Star Nova Slot Review

The Novomatic brand is one that’s known for delivering lower quality games, though occasionally they push the boat out and develop a game that has a lot of depth; Star Nova isn’t one of them. This is a simplistic 5-reels real cash slot that uses the conventions of retro slot machines to create entertainment.

Consequently, users will find that they have little variance to work with, even though they have up to 10 winlines to take advantage of. There is a wild special, of sorts, for you to trigger when playing, but it’ll never take you outside the base parametres of the game. This is going to be one that you either love or hate, for there’s not enough options to warrant an undecided response.

Is This Space?

We’re a tad confused when it comes to the way this grid looks. The game’s called Star Nova, so it goes without saying that we’re in space for the duration of our experience, right? So why are most of the symbols upon the reels gemstones, with only three symbols an exception to that rule?

Even though we can appreciate that Novomatic have attempted to create an interface that is unique from vintage slot machines, but not so much that it’s overly contemporary, the overall theme just doesn’t seem to work. You have gems, the number 7, a BAR icon and then the glowing wild; it’s so all over the place!

An Ever Changing Aesthetic

Identifying whether a game is Novomatic or not isn’t as easy is merely looking at the style of the entire game, for the brand is known for changing up their looks with virtually every new game. We’ve yet to play a slot from the brand that makes us go “Yup, this is Novomatic alright”. It isn’t a criticism as such, for having such an adaptable style will help draw in different types of gamers, but it makes finding a niche you love all that harder.

Take Star Nova as an example of this; the style is very 3D and computerised, almost like it’s a decade older than what it actually is. It creates a sense of old school gaming simply by applying these subtle characteristics. There’s some modernity hidden in there, but overall it’s meant to bring back the golden days of gaming rather than adhering to the now, and in that respect, it does it well.

Play Your Hand

We’ve been pretty tough on the reels of this slot so far, but we’re about to get positive because of the gamble option you can savour. Nearly every Novomatic title we come across offers one of some kind, usually keeping to the same format to make playing even easier.

The round you’re given here is a choice between a red and black card – you have to select the one you think will appear next. It’s very basic, but any wins will double the amount you started with. Of course, if you lose, you can kiss goodbye to the wins you’ve just made. We like the brutality of these options, however we’ve seen other brands offer a take half that we’d like to see implemented more.

A Dying Star

Giving a conclusion about this slot machine isn’t easy for us, for although it’s cut and dry about whether you like this game or not, we have to remember that experiences are subjective. For us, we found the gameplay to be bland, delivering hardly anything for us to really engage with. Then you have the problem of the volatility being extremely high, as is the Novomatic way, meaning you work hard and spend a lot of cash, for virtually no returns whatsoever.

If you’re looking for an online casino game that makes winning easy, allowing you to score a couple of bucks here and there, Star Nova is the wrong place to do that. You’ll lose a lot of money, and will probably leave feeling more bitter than when you started. Our advice is to look elsewhere.