Review of the new MG games, January 2008

[Zoozie]

Intro:

MG released three new slots this month. Besides the slots, two AWP-machines was released for those that like to play games where they are guaranteed to lose. But a "Lucky Streak" BJ game was also released and I am looking forward to hearing the house edge on this game when someone figures it out.

This monthly post has become more like a blog where I write about stuff that happen in the slot world. So the title is misleading, since the MG slot review is only a small part of it. Especially this month where there is not much to say about the new MG slots. Therefore this is the last post in my series of reviews. I will still write the monthly blog-thread, but it will not be timed with the release of the MG slots. Then you can try them yourself, and discover how rarely there is something new among them.

"Gladiator"... After my review of this slot I was flogged in the review thread. In short I spoke well of this slot and I still do. But I did say they it was a low/medium variance slow. When I make this classification I do not take the number of lines into account, since the players can change this. And I also said that playing the full 50 lines will make this an extremely low variance slot. But it is still a good slot within this category! If I was a movie reviewer and
had to review a children movie, I could still give it a good review, because I would take the audience into account. But if you are not into children movies, you will probably not like it no matter what. I win or lose playing the slot does not matter. All MG slots have ~95-96% payout so there is no difference. They will all empty your bankroll given enough spins.

The new slots are not an opportunity to get rich! They just add some new entertainment-value while draining your bankroll, just like all the old slots...
But I am very open for criticism - so just keep it coming.

News/Ramblings/Discoveries:

Rival:
The new "Scary Rich" slot recently released again shows that Rival tries to make their slots unique as they have done with their latest slots. The mechanics are not new, but they are used in some different way to make the slot unique. This time it was expanding wilds on the first 3 reels during the freespin feature. Most of the graphics symbols are animated when part of a winning line and the sounds effects are also all new. Rival does a extremely good job of making complete themes around their slots. But I am still hoping to see more innovation with new mechanics.

3Dice:
Last month I claimed the "Medival Moolah" to be the most entertaining slot to play in non-feature mode, and I still stand by my words. I have been hooked
on this since the release. This is the only slot besides Isis and Mad Hatters where I play the maximum number of lines because it is high variance. For me this was the best new slot released in 2007 and maybe also the slot with the most lame name as well And 3Dice have 4 more new slots in the pipeline so I am looking forward to see what they are coming up with...

Crypto:
This is not really new stuff, but since my last review Crypto has released two new slot in the Marvel series: "Spiderman" and "Fantastic Four". I found
"Spiderman" boring already after a few features. F4 is definately the better of these, but still not among my favorite Marvel slots. I wrote a few words
about the F4 feature in THIS thread .


Net Entertainment:
In my last two reviews I have mentioned the "Lucky Frog" jackpot-feature design flaw and this month I can end this story. I was contacted by Eurolinx after waiting for nearly two months. Interestingly they contacted me a short time after Casinomeister had sent out the "Meister Blatt" with a link to my review. My concern was that the "Lucky Frog" slot did not award the jackpot feature on a paylines where the first 3 reels was identical to the first 3 reels of lower payline. Since you have paid for playing that line, I believed it to be a design-flaw. Because it means that the payout% of the slot decreases as you play more lines. And I wanted to be sure they understood this. They forwarded my inquery to Net-Entertainment technical department and I got a satisfying reply showing they did understand the concequences. The bascially said it is not unsual for slots to have payout% dependant on the number of lines you play for jackpot slots, and of course they are right in this. But players that are playing a jackpot-slot (jackpot won only on line 15 etc.) are aware of this, while it was not stated in the rules for "Lucky Frog" that some lines did not award to jackpot feature. This is the reply:


"Our tech department is fully aware of that the payout is different depending on how many betlines you are betting on. This is intentional and not unusual or wrong in any way.

We have other examples of this:

Goldrush:
You can only win the jackpot if you are placing a maximum bet amount, which gives different payouts depending how you play.

Jackpot 6000:
If placing maximum bet you have the possibility to enter supermeter mode which affects the payout percentage.

Crusaders of Fortune:
The bonus game reward is related to the total bet amount placed, rather than the betline you actually won on.

Pacific Attack:
Skill based bonus game where winnings are dependent of how you play.

Skeetshoter:
Skill based bonus game that also have a reaction/coordination element in it.


I do not agree that it is a good slot design and bascially they could avoid it by defining the 25 lines in a non-overlapping way, since there
are 27 different combinations for the first 3 reels. And I also think it is a huge oversight not telling the players in the help/rule page for the slot.
But I believe the player community should be aware of the consequences though. It is minor and you can simply just play 17 lines at most, then all lines will award the jackpot feature. So simply never play more than 17 lines at Net-Entertainment slots. It is line 18 and line 19 that collide with earlier lines. If playing 1 line gives a 95% payout and the jackpot feature is worth 15% of the line payout (typical values for these parameters), then payout%/number-of-lines matrix will look like this.


