It's been a few months since we've visiting the water-front with Pragmatic Play partner Reel Kingdom, which means it's about time for another Big Bass release. With 8 fishing themed releases under their belt already, this team has shown absolutely no intentions of slowing down – forging ahead in their quest to prove that there's no such thing as too many fishing games.
Today though, we leave behind the quiet riverbed of Big Bass – Hold & Spinner to take on a new challenge, fishing in one of the longest rivers worldwide – the Amazon River. Considering the Amazon River has a length of nearly 4,000 miles, there's plenty of opportunities to catch more fish than we've seen before, in Big Bass Amazon Xtreme.
With RTP options up to 96.07%, this highly (5/5) volatile release can produce wins up to 10,000x bet.
We're deep in the rainforest today, surrounded by dense trees and low hanging branches of quite a tropical variety – including palm trees. Very little can be seen beyond the thick mass of trees, although we do get to see inside a sacred temple later on our journey.
Apart from this, as usual most of the action takes place under the deep teal water, with various plants and rocks scattered along the bottom. Finally, our favourite angler sits in a wooden canoe on top of the water, with a large black net – perfect for catching numerous fish at once. It's all finished off with an upbeat soundtrack, helping to make the whole picture one of the nicest so far in this series.
Big Bass Amazon Xtreme Base Features
Taking place across 5 reels, wins are formed on Big Bass Amazon Xtreme by matching at least 2 or 3 symbols on adjacent reels, beginning with the leftmost reel, across 1 of 10 fixed win lines. Symbols available begin with non premiums, with 10s, Js, Qs, Ks, and As, awarding wins of 0.20x bet for 3 of a kind matches, increasing to values between 5 and 10x bet for 5 of a kind wins.
At the premium end things have been changed slightly from what we're used to, with backpacks, fishing rods, and toucans. Land 3 of a kind of any premium to see wins between 2 and 3x bet, increasing to values between 50 and 100x bet for 5 of a kind matches.
Finally, fishing bobbers are the highest paying symbols and the only to pay for 2 of a kind, awarding wins between 0.50 and 200x bet for matches between 3 and 5 of a kind.
Ante Bet
There are a few different things to cover in Big Bass Amazon Xtreme, beginning with the Ante Bet. By betting an additional 50%, there are more Scatters added to the reels, thereby increasing the chance of triggering Free Spins.
When Ante Bet is activated, the option to Buy Free Spins is disabled, and RTP dips ever so slightly from 96.07% to 96.06%.
Fish Money Symbols
Fish Money symbols make a return in Big Bass Amazon Xtreme. At the start of every spin, Money symbols take on a random value from a predefined list – 0.2x, 0.5x, 1x, 2x, 3x, 4x, 5x, 10x, 15x, 20x, 25x, 50x, 200x, 250x, 333x, 500x, or 1,000x bet.
These values can be won during Free Spins, but they can also be randomly collected during the base game.
At the end of a spin, it is possible that the fisherman above the reels will cast his net and collect all Money symbol values in view.
Additionally, he will open a chest to reveal a multiplier, which can be x1, x2, x3, x4, x5, x10, x20, x30, x40, or x50. This multiplier will be applied to the total value collected from Money symbols.
Respin Feature
Next up is the Respin feature. If 2 Scatters land in view and have the ability to each move down at least one reel position whilst still being on the screen, it is possible that a respin will be triggered randomly.
When this happens, the reels containing Scatters will move down one position, and all other reels will respin.
If it is possible for both Scatters to move down another position whilst staying on the reels, they will do so and all other reels will respin again.
Finally, it is also possible that if 2 Scatters land in view a crocodile will appear and change one other symbol on the reels into a Scatter, triggering Free Spins.
Big Bass Amazon Xtreme Bonus
Land 3, 4, or 5 Scatters to trigger 10 Free Spins. Before Free Spins begin, players will be taken inside a temple, where they will have 14 pots of various sizes to choose from.
