The Final Countdown review
Second in line among the studio’s feature-choice games came a slot released on 14 March 2019 and borrowed its title from a Europe classic. The action has moved into space and the reels glitter with gems. The real hook is not the bonus but reel cloning, which can strike on any spin and turn an ordinary win into a multiplier of up to 256x.
A song, gems and the stars
The studio ties the game to the Europe song and says its mood is built from excitement, exploration and delight. Space and gems on the reels turn the song into a picture: the studio describes the game as glistening with jewels, while the platform invites you on a cosmic trip after wins. The look is clearly different from the tattoo-style art of the series neighbours, and for a slot run by multipliers such a theme is neutral: it does not get in the way of reading the grid, and a clone is easy to spot.
4,096 ways and the hit rate
Six reels with four positions each give 4 x 4 x 4 x 4 x 4 x 4 = 4,096 ways. Wins form left to right across neighbouring reels, and every extra copy of a symbol on a reel multiplies the routes.
The platform lists a hit frequency of 38.83%, about one spin in 2.6; the series neighbour Lil’ Devil lists 37.68%, so this one pays a shade more often. Yet volatility is rated 9.8 out of 10, close to the top of the scale, and the character shows: the big money sits in clones and bonus modes.
Reel Clone: two, three or four identical reels
A Reel Clone may fire on any spin. It makes two to four reels between reels 2 and 5 identical, and scatters get cloned too. Wilds on cloned reels stretch both horizontally and vertically, and the multiplier depends on the number of clones: two reels give 4x, three 27x, four 256x. How often a clone fires the rules do not say.
A formula stands behind the multipliers: 4 = 2 squared, 27 = 3 cubed, 256 = 4 to the fourth, the number of reels raised to itself. From two reels to three the multiplier grows about 6.75 times, and from three to four almost 9.5 times. The clone itself pays nothing: it only copies reels, turning scattered positions into a repeating pattern, while the multiplier belongs to the Wild, which has to sit on the cloned reels inside a winning combination.
One more gap in the rules: if only neighbouring reels between 2 and 5 can be cloned, there are three options for a pair, two for a trio and one for a quartet; if any reels can be, it is six, four and one. The description does not reveal which is right.
Three scatters open a menu
Three or more scatters bring up a menu of two free-spin modes that are nothing alike. The first is short and built around one roaming Wild with a countdown. The second is longer, with a clone on every spin and a Wild that can reach 888x. Scatters on cloned reels are duplicated, so a clone can turn one or two scatters into three and open the choice. One spin can thus bring a multiplied win and start the bonus at the same time.
The Countdown: eight spins and a timer
The first mode gives eight free spins and a 4x roaming Wild across reels 2 to 5. Beside the reels hangs a counter starting at ten. When it reaches zero the mode retriggers and the counter goes back to ten. The first retrigger adds four spins, the second two more. After the second one the counter and the countdown scatters disappear, since the limit of the mode is fourteen spins, so its length always lies between eight and fourteen. The roaming Wild grows with each retrigger up to 256x, but the studio does not name the middle value.
The counter begins at ten while the round begins with just eight spins: if it fell by one per spin, it could never reach zero on its own. So the countdown scatters mentioned in the rules seem to push the counter down, and they alone decide whether retriggers come. By how much they lower it the description does not show, and it is the mode’s most important unknown.
Heading for Venus: fifteen spins and a clone every time
The second mode starts with fifteen spins, and a Reel Clone happens on each. Inside the clone appears a Velocity Wild, starting at 4x and able to grow up to 888x; the value is picked at random within a range that depends on the number of cloned reels.
| Reels cloned | Base-game Wild | Velocity Wild in Heading for Venus |
|---|---|---|
| 2 | 4x | 4x to 26x |
| 3 | 27x | 27x to 255x |
| 4 | 256x | 256x to 888x |
The lower bound of each tier equals the plain Wild multiplier for that number of clones, and the upper bound is one less than the next step. Only for four reels does the ceiling leap from the base 256x straight to 888x, nearly 3.5 times higher.
Three or more scatters retrigger the mode, but how many spins a retrigger adds is not specified. Because scatters are cloned as well, a lone scatter on the source reel becomes three after a clone across three reels, which is exactly the retrigger condition. So a bonus with a clone on every spin plausibly runs longer than its fifteen starting spins, even though the studio gives no probabilities.
The two modes side by side
| Item | The Countdown | Heading for Venus |
|---|---|---|
| Starting spins | 8 | 15 |
| Maximum spins | 14 | not capped by the rules |
| Wild | roaming, 4x up to 256x | Velocity, 4x up to 888x |
| Reel Clone | as in the base game | on every spin |
| Retrigger | counter from 10, twice | three or more scatters |
On paper the second mode is stronger: almost twice the spins, a clone on each, a higher ceiling. But the studio publishes neither the bonus frequency nor the average payout of either mode, so the choice comes down to taste: the longer the mode and the higher the ceiling, the wider the spread, while a short mode with predictable retriggers is easier to plan around.
A 60-bet buy and two RTP figures
The platform text says entry to the free spins is sold for 60 bets, with the mode picked by hand. In the technical data of the same platform the buy flag is off, so a bonus buy is not offered everywhere and depends on the operator and jurisdiction.
The return shows the same split: the platform gives 96.69%, while the studio’s page shows a range of 96.56% to 96.65%, and the two do not overlap. The distance between 96.69% and the low end is 0.13 points. In the end, the return and the availability of the buy are set by the rules at your operator.
Studio and series neighbours
The series’ older game, Danger High Voltage from 2017, returns 95.67% and caps at 15,746x, so by maximum it trails the space slot by more than half: here the top win is 35,000 bets. Lil’ Devil’s cap is higher. Kingmaker, also from 2019, holds 96.65% with no listed maximum, and Extra Chilli Megaways from 2018, at 96.41% and 20,000x, rests on reels with a variable number of positions. Further titles by the Australian studio are gathered on the Big Time Gaming page.
