The Expendables New Mission Megaways: Overview

Developer Stakelogic brings back everyone’s favourite mercenaries in the rather long-titled slot, The Expendables New Mission Megaways. Most of the crew returns in a game that borrows ideas from the third entry in the hit action film franchise, while also leaning heavily on the visual style of Grand Theft Auto V.

The original Expendables slot landed well with players, yet it could feel a bit stiff, like it wasn’t quite reaching its full potential. Expendables New Mission doesn’t completely reinvent the first game, but it comes across as more relaxed, less buttoned-up, and loaded with more extras than a merc has safe houses.

A clear hint that things have loosened up is the squad ditching the all-black outfits for everyday gear. The characters still wear that hard, no-nonsense stare, so it’s obvious they mean business. That business plays out on a 6 reel Megaways grid, licensed from Big Time Gaming, where 2-7 symbols can land on each reel for up to 117,649 ways to win. Stakes range from 20 p/c up to $/€ 40, unless the Super Stake option is enabled, which doubles the price.

Notably, there’s no clear statement on whether Super Stake changes RTP, which seems to stay fixed at 96.08%. Still, it’s worth checking before you play, as some casinos may run a reduced 94% version. What definitely isn’t reduced is the high volatility, paired with similarly high upside.

Wins are formed by landing 3 or more matching symbols from left to right starting on reel one. The one exception is Sly, who pays from just 2 matching symbols. When a win lands, a cascade mechanic removes the winning icons so new ones can fall into place. This allows multiple wins to chain from a single spin, continuing until no fresh combinations appear.

On the symbol front, you’ll find Terry Crews in a Panama hat, plus Dolph Lundgren, Jason Statham, and Sylvester Stallone as the four premium symbols. Sly is easily the top payer at 62.5x for six of a kind, compared with the next premium down, Jason Statham, paying 12.5x for six.

Filling out the rest are metallic, bullet-scarred low-value 9-A royals. Two wild symbols help along the way: the dynamite wild acts as a standard substitute, while the second wild carries a multiplier we’ll get to shortly.

The Expendables New Mission Megaways: Features

There are a handful of callbacks to the original, but overall the feature set is another part of Expendables New Mission that’s been refreshed. Players can expect Free Spins, Super Stakes, Golden Skulls, Mystery Symbols and Multiplier Wilds.

The final three are straightforward: when Golden Skulls land, they convert into the same identical symbol. Multiplier Wilds work like the regular wild, but also apply a multiplier of x2, x3, x5, or x10. If multiple Multiplier Wilds contribute to a win, their multipliers are multiplied together. Rounding out this trio are Mystery Symbols, which may turn into scatter symbols, extra wilds, matching regular symbols, or multiplier wilds.

Players will be pleased to see that Sly Stallone gets a bigger role in Expendables New Mission Megaways. From time to time, he appears at random to throw grenades onto the reels. These grenades behave like mystery symbols, altering the spin in the ways described above.

The scatters have switched from skulls to dog tags this time. If 4 dog tags are visible at the end of a cascade chain, you’re awarded 12 free spins, and each additional scatter in view grants 5 more free spins. Free spins start with a win multiplier at x1, which can randomly increase on any spin by x1 to x5 – with no stated cap. You’ll also see Stallone show up more often to hand out modifiers. On top of that, landing 3 or 4 scatters during the feature awards an extra 5 or 10 free spins respectively.

Stakelogic’s trademarked Super Stake mechanic also returns. We first saw it in the Ancient Egyptian slot Gods of Death, where it offered two perks, including help with triggering the bonus. In The Expendables New Mission Megaways, it’s a bit less impactful, though the price remains the same – double the bet.

Its advantage is the random addition of extra Golden Skulls while the reels are spinning, increasing the likelihood of stronger wins. As many as 222 Golden Skulls can be added, with an average hit rate of one in every 38 spins.

Finally, there’s the familiar Stakelogic touch – a gamble feature. It’s very simple: after a win, as long as auto-spins are turned off, you can activate it for a shot at boosting the payout (or losing it). Guess the colour or suit of a face-down card to win double/quadruple or nothing.

The Expendables New Mission Megaways: Verdict

Fans of The Expendables will be glad the crew is back and more pumped up than before. As with many branded slots, Expendable New Mission Megaways will naturally resonate most with fans, but the added features and upgraded visuals should widen its audience. The updates aren’t groundbreaking, yet there’s noticeably more going on, making New Mission a stronger use of the licence.

For starters, it’s simply a better-looking game, and Sly shows up more often, which gives it extra personality. The first time he appeared, we hadn’t fully taken in the paytable, and he tossed a grenade onto the reels that turned into what looked like a handbag. It got a laugh before the “bag” became an x5 multiplier and delivered a neat return. From that point on, it felt like the game had found its rhythm, delivering more entertainment than the first Expendables slot.

Hopefully what hasn’t changed is the standout potential of over 20,000x that the original could reach. New Mission clearly has strong potential too, though there’s no official figure available at the time of writing. Alongside that upside, the math model also feels reworked. Chasing free spins in The Expendables part one could be a genuinely frustrating grind. Here, while it’s still not effortless, features seemed to land more often, the pacing felt improved, it was more enjoyable, and overall it played more like a branded slot should.

Stakelogic’s first Expendables slot turned out to be fairly popular with punters, and with these upgrades, there’s little reason to think New Mission won’t do even better. Stakelogic has dialled up the explosions; it’s more energetic, there’s more involvement from the characters, and it comes together as a thoroughly entertaining slot.