1.
Microgaming. Reasons why....
- What Bryan and KK said about the Viper Client. Yes it is gathering an ever-increasing list of shortcomings as technology continue to make its advances, but as long as Viper client exits, I will play MG games more than any other software.
- What Bryan said about their VP catalogue. No one else comes close. No one is even on the same planet, VP-wise.
- They created The Dark Knight (god I miss that game so much) and Lord Of The Rings (a game I never had the pleasure of playing). Two of the all-time greats as far as I'm concerned. And they were part of...
- The "golden era" (well to me anyway) of MG 243 ways. TS2, IR, TDK, LOTR, Playboy, Finer Reels, Santa's Wild Ride, Girls With Guns 1 and 2, Avalon 2, Jurassic Park and yes, even BSG and its subpar paytable. I play these games more often than anything else out there and I don't see that changing.
- The classic 9-lines, like Agent Jane Blonde, Thunderstruck and co. Agent Jane will always remain a favourite of mine.
Forget the fact that MG have "not done much lately". And what they have done (in the last 3 years) would suggest that they have regressed into a nothing more than a rampant slot cloner. But some of their games (like those in the 243 ways era) are games to be proud of. I prefer to judge them on the amount of quality games they used to produce, rather than the cloned crap they produce now. Prior to Autumn 2014, they had a long history of excellence.
So for the overall body of work up to Autumn 2014, Microgaming is still number 1 for me. And it probably always will be.
2. Netent. Reasons why....
- Jungle Spirit
- DOA, even the watered-down HTML5 version.
- the Universal series (particularly the Turd and Invisible Man).
- the production values (sounds, music, graphics, all-round aesthetics). More often than not, they produce games that would score good style points, even if the substance is lacking. But seriously Netent, ditch the dreadful ELC-type * slots already.
- good catalogue of games
* ELC = Early Learning Centre
3. This is where I'm having trouble deciding. I'll say Novomatic, narrowly ahead of NextGen. I've done considerably better on NextGen games,
but I have to admit that Novomatic probably have a greater range of games that appeal to me. I just haven't landed any of those really crazy multiple re-triggers that you can get on Novo slots. If I had done, they might well be my Number 1.
As for the rest (the ones that I know I have tried)....well I would probably rank them
5. BTG, despite the punishment I have taken on them.
6. WMS, only because of the immense pulling power of the Rhino. Take that orange bastid away and I probably put WMS near the bottom.
7. Blueprint - I haven't given Blueprint much of my playtime or a fair chance. But I must admit I like Imperial Dragon, Count Duckula and Wish Upon A Jackpot.
8 - Yggdrasil. Some of their slots look awesome (high on style points), but the paytables are just so ugh (low on substance points).
Golden Fishtank is a superb game though and I also like Vikings Go Wild.
9. Playtech. Would probably be somewhere between 3 and 6 if the Marvel slots still existed. But all I have left now is Buffalo Blitz, Great Blue and Penguin Vacation.
10. ITG. Cleopatra Plus alone makes me prefer them to....
11. Play N' Go. Book of Dead made me hate them with a passion and boycott them for 5 months.
12. Quickspin...I'd only play these games on 10p a spin and out of sheer boredom or because I was given free spins on them. Playing these games on a regular basis would make me quit slots altogether or make me go on life tilt. No thank you.
Never played the rest, but I am going to give Merkur a try in the future for sure. I can see why people like them.