Burn ‘Em Up: Overview

Right now, Barcrest is enjoying the popularity of its Rainbow Riches Megaways slot, yet the studio’s move from land-based machines to online games hasn’t exactly been impressive. Looking back at several 2019 releases, and aside from Lady of Avalon (even Barcrest can’t completely miss when making a ‘Book’ clone), titles like Soldier of Rome, Super StarTurns, and Pyramids of Giza rank among the weakest we’ve reviewed this year. If parent company SG Digital hadn’t secured a Megaways license, Barcrest would likely still be stuck in the doldrums.

Created by UK studio Barcrest and running on the SG Digital platform, Burn ‘Em Up is a 5-reel, 10-payline slot built around a blazing fruit slot theme. It’s a straightforward game with just one extra element – a free spins bonus that can award up to 24 spins and where symbol upgrades can deliver wins of up to 5000 times your stake. With stakes ranging from 0.10 to $/€500 per spin, the game is available on desktop, tablet, and mobile.

Like most of Barcrest’s fruit machines, Burn ‘Em Up keeps things simple, both in presentation and in mechanics. A searing background sits behind reels wrapped in flames, while the reels themselves carry the familiar set of classic fruit machine icons. The lower-paying symbols are watermelons, plums, oranges and cherries, followed by higher-value lucky sevens that appear in different combinations. The top regular symbol is the king’s crown, awarding 100 times your stake for landing five of a kind. The sinister jester acts as the wild, substituting for every symbol except the scatter, and it pays 500 times your stake when you hit five across a full payline.

Burn ‘Em Up: Features

Burn ‘Em Up includes just a single feature – the Free Spins Bonus. It activates when 3, 4 or 5 scatter symbols land anywhere on the screen at the same time, awarding 12, 18 or 24 free spins respectively. During the bonus, you’ll get symbol upgrades, meaning any winning symbols are improved to the next symbol up on the paytable. If 3 or more scatter symbols appear while you’re in the bonus, the feature is re-triggered.

Burn ‘Em Up: Verdict

While the gameplay isn’t identical, Burn ‘Em Up seems to follow much the same mathematical framework as Lady of Avalon. Rather than relying on a special expanding symbol, the bonus revolves around symbol upgrades. The win potential is broadly comparable too, both in the base game and within the bonus. The same can be said for the volatility, which is fairly high.

Burn ‘Em Up isn’t particularly enjoyable to play. Visually it’s quite unattractive, and the bonus feature doesn’t do enough to compensate for the uninspired look and feel. With so many inventive, entertaining, and high-quality games available online today, it’s difficult to justify spending time on a slot like this. If you’re craving fruit machine gameplay with a more modern edge, you’re better of playing Blueprint’s Mystery Spin Deluxe or even ELK’s new Win Win slot.