Behind these pots are hidden modifiers, which will be applied to the Free Spins round. Players can continue picking pots until they reveal a boot symbol, which indicates that no more choices can be made, and Free Spins will now begin with any revealed modifiers.
The following modifiers are possible.
- More Free Spins – reveal +1, 2, or 3 additional spins, up to a maximum total of 6 spins.
- Guaranteed Fish – reveal +1 guaranteed Money symbol on the reels per spin, up to a maximum of 3.
- Already Collected Fisherman Wilds – reveal +1 Fisherman symbols to start the round with it collected, up to a maximum of 3.
- Remove Lowest Fish – remove the 2x bet from possible Money symbol values, then the 5x bet value if this is chosen a second time.
If Free Spins were triggered with 4 or 5 Scatters, 1 or 2 boots will already be revealed before pots are chosen.
During free spins, the Fisherman Wild symbol can land on the reels, substituting for all symbols except Scatters and Money symbols.
On any spin in which this symbol lands, the values attached to any Money symbols in view will be collected and awarded. Wild symbols are also collected and added to the meter above the reels.
- Collect 4 Wild Symbols: +10 free spins x2
- Collect 8 Wild Symbols: +10 free spins x3
- Collect 12 Wild Symbols: +10 free spins x10
- Collect 16 Wild Symbols: +10 free spins x20
- Collect 20 Wild Symbols: +10 free spins x30
- Collect 24 Wild Symbols: +10 free spins x40
- Collect 28 Wild Symbols: +10 free spins x50
In a new twist, any additional spins awarded are played immediately, rather than waiting for the current batch of spins to have ended.
The multiplier applies to any Money symbol values collected, and is not a general win multiplier. After reaching +10 free spins with a x50 multiplier, the feature cannot be retriggered.
If there are one or more Fisherman Wild symbols in view but no Money symbols, Money symbols can be added in random positions by a dynamite banana, or the Waterfall Feature may be triggered, adding Money symbols to the reels – potentially in all available positions.
If there are one or more Money symbols in view but no Fisherman Wild symbols, a hook may appear to drag at least one Fisherman Wild symbol onto the reels.
Also, this hook may appear to drag both Money symbols and Fisherman Wild symbols onto the reels.
Buy Free Spins
Players in appropriate regions can take advantage of the option to Buy Free Spins, wherein for a cost of 100x bet Free Spins will be triggered with 3, 4, or 5 Scatters.
RTP remains the same when using Buy Free Spins.
The maximum win available in Big Bass Amazon Xtreme is 10,000x bet. If the sum of a single game round exceeds this, the game round will end and 10,000x bet will be awarded.
First Impression
There isn't going to be a great deal to say on Big Bass Amazon Xtreme, since this is now the 10th release in the series. As expected, there's not much that is overtly unique here, but that doesn't mean that what we have doesn't work – or at least feel new in this series.
In the base game, we have random collection occurring alongside win multipliers up to x50, which helps to carry the bulk of the weight alongside Ante Bet and Scatter respins.
It's Free Spins where things get a bit more exciting, with the ability to choose pots to reveal modifiers, and a helping hand in revealing boots when triggering with additional Scatters. Once the spins themselves begin, players will see that they now have multipliers up to x50 on offer, although Money symbol values have taken a hit – coming in at 0.20x bet at the lowest end.
Still, a few other tweaks have been made, including the fact that newly awarded spins with increased multipliers begin immediately in this release, rather than finishing the old batch first. When the right combinations occur, wins are possible up to 10,000x bet – about as high as we can expect one of these releases to go. Add that together with an average of 1 in 148.43 spins for a bonus, and a lot of players will see the appeal.
Finally, maths is highly (5/5) volatile and RTP options are available up to 96.07%, so as always it's worth checking that.
It's quite simple really – if you're a die hard fan of the Big Bass series, Big Bass Amazon Xtreme offers another opportunity to get your feet wet. If you haven't been convinced thus far, maybe x50 multipliers will be the thing to tempt you.
*The screenshots taken of games reviewed on this site are taken from Demo Play, as reviews are often written before games are released for real play.
