Overview
Reels: 5 | Rows: 3 | Paylines: 10
Two creatures in the Chinese zodiac join forces in Pragmatic Play partner Reel Kingdom's online slot, Floating Dragon Wild Horses. If you've been following along, you'll know this is the sixth release in the studio's Floating Dragon series that was first brought to life in 2021. Making it six deep in a series of anything is generally a positive sign, though the Floating Dragon has been helped along by Megaways and a willingness to make use of borrowed mechanics. Floating Dragon Wild Horses throws borrowed out the window and goes full clone mode, as it piggybacks off the technical specs found in Reel Kingdom's Big Bass Boxing Bonus Round.
If nothing else, Wild Horses looks dramatic, and Reel Kingdom has made the game matrix see-through so players can cop a greater eyeful of what's going on. What it's got for the eyes is a cinematic, fiery background of a horse-shaped cloud presiding above a bit of the countryside. It's close-ish to Floating Dragon Year of the Snake, sort of, but nothing like the clear blue base game skies on parade in games like Floating Dragon Boat Festival or Floating Dragon Hold & Spin. It goes to show that Reel Kingdom can cast its net wide when developing optics, yet when it comes to mechanics, the studio has a habit of falling back on past glories.
Final Thoughts
Well, that was oddly familiar. Then again, not so odd considering the number of times Reel Kingdom has reheated its Big Bass formula in the past, and may well do so again in the future. As they say, past performance is no guarantee of future results, but the odds seem pretty good that the studio is going to drag a form of these mechanics out again, and again, and again… in one way or another. What's a little scary is that Floating Dragon Wild Horses is a remake of Big Bass Vegas Double Down Deluxe, and gamblers already had one of those in the form of Big Bass Boxing Bonus Round. This means Floating Dragon Wild Horses is just reheated leftovers, like discovering an old pizza box under the couch while cleaning the house, and scarfing down the contents, cos eh, why not?
So while dragons and wild horses might not have much to do with fishing, neither did boxing, and Reel Kingdom was happy enough going there. Will gamblers? Spose some will. However, this constant cloning, copying, and reusing may be tedious if you're studiously following the developer's output. The theme does put a new spin on things, but its mechanics are the same old thing; nothing has changed. For newcomers, this formula might still deliver bursts of excitement and explosive potential of up to 5,000x, yet anyone familiar with Reel Kingdom's output will likely find the repetition hard to ignore. By now, Reel Kingdom has recycled its Big Bass stuff so many times that spotting the original source material feels like a history test rather than a discovery.
In other circumstances, Floating Dragon Wild Horses' repetition might have come across as weirder than it does. However, since it comes from a casino game maker which wholeheartedly embraces the recycling ethos, the shock is lessened. That doesn't mean Floating Dragon Wild Horses is a good game, but it's not a disaster, provided you're a gambler who can't get enough of Big Bass-style mechanics in a variety of non-fishing settings.
