Gluttony

Gluttony: Slot Overview

Gluttony, as defined by Google, is 'habitual greed or excess in eating', which pretty well sums up the premise for Gluttony, an online slot from the masters of the grotesque, Nolimit City. Gluttony is a game which revels in the joys, compulsions, and aftermaths of gorging, stuffing your face, having an epic feast, or however you'd like to describe the pastime of eating way past excess. Those easily offended or put off by the sight of a grown man piling away plates of food until he starts dribbling better look away now. With a lead character going by the name of, ahem, Fat Bastard, Gluttony doesn't hold much back, both in terms of theme treatment and its extensive menu of gaming devices.

Gluttony's base game is situated in a room that manages to be kind of classy and a complete mess at the same time. The tables have some comfy-looking seats that look ideal for getting uber settled in for a session of ramming food into your mouth. The problem is a lot of the food has missed mouths and ended up all over the floor. In the beginning, aside from a bit of mess, Gluttony doesn't look too threatening. It's as if, okay, a bit of eating goes on here, fair enough. But just wait a bit, let Gluttony wind up, find its stride, and a whole bunch of chowing down on an array of food types is about to occur. Hopefully.

Gluttony is played on a 5 by 5 reel area with two types of pay systems depending on the game phase. When wins occur, they are destroyed, and symbols tumble in to fill any holes. Pay symbols can visually upgrade, meaning they display a larger portion size. When they upgrade, their value is multiplied by 2 until the next game round begins. Extreme subject matter gets an extremely volatile math model to accompany it, as well as three RTP options – 96.09% being the max. Gluttony's bet levels range from 20 p/c to $/€100, and players can theoretically expect a hit frequency of 25.27% as well as a free spins frequency of 1 in 309 spins.

Most of the time, winning ways form when matching symbols land left to right from the leftmost reel, and there are 10 regular pays. However, FEDCON 1 uses a system called Crosslink Wins, where combos are linked to the centre symbol. It is hard to describe, but a look at the parable will make the device clear. The low pays in Gluttony are 5 relatively healthy plates of food, while the highs are 5 less healthy options with pizza as the highest paying symbol. Landing a winning 5-symbol way awards 0.4 to 1.2 times the bet for the healthier stuff, while the more junky premiums are worth 2 to 10 times the bet for 5 OAK. Cooked chickens are wild and can replace any regular paying symbol.

Gluttony: Slot Features

To get a clear picture of the way Gluttony functions, here is a rundown of its scatters, the xZone Sauce symbol, Wild Pot, Golden Bell Spins, Order Up!, FEDCON 1, and the Nolimit Bonus.

Scatters

Two types of scatters may land in Gluttony – the Silver Bell scatter on reels 2-4 and the Golden Bell scatter on reel 3. When they land in these combinations, the corresponding feature is triggered:

• 3 Silver scatters – 8 free Order Up! spins are triggered.
• 1 Golden and 2 Silver scatters – 10 free Double Up! spins, and an x2 multiplier is awarded.
• 2 Golden Bell and 1 Silver Bell scatter – 12 spins of Quadruple Up! and an x4 multiplier triggers.
• 3 Golden Bell scatters – awards +6 spins and entry to FEDCON 1.

Each Golden Bell adds +2 free spins and increases the multiplier by +x2. During FEDCON 1, the Golden Bell can land only on the outer reels, which permanently multiplies the outer reel values by 2.

xZone Sauce

This symbol applies a +1 multiplier value to each regular pay symbol and wild adjacent to it – vertically, horizontally, or diagonally. More than 1 xZone Sauce can land on the same row, but not the same reel. In the FEDCON 1 feature, xZone Sauce can only land on the inner reels, applying a +1 multiplier for all connected pay symbols.

Wild Pot

Wild Pot may land in Order Up!, Double Up!, Quadruple Up!, or FEDCON 1, on reels 2, 3, 4, or 5. Wild Pot is wild, and if it contributes to a win, it attempts to collect nearby food symbols in horizontal or vertical directions. It increases its multiplier by +1 for each low-pay winning symbol, +2 for each medium-pay winning symbol, or +2 for each winning wild it collects. If the Wild Pot collects, it becomes sticky with an increased multiplier for one more hit. Elsewise, it is removed. During FEDCON 1, the Wild Pot can only land on the inner reels and collects all the food symbols on its connected outer reel, stopping these symbols from contributing to Fat Bastard's progression.

