The Wild Life Extreme

The Wild Life Extreme Review

Back in 2017, developer IGT brought The Wild Life into the world - a simple yet engaging and highly rewarding game that still remains among the most popular releases in studio’s portfolio. It would have been unwise of them not to capitalize on that success further, so that’s why they came up with The Wild Life Extreme slot in 2023, a direct sequel to the original that should have taken it to new heights. Should have.

The Wild Life Extreme Slot - Base Game

But it wouldn’t. While on the outside it looks relatively the same, with a similar backdrop and familiar symbols populating the reels, once you take a peek under the hood you’ll quickly notice it’s more of a downgrade rather than an ‘extreme’ improvement. First of all, IGT for some reason cut the number of paylines in half - now there are only 5 at play. Why, you may ask? To give you 10 back in the free spins, obviously! Good thing they still pay both ways.

Next thing is the winning capabilities. Symbol values took a huge drop, and now the highest pays only 100x the stake for five-of-a-kind, and that’s on top of the reduced amount of win ways, which, logically, should have been the other way around. That, in turn, led to significantly decreased payout opportunities in total. The maximum you can hope for in The Wild Life Extreme online slot is 1,000x your bet, five times lower than the figure the predecessor offers.

More about the numbers, The Wild Life Extreme game is a medium volatile. Yet, do not expect to get returns often, it’s not that forgiving. With only 5 lines in play in the main game, albeit paying in any direction, it takes time until you land anything, not to mention something decent.

In a similar way to the original The Wild Life game, the Extreme edition also comes with several different RTP settings. The highest is around the 96% value, but you’re more likely to come across 92% and 94% return rates.

The Wild Life Extreme Features

In terms of the gameplay, The Wild Life Extreme utilizes pretty much the same features, though, with a couple of tricks of its own. At the core are still the expanding wilds, but now they can be added randomly on any spin, and also the free spins have undergone a change.

Expanding Wilds

Wild symbols substitute for any of the regulars in winning combos, and they can appear on any of the three middle reels - 2, 3, and 4. Whenever one drops, it expands to cover that reel entirely, producing bigger winning opportunities. Up to 3 expanding wilds can appear per spin.

The Wild Life Extreme Slot - Expanding Wilds

Random Wilds

And here’s the Extreme exclusive. On any spin, the screen might wiggle a little, which means the Random Wilds is in play. When that happens, one to three expanding wilds are randomly placed on the reels.

Free Spins

Globe symbols are Scatters, and when 3 or more appear simultaneously in view, players receive entrance to the bonus game. Depending on the number of triggering symbols, the following number of spins is granted:

• 3 Scatter symbols - award 10 free spins.
• 4 Scatter symbols - award 15 free spins.
• 5 Scatter symbols - award 20 free spins.

In the free games, the grid expands by one more row to 5x4, and the number of win lines is increased to 10. All the same rules apply, excerpt for the Wild symbols turn sticky and remain in place for all subsequent spins. Retriggers, surprisingly, unlike in the first The Wild Life game, are not possible.

The Wild Life Extreme Slot - Free Spins

Pros And Cons Of The Wild Life Extreme Slot

Our Verdict

So what’s so extreme about it? Well... not much. The Wild Life Extreme IGT feels like a clear downgrade compared to the original release, and there’s a whole bunch of reasons. First, the number of win lines in the base game has been cut down in half, from 10 to just 5. That alone makes it harder to land winning combinations, and even when you do, you’ll feel the significantly reduced symbol values.

On top of that, the overall winning capabilities have taken a serious hit. With the maximum payout sitting at just 1,000x your bet, it’s five times lower than what we saw in the first game. Then, while the free spins feature adds a few more paylines, or rather returns to the initial number, it’s hard to ignore the fact that the the bonus can no longer be retriggered. The previous game offered up to 200 spins in total!

In the end, The Wild Life Extreme doesn’t really live up to its name. The gameplay still seems fine with expanding wilds and the new random wilds feature, yet the stripped-down key aspects leave a bad taste for sure.