Software developer ELK Studios is back on the road with a new online slot called Freeway 7. Freeway 7 is much more mysterious than the highway where the previous such story took place, Route 777. A brief online search revealed that there is also a Freeway 7 in Greece, Iran, and Taiwan; however, it appears that none of these locations were intended by the developer. Freeway 7 takes players out on the wide road in a straightforward slot, complete with Road Block Nudges, bonus games, super bonus games, and perhaps even an X-iter menu to keep you entertained as the miles tick by.
There was no indication at the time of writing that Freeway 7 was part of ELK Studios’ Classic Series of slots, but it seems like a fair bet now. Players who aren’t in the mood for a game like Nitropolis 2 with its mind-boggling amount of win methods can turn to this series of fruit slots, which combines innovative components with old-school parts. Freeway 7 is played on a 3×3 grid with 17 interconnected paylines. Freeway 7, like its more famous relative Route 77, is a long, straight highway that cuts across a hilly region. Perhaps a place like Arizona? The choice is up to the player’s imagination. Blurred highway visuals are accompanied with a blistering rock music that promotes putting your foot on the pedal and shifting into a higher gear within legal speed limits.
Bets range from 20 pence to £/€100 on Freeway 7, and it may be played on any device. The return to player value is fixed at 94% whether you’re constantly mashing the play button or navigating to Bonus mode via the X-iter menu, and the volatility is rather high. There are eight standard payouts, and a winning line consists just of three of a type. All of these symbols hearken back to the early days of slot machines and may be found, from least valuable to most valuable, in the order of cherries, oranges, watermelons, BARs, gold 7s, red 7s, blue 7s, and finally Stars and Stripes 7s. Combinations containing these icons result in payouts of 0.50x to 7.50x the wager. If you get a wild sign, it can stand in for any other regular pay symbol.
Highway 7 Slot Machine Functions
The Road Block Nudge, which is quite like the respins function on Route 777, is the first bonus we’ll talk about. The Road Block Nudge with respins is activated by matching symbol combinations on reels 1 and 3. On each respin, reels 1 and 3 go down by one place, while reel 2 spins normally. During respins, bonus symbols on the two outer reels are moved toward the center and locked in place if they appear there.
Extra Round
When you get three bonus symbols, you get extra spins. Alternatively, the super bonus game is activated by hitting two bonus symbols and a super bonus symbol on the center reel. When this occurs during Road Block Nudges, you will receive a number of free spins. After the bonus round is over, any leftover respins are played. All bonus game winnings trigger extra free spins. The number of remaining spins is displayed on a counter above the reels. All icons will be functioning initially. After contributing to a winning combination, they deactivate, preventing further contributions to the win multiplier. The bonus game (or super bonus game) is retriggered when 3 bonus symbols appear, and all symbols return to play to boost the following win’s multiplier. The rules of the super bonus game are identical to those of the regular bonus game, except that the win multiplier begins at a higher level and perpetually grows in value with each win. The rate of increase is greater, as is the increment itself.
During Bonus mode, the Road Block Nudge can be activated. In this case, the free spins will not be depleted, but any winnings incurred during the Road Block Nudge will result in more free spins and any wins involving active symbols will result in a higher multiplier. Finally, the Road Block Nudge will only be played after the bonus or super bonus game has concluded if they both activate at the same time.
X-iter
When Bonus Mode is triggered by clicking the X-iter Feature Buy button, the following five choices become available:
With Bonus Hunt, doubling your wager doubles your potential reward in the bonus game.
If you spin the reels and only get sevens, cherries, wilds, bonus, or super bonus symbols, you’ll win 10 times your wager.
To activate the Road Block Nudge, you must wager 25 times your normal amount.
Entering a bonus game that requires a 100x wager is worth it.
To activate the Super Bonus, you must wager 500 times your initial wager.
Slots Decide It on Freeway 7
The gameplay of Freeway 7 is exemplary of a Classic Series slot machine. It’s entertaining if you can keep up with the fast speed of the three reels. The symbols on the condensed game grid collide against the backdrop of a throbbing music and a blazing landscape. Naturally, it helps if you have an interest in this genre, as these retro-inspired games are designed for a certain demographic. There’s a big possibility that Freeway 7 will blow your mind if you enjoyed what ELK Studios did with them in the past, notably Route 777.
During the features, Freeway 7 is able to put the pedal to the metal and really let loose. No complaints about the respin value of Road Block Nudges, but Freeway 7 didn’t truly come into its own until the win multiplier was introduced. During testing, players were able to earn respectable multipliers in both the super and ordinary bonus games; however, the super version benefited more from the invulnerability of the symbols. Although it happens frequently in ELK Studio games, the subject of how often the super activates spontaneously is intriguing because it costs far more to buy via the X-iter menu. The low RTP value is also fairly prevalent and unattractive, especially when contrasted to the value of Route 777. For a while, it looked like ELK Studios was going to resist the declining trend in Propaganda, but alas, it seems the downward spiral has resumed. Just so you know, the maximum payout on Freeway 7 is 5,000 times your initial wager.
If you don’t care about fractions of a percent and want to enjoy some retro gameplay with a modern twist, Freeway 7 may be just what you’re searching for. However, if the Classic Series games up to this point have failed to excite you, it’s hard to imagine Freeway 7 changing that.