#Lines #Line-payout #Total payout(average)
1_________95%_______95%
2_________95%_______95%
3_________95%_______95%
4_________95%_______95%
5_________95%_______95%
6_________95%_______95%
7_________95%_______95%
8_________95%_______95%
9_________95%_______95%
10________95%_______95%
11________95%_______95%
12________95%_______95%
13________95%_______95%
14________95%_______95%
15________95%_______95%
16________95%_______95%
17________95%_______95%
18________80%_______94.1%
19________80%_______93.4%
20________95%_______93.5%
21________95%_______93.6%
22________95%_______93.7%
23________95%_______93.7%
24________95%_______93.8%
25________95%_______93.8%

Reviews:

Mark of Medusa
25 lines
Low/Medium variance

No intro. This is a standard freespin slot with half-finished theme. Also it is hard to create a theme when 50% of the symbols are 9TJQKA.

The wild symbol is "Medusa" and the scatter is "Pegasus". These both relates to the Medusa theme if you know the Greek Mythology, but I do not understand the other symbols. They just seem to be part of the broader "Greek Mytology" theme. In short the slot is a standard freespin feature(retrigger allowed) with no wild-multiplier where 3,4,5 scatter awards 15,20,25 freespins with a *3 freespin multiplier. And thats it! So nothing new about this slot. It uses the newer MG slot template with different line-definitions. Most of the sounds are reused. The Pegasus sound is new and can wake you up when you hit the feature! The music accompanying the freespins are horrible. I really digged the "Lucky Stars" feature music, but this one just make me want to turn it off.

Little Chief Big Cash
25 lines
Low/Medium variance
The intro is just there because someone decided this slot should have a theme. It is pretty childish, decide yourself. And since it is another standard
slot, there is no reason to wrap it up in a nice gift box anyway.

Just like "Mark of Medusa" this slot is also from the newer MG slot template with new line-definitions. The theme is almost equally bad. The wooden style of the 9TJQKA symbols is one of the better styling of these symbols. But I do prefer full themed slot where all symbols are theme related. "Hitman" has become one of the most popular MG slots and this is deserved. Try imagine this slot with the 9JTQKA symbols. Do you think it would have been equally popular with these symbols? Not every MG slot should be a blockbuster, but it illustrates how damaging for a slot these symbols are.

"Little Chief Big Cash" can also be explained very simple. Wild-multiplier is *2. 3 scatters award a picking feature where each pick reveals a small cash-prize or freespins. It seems to be from 6 to 10 freespins when you hit the freespins. You pick until you hit the Coyote, which means you can at most have 5 good picks. During freespins (if you win any) the freespin multiplier is *2.

I find the 100*bet-size win for 5 scatters very cheap. Also 5 wilds only gives 6000. And a 6000 win when playing 25-lines is only a *240 bet-size win. Of course I would never play this slot at 25 lines (maybe 9) if I ever would play it again, which I can assure you I never will though.


Polar Bash:
20 lines
Low/Medium variance

Watching the intro brought up mixed feelings. I could see some work was put into to intro and even though drinking(alcohol) seems to be involved, they still had the childish look I would love if I was 8 year old and watching the morning cartoons. Too many MG slot have childish themes and none really does appeal to me. I know I am in deep water here and this is personal preference. But I believe most slot veterans agree with this. Historic and mythology themes can be fun though they are not directly adult related. Adult themes are always good ("Beach Life", "Doctor Doctor") etc. But there are too many cute animals themed MG slots. So lets stop the joke here please.

"Polar Bash" is #4 slot in "Franken Cash,Boogie Monster and Snow Honey series. Personally I could have been without the two latests. "Polar Bash" is a lower variance version of these slots, but except from the paytable and multipliers all the mechanics are the same, so I will not explain that again. Read my older reviews for this(links are below in this post).

The symbol graphics are the MG style that I like, Big and colorfull. The music/sound effects are also unique to this slot as they should be. Also there is no 9TJQKA symbols and I found the theme to be complete (but it does not appeal to me though, but it will appeal to some)

It is hard to see why I need another slot with the exactly same mechanics as three previous slots. And the mechanics are actually not really interesting - just a wierd left-to-right semi-scatter paytable during freespins besides the wierd triggers with 3 consecutive symbols and weird line definitions. Overall this month slot release was a disappointment and the worst in many months.

Earlier reviews:
November 2007:http://www.casinomeister.com/forums/...er-2007-a.html
October 2007:http://www.casinomeister.com/forums/...er-2007-a.html
September 2007:http://www.casinomeister.com/forums/...osbournes.html
August 2007:http://www.casinomeister.com/forums/...or-doctor.html
April 2007:http://www.casinomeister.com/forums/...il-2007-a.html
March 2007:http://www.casinomeister.com/forums/...ch-2007-a.html
February 2007: http://www.casinomeister.com/forums/...ry-2007-a.html
January 2007: http://www.casinomeister.com/forums/...ry-2007-a.html
December 2006: http://www.casinomeister.com/forums/...-december.html
November 2006: http://www.casinomeister.com/forums/...ga-moolah.html
October 2006: http://www.casinomeister.com/forums/...s-october.html
September 2006: http://www.casinomeister.com/forums/...september.html
August 2006: http://www.casinomeister.com/forums/...es-august.html
Juli 2006: http://www.casinomeister.com/forums/...ames-july.html
June 2006: http://www.casinomeister.com/forums/...ames-june.html[/quote]

[Matthew23]

Without doubt the worst MG slot release ever. They must have been too busy getting drunk over Christmas.

