60 Second Heist

60 Second Heist: Slot Overview

Even for experienced heisters, 60 seconds to pull off a job does not leave much margin for error. A heist like that's gotta be planned down to the last millisecond and executed flawlessly. Not just any petty thief could pull off such a precise job. It would need someone with the skill set of, say, Memphis Raines, the retired car thief from 'Gone in 60 Seconds' who had to steal 50 cars in one night to save his brother's life. Memphis Raines was played by Nicolas Cage if you missed the film, so you know something big is going down.

So it is in 60 Second Heist from developer 4ThePlayer, which is a game very loosely reminiscent of the 2000 movie involving cash, cars, and criminals. It also includes an unusual, though not totally unique time-based bonus round, which has the technical capabilities of going bananas in more ways than one. First, let's lay the scene, where the action takes place on an oceanside street behind a red supercar as it zooms next to a police car. Does that mean the heist went over the allocated 60 seconds if the cops are onto them?

There's a sort of South of France, Monaco, or Californian feeling to the setting. 4ThePlayer has left this part open so players can pick the location suiting their imaginations best. 60 Second Heist has a slightly retro feel to it, and the first thing that came to mind was not a slot, but the classic video game series Outrun. On the not so great side, the noise reels made as they spun kind of killed the mood, though perhaps this was an early demo crinkle 4ThePlayer is planning to iron out.

A highly volatile slot offering bets from 10 p/c to $/€10, numbers are one of 60 Second Heist's stronger points. The goodwill begins with a theoretical return value of 96.5%, with hits coming at a frequency of 21.34%. To have a shot at its 60,000x max potential, you'll need to push the progressive multiplier in free spins as hard as possible. On the road to doing so, ten regular symbols line 60 Second Heist's 5x4, 1,024 ways game grid. Half of them are 10-A royals worth 1-2x the bet for five of a kind, followed by dollar bills, diamonds, gold, and two-character symbols worth 2 to 4x the stake for five. Wilds appear in two forms depending on whether you are in the base or bonus game. In either state, wilds do the same thing, which is a substitute for all symbols except the scatter.

60 Second Heist: Slot Features

Extras appear in both phases of play, with the main game benefiting from a Turbo Lock Respins feature. The real fun happens when the bonus round triggers, though, where a timed round of free spins is awarded.

Turbo Lock Respins

This feature may trigger after any winning base game spin. All winning symbols are locked in place while the remaining positions respin. Any new winning symbols lock for another respin. This process continues for five seconds, then the final win is awarded.

Win Time Free Spins

Scatter symbols appear on reels 1, 3, or 5, and having 3 in view at the same time triggers the free spins feature. Players do not get a set amount of spins here. Instead, a clock starts ticking down from 60 seconds, and the round ends when it reaches zero. If this occurs while the reels are spinning, the current spin and any wins from it are awarded before the feature closes. Also, keep an eye on the border of the reels on which a light progresses. Each time it does a complete lap, the win multiplier increases by +1, which is applied to all following wins.

A couple of special symbols may land during free spins, too. One is the Boost Scatter which increases the speed of the reel spin, win count, and the light going around the board for a short period of time. Extra Time Scatters may also land, adding additional seconds to the clock.

Bonus Bet

Where available, players can adjust a slider on the bonus bet feature. Increasing the stake results in an improved chance of triggering free spins. The costs will be clearly labelled.

60 Second Heist: Slot Verdict

You kind of have to admire what 4ThePlayer is up to at the moment. They are totally upfront about things like stats, as they carve out a personal niche using unusual themes and original, or fairly original, gameplay. We say fairly original because while a timed bonus round is unusual, we have seen it before, most recently in Joker Troupe and Land of Zenith by Push Gaming. Like those slots, it won't be everyone's cup of tea, but at the least, it's something different to experiment with.

For the most part, Win Time Free Spins were positive. There were a couple of technical irritations, like the painfully slow way the Extra Time symbol floats to the timer. It takes like forever and might have been better if scatters added fewer seconds but did it faster. The way win countups eat into the timer can be annoying, as well. Eh, personal preference, and other players might not be bothered so much by these details. Plus, it makes landing the Boost Scatter Symbol more exciting.

It's certainly possible to get your money's worth from free spins as Extra Time Symbols landed in abundance for us during the review. Build a decent multiplier at the same time, and things can get pretty racy. Win Time Free Spins weren't as downright chaotic as Land of Zenith's could be, yet the results can be mind-blowing. It's kind of hard to believe at first, and you'd be forgiven for scoffing at the stated 60,000x max win, yet after seeing 90K Yeti Gigablox go nuclear on film, we've got an open mind as to what 60 Second Heist can do.

In many ways, 60 Second Heist is classic 4ThePlayer. Experimental, a bit out there, a bit gimmicky but hard to knock due to the transparency of the studio and their willingness to try new things.