Golden Bell Spins

Landing 1 Golden Bell triggers Golden Bell Spins, awarding 2 respins and an x2 multiplier. Landing another Golden Bell on a Golden Bell Spin awards an extra 2 respins, and the multiplier increases to x4. Hitting 3 Golden Bells in succession triggers FEDCON 1.

Order Up!

For each Golden Bell landed, Order Up! will upgrade, awarding +2 spins and increasing the multiplier by x2. Should a Golden Bell land and the current multiplier is x4, then Order Up! is upgraded to FEDCON 1, awarding +6 spins. Free spins cannot be retriggered.

FEDCON 1

Landing 3 Golden BellsScatters awards +6 spins. Each win begins from the Fat Bastard symbol in the middle of the grid. When new levels are reached, +2 free spins are added, +1 multiplier goes to Fat Bastard, and a respin is triggered. Players move to levels 2, 3, 4, and 5 when 20, then another 30, then another 40, and then another 50 winning symbols are respectively collected. As above, winning low-pay symbols contribute +1, winning mediums and wilds contribute +2 to the progress bar.

Nolimit Bonus

From the Nolimit Bonus section, players can buy 8 Order Up! spins for 100x the bet (max RTP 96.08%), 14 FEDCON 1 spins for 1,000x the bet (max RTP 96.09%), or a Super Lucky Draw for 300x the bet (max RTP 96.11%).

Gluttony: Slot Verdict

Gluttony awoke memories of the Simpsons episode when Homer went to court after being kicked out of the all-you-can-eat seafood restaurant The Frying Dutchman. Marge: 'We drove around until 3 am looking for another all-you-can-eat fish restaurant.' Lawyer: 'And when you couldn't find one?' Marge: 'We went fishing.' On another note, with the new height and weight discrimination ban New York introduced around the time of the review, it'll be interesting to see how Gluttony is received in certain quarters. It certainly doesn't pull many punches when it comes to expressing how it feels about excessive consumption of calories. Fat Bastard? Damn, that name is about as subtle as a cheesecake to the face. But this is what we've come to expect, and fans have come to love about Nolimit City's uncompromising, non-PC, FTW attitude. We've also come to expect innovative gameplay, fiery features, and novel themes, all of which make their way into the orgy of eating that is Gluttony.

As well as the newly introduced xZone mechanic, the stand out in Gluttony is definitely the FEDCON 1 bonus round. It's here where the majority of the new ideas have been funnelled, and at first look, we had that classic NLC 'what the fudge' is going on here???' feeling. Going in dry without reading the rules is a bold move. Even after going back and reading them over, FEDCON 1 might need a bit of time to figure out. The thing to keep in mind is the wins in FEDCON 1 connect with Fat Bastard, and it might pay to fully absorb the Crosslink Wins key in the paytable. Or, just sit back and demo a few rounds until it all sinks in. One helpful factor is that FEDCON 1 bonus rounds were quite lengthy, with long runs of consecutive wins, upgrades, and extra free spins like a multi-course meal. It's got a Finn and the Swirly Spin, Adventures Beyond Wonderland Magical Maze thing going on as everything swirls around. This makes buying FEDCON 1 tempting as its returns during our test sessions weren't shabby, but at 1,000x the bet, it doesn't come cheap. On a sad note, you gotta feel for Fat Bastard because, should the 32,000x the bet max win be achieved, the Heart Attack feature is played.

So there's Gluttony in all its calorie-hoovering glory. If you're not put off by the gorging indulgence, then here is another unique Nolimit City slot to sample. It's not exactly a dainty morsel of food served on a giant plate with a dash of sauce on the side. This is full-on 5-dollar buffet dining with the goal of stuffing down as much as you can, then leaving with your belt loosened by several notches. No doubt Nolimit City has stuffed this chicken with a real gamut of new ideas; some may be a little too tangy for some taste buds. However, if Gluttony appeals, it may take time to digest the rules, sort out the gameplay, and then battle through the multiple courses to, hopefully, finish satiated.