[Flizzin]

Great review, I just have 1 small question.

Why is it that you don't play max lines on the slots ?
Is there some kind of house advantage you are minimizing or something ?

Is it just for MG ? or RTG and Crypto as well that you do not play max lines ?

[SlotsWizard]

Originally Posted by Flizzin

Great review, I just have 1 small question.

Why is it that you don't play max lines on the slots ?
Is there some kind of house advantage you are minimizing or something ?

Is it just for MG ? or RTG and Crypto as well that you do not play max lines ?

He does it this way to increase the variance (and the wins) without having to bet large.

For example, if you are playing a 40-line game, $2 a spin, that's 0.05 per payline. A payline win of 1000 would be a $50 win.

But if you only play 5 lines, and still bet $2 a spin, then you are betting 0.40 per payline. Now a payline win of 1000 would be $400 instead of $50.

When playing fewer lines, the EV is the same but variance goes up. (Although this doesn't apply to the funky Net Entertainment slot Zoozie described above.)

[Flizzin]

Thanks very much for the explanation .

[Cesar]

A question related with new MG slots:

Is it usual new slots are included during a period of time (for testing purposes or similar) in the casino before its official release?

One month ago during a session on 32Red, I could play Mark of Medusa and Polar Bash. Next time I logon to the casino, games have disappeared...

[Alexandre]

I hate people doing thank you posts especially when we have a Thanks! button at the bottom of each post.
It doesn't bring anything to the debate and it's only noise on a forum.
So I apologize in advance for polluting your thread but I had to do it (please notice that I've never done it before on CasinoMeister).

THANK YOU ZOOZIE

Your slots reviews are pure honey for me and your Slots Analyzer is a brilliant tool.

[LOOKAWAY]

Hi thanks for the review Zoozie i played the mark off meduca first and made on it.

Then i took on polar bash even know i hate the dynamics on those type off slots and lost 4xbet after free spins.

I was goin to give the little indian big cash game a miss after your review but its a new slot and i braved up and hit early on the 28th spin, Popped on my 2nd pick on the bonus game but won 15x bet on my first pick, And came out 7x bet up after the free games, Which were crap no chance off anything big on that game.

My favourite would be meduca but like you say its a standard slot and you cant go much wrong on it. Why make it why o why.

What i hate about those polar bash type slot and the previous ones are you can go so many spins without hitting a thing.

And on the playing less lines thing i couldnt as i would just be looking at the lines what i hadn't picked waiting for the big one to land that would hurt.

Any way im lucky i got the chance to play the new slots on a nd bonus type thing, And am doing very good with it and will make cashout if i get average wagering. Then my cashout will be winnings from free spin bonus features so im playing the low varience type slots now and getting wins ho ho ho!

[Zoozie]

Originally Posted by LOOKAWAYORELSE!

Hi thanks for the review Zoozie i played the mark off meduca first and made on it.

And on the playing less lines thing i couldnt as i would just be looking at the lines what i hadn't picked waiting for the big one to land that would hurt.

I appreciate your feedback. You are not the first to come up with this argument about playing all lines.... Just in case they hit anything.

But if you play the lottery, do you then play on all numbers/combinations ? Of course not. And it is the same here. Besides you can not actually hit anything 'big' by playing all lines. As I wrote hitting the 5 wilds would only give a *240 bet-size win, which is extremely small compared to how rare it is to hit this.

And on the other hand, if you do hit something big on one of the first 5 lines, you will regret a lot more, that you had not playing only 5 lines, but then with 5*line-bet size instead.

[LOOKAWAY]

Hi zoozie i get where your coming from betting less lines can beat the system that has a edge over you and is programmed for that.

But i dont trust a system that is made for taking my cash i only play for excitement and free spin rounds. So if my wins do land on the other lines i could zero out before i hit that bonus round let alone hitting the bonus round and wins landing on the other lines. The sytem itself is well trained payback wised up for sure.

I do think its a good system for playing to make money and not free spin rounds. By super sizeing your bets and just playing for line hits on less lines.
But thats not my game as it could all be over too quick for me as i like to get some hours in.

Also zoozie i dont understand how hitting five wilds would give 240 bet size win when normaly you get 100 credits a coin or line depending on if your Zoozied or not.

And i dont play the lottery i have known from birth that its not goin to be me i cant only be gratefull that i know that for a fact.

Ps. I think those snow honey type games would be good for playing less lines as the bonus round not free spins hits on adjacent reels and not payline. Also as i understand there would be certain slots that your system does not work on like jungle jim for one.

And offcourse if your goin to post a system online that is involved with money and maybe others trying at there own caution. Maybe you should write up a list off games that this system works on. And maybe a few tips on how to pull it off. I provoke you Zoozie list it up dude.