Something Old and Something New
Starburst online pokies presents you with a beautiful, vibrant design. Bright colours, shiny jewels and candy like buttons provide a sensational graphic experience. The purple background combined with that neon green makes the buttons alluring and tempts you to just keep pressing. The game’s style feels like an outer space setting with stars glittering all across the screen and the symbols utilized are those long forgotten from the golden age of casinos including gems, Sevens and BAR’s. The soundtrack goes along well with the design in creating a futuristic atmosphere while still being subtle enough to fade into the background to ensure it doesn’t become repetitive while the sound effects provide a soothing sensation every time you spin the reels. Some pokie games prefer the use of complex images for their symbols and while this does make for some interesting designs, too often it means that after playing you find yourself carefully inspecting the symbols after every spin to differentiate between them. With Starburst pokies however, the symbols are large, distinct and nicely laid out which makes it easy to follow exactly what’s happening.
Sevens, Bar’s and Gems
Starburst online pokies chose to dig around in the archives for their symbols and came out with some familiar favourites that have been lost through the generations. They’ve done an excellent job in breathing some new life into their symbols and the designs are truly spectacular. The wild symbol is represented by a rainbow coloured star which is instantly recognizable when it pops up on the screen. For a breakdown of the symbols and their worth see below. Note that the number represent combinations of 3, 4 or 5 symbols.
- Purple Amethyst: 5, 10, 25
- Blue Sapphire: 5, 10, 25
- Orange Amber: 7, 15, 40
- Green Emerald: 8, 20, 50
- Yellow Citrine: 10, 25, 60
- Seven: 25, 60, 120
- BAR: 50, 200, 250
The game itself sports 5 reels with 3 lines each and 10 winning lines which can be activated and deactivated as needed. Bets start at a minimum of $0.01 and can go up to $100 when all winning lines are active which should satisfy all levels of players. Unlike most pokie games, winning lines are calculated not only from left to right but from right to left as well, as long as the combination starts on the first or last reel. As usual the wild Starburst symbol can complete any broken combination found on a winning line and should more than one winning combination be available, the most valuable will be used to calculate your winnings.
Should you find the wild symbol anywhere on the middle 3 reels, you will receive an additional reward. The reel where the wild symbol is found will expand, transforming all other symbols on that reel to wild and the game will then re-spin all other reels for a second chance at winning. Should the wild symbol make another appearance, another free spin will be awarded.
Win Small to Win Big
With a jackpot of up to $50 000 on the line with the wild reels and free spins, there are several reasons to keep playing Starburst pokies. The winning lines can be matched from left to right as well as right to left which is not a common feature among online pokie machines. With no story line driving the game, there is also nothing to attach any bonus features to. Starburst is thus devoid of any ground breaking bonus features apart from the expanding wilds but this only makes the game so much simpler and easier to enjoy. Mostly, you’ll be winning smaller amounts but with the two way winning line system, you should be winning more often than expected.
Something Special
As mentioned, Starburst unfortunately doesn’t offer much in terms of special features. The wild symbols, which only appear on the middle 3 reels will expand, covering the entire reel they pop up on and grant you a free spin. Any winnings earned with wild reels will be stored and added onto winnings earned during your free spin. Also keep in mind that winning combinations can start from either the left or the right side of the screen which dramatically increases your chances of winning. Starburst pokies games also feature an automatic play mode which allows you to set the game to play a set number of spins without supervision, should you be otherwise occupied.
Our Take
Starburst then doesn’t offer anything revolutionary to the world of iGaming. This however should not necessarily been seen as a bad thing. What they’ve done instead is go back to the roots of what made pokie machines great, dusted it off and given it a fresh coat of paint. The visuals in this game is truly spectacular and the retro symbols instils a sense of nostalgia that is very much appreciated. The lack of special features is hard to miss but Starburst has taken the basics of pokie machines and executed them so well that you’ll soon forget about them and just enjoy the simplicity of the game.
