Nitropolis 3: Slot Overview

If you've been following ELK Studios' riotous Nitropolis series, you'll be well acquainted with the dystopic urban environment they are set in. This is a post-nuclear world where four animal clans run around trying to get their paws on Nitro to fuel their cars. For some reason, perhaps Sergeant Nitro Wolf has driven them out of town; the clans have escaped the city and find themselves on a tropical beach. This new setting in Nitropolis 3 comes with a stack of interweaving features, a growing set of reels, and ELK's biggest potential to date.

When you think of a post-apocalyptic existence, lazing at the seaside isn't an activity that instantly springs to mind. Then again, once the dust has settled and everyone's attempting to get back to some semblance of normality, a day trip out of town is part of the healing process. In ELK's vision, this is a sandy beach full of palm trees, deck chairs, beach huts, and barrels of toxic waste. Leaping in and out of the sand is an inquisitive crab, while the urban nightmare of the city can be made out behind the game grid at various moments. To be honest, the visuals aren't as singularly impactful as those in previous Nitropolis games, nor does the soundtrack soar quite so high. Consuming N3 was a bit like ordering a favourite burger and finding out they forgot the cheese. It might not be so instantly satisfying, but once the greasy, saltiness explodes on your tastebuds, all is forgiven.

Stepping away from fast food for a moment, the biggest explosions in any Nitropolis slot have centred around gameplay, and here Nitropolis 3 does not disappoint. Like the previous two, this is highly volatile stuff, which can burst at any moment, though RTP is the same at 95%. FYI, RTP remains the same whether you play in regular mode, staking 20 p/c to $/€50 per spin or when X-iter mode is active, where each of the five options has its own price tag.

The game grid starts off as a panel made up of 6-reels and 4-rows, providing 4,096 ways to win. Hitting 3 to 6 matching symbols in adjacent reels creates a winning way - usually paying from the left-hand side but occasionally paying both ways. Three types of regular pay symbols include J-A lows, four clan logos as mid-pays, and four animal character symbols as the highs. Landing a six symbol combo pays out 0.3x for the lows, 0.8-1x for the mids, and 2-5x for the highs. Wilds and pay symbols exist in four sizes – normal 1x1, Super 2x2, Mega 3x3, and Mega 4x4. Bigger symbols count as the number of 1x1's making them up.

Nitropolis 3: Slot Features

Things are probably sounding pretty standard at the moment, but Nitropolis 3 is jam-packed with special symbols and features that are geared for growth. First up is the Avalanche feature, which removes winning symbols from the panel and fills gaps with new symbols while also adding an additional row. If consecutive wins keep appearing, Avalanches continue to avalanche, though rows max out at 8 high.

Nitro Reels

Nitro Reels cover two symbol positions and contain 4, 6, 8, 10, or 12 instances of a single symbol type. In part three, we also get Big Nitro Reels covering 6 symbol positions and count as 2, 3, 4, 5, or 6 2x2 sized symbols. When Nitro Reels are part of a win, they stay on the grid and respin.

Special Symbols

Special symbols can appear in any position, triggering various effects, such as:

• Redrop – bonus symbols and Nitro feature symbols remain for the redrop, while Nitro Reels respin.
• Both Ways – all wins pay from left to right as well as right to left.
• Nitro Match – Nitro Reels on the same or adjacent reels to the Nitro Match display a pay symbol matching one on an adjacent reel.
• Nitro Upgrade – Nitro Reels on the same or adjacent reels to this symbol upgrade, thereby holding more symbols.
• Nitro Wild – all symbols in the Nitro Reels on the same or adjacent reels as this symbol are replaced with wilds.

Bonus Game

Landing 3, 4, 5, or 6 Zeppelin scatters awards 8, 12, 16, or 20 free spins, respectively. A few things change here. One is that all Nitro Reels are sticky for the full duration of the bonus game, so when new ones hit, they stack on top of each other. Also, the safety level increases one row for every winning free spin, up to 8 rows high. This means following free spins start at the current safety level height. If at least one Super Bonus symbol is used to trigger free spins, the Super Bonus Game is activated. The Super Bonus Game is played with 8 rows, and Both Ways activated. Both free spin bonus rounds can be retriggered.

X-iter

It's rare to play an ELK game that doesn't have an X-iter menu attached these days. Switching on X-iter mode allows users to play Nitropolis 3 these ways:

• Boosted Bonus Chance – one spin with double the chance of triggering the bonus game at a cost of 2x the bet.
• Big Nitro Reel – one spin with a big Nitro Reel guaranteed for 10x the bet.
• Nitro Match – a spin with a guaranteed Nitro Match and Both Ways activation for 25x the bet.
• Bonus – 100x the bet buys entry to free spins.
• Super Bonus – 500x the bet buys access to the Super Free Spins bonus game.

Nitropolis 3: Slot Verdict

Nitropolis 3 brings together a bunch of things ELK really excels at, such as growing reels, increasing ways to win, special symbols, X-iter betting options, and off the wall themes. It's a real medley of past accomplishments; or put specifically, Nitropolis meets the Gold Series. At times, it felt like we were knee-deep in a new Kane slot rather than the eccentric Nitropolitan future we've grown accustomed to. Some might see this as ELK taking an easy option, and in some ways, recycling Kane's game model has a low hanging fruit feel, yet the benefits vastly outweigh the negatives.

For one, the gameplay is as slick as ever and is packed with extras which can ignite or enhance each other at any moment. It's just that now, all those additional rows give Nitropolis even more room to perform. This might have been an issue, overkill as it were, if Nitropolis 3 offered the same potential as before. However, saying this is not the case is an understatement.

The major headliner is the fact Nitropolis 3 is ELK's biggest paying slot to date. One criticism aimed at the previous two games was how the 10,000x win cap was a little at odds with the millions upon millions of ways they could create. Okay, maybe more than a little at odds, since Nitropolis 2 could create over 190 million ways to win. ELK must have taken the critique to heart and have come out blasting, arming Nitropolis 3 with a mind-bending 50,000x max win. Gotta say, with so much firepower available, Nitropolis 3 hitting its cap is sure to be quite a sight, if/when it occurs.

At times, playing Nitropolis 1 or 2 was like being wrapped up in a warm blanket of dystopic imagination where willing players had no choice but to grab on tight to the ludicrously enjoyable ride. There are definite moments in part three as well, though the long, dark shadow of Kane does lessen the immersion to a degree. At the end of the day, though, Nitropolis 3's riot of creativity, chaotic features, and colossal potential present a sort of snapshot montage, a pinnacle of what ELK Studios is all about at this moment in time.