike which probably raised objections from the rightsholders for the name Thunderbirds. The title was changed just weeks before release although the rest of the game and the included features have remained unchanged. There is quite a lot happening due to the random features and the chance to extend the free spins round ad infinitum. Let’s take a look at how that works out on the reels.

The most common modifier in the base game is the Call feature. It can trigger at the start of any spin and add 5 to 9 random wilds to the three centre reels. The win evaluation is done once the reels come to a stop.

Next is the Strike feature which too can trigger randomly on any base game spin. All wilds on the reel strips are upgraded to Thunder Wilds. Any landing on the spin will then turn sticky and award respins. Their multiplier starts at x1 and increases by x1 after each respin. They will disappear once the multiplier reaches x3. More Thunder Wilds can land during the respins, further extending the feature. More than one in a winning combo will be added, providing the potential for a maximum multiplier of x9. The feature will end once no more Thunder Wilds are in view.

Hitting dreamcatcher scatters on reels one, three and five will trigger 5 Free Spins which cannot be retriggered. The thunderbird will permanently upgrade the wild symbol to sticky Thunder Wilds for the duration of the feature. On every free spin, one Thunder Wild is guaranteed to land on the reels, triggering the Strike respins with increasing multipliers. More can land naturally, further extending the feature. The round ends when you run out of spins and the last Thunder Wild has disappeared from the reels.

Final Verdict

To be honest, Thunder Screech comes across as a run-of-the-mill production slot. While it has the high standard we are accustomed to from Play’n GO, the gameplay feels generic if not downright boring after a while, very much like the slot has come off a production line for stock fillers. Scoring any sizable win needs at least two multiplier wilds in a combo in addition to a premium symbol. The free spins are the best part of the gameplay with at least one Thunder Wild landing on every spin. Middle of the road is probably the best fitting verdict.

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