Scooter7
Dormant Account
Ive had several months to play the latest Crypto games at InterCasino and I thought Id post my thoughts. It's long, but that's probably because a) they released a lot of games and b) I typed a lot about both Cubis and Video Poker
General:
Theyve released their Bonus Video Poker in 50 and 100 hand varieties across all of their usual game variants. Jacks or Better, Deuces Wild, etc. There are 12 new slot games; except for Cubis, which is totally unique, every slot game has a scatter and a substitute symbol. In general, I find that attaching bonus game or free spin triggers to scatter symbols wastes payouts on the scatter pays when they could make the scatter payout amount tiny and give you bigger bonus round payouts. Its the same thing overall, but the big scatter payout gets lost in the shuffle. They could make a bigger splash my way with the same overall return . Most non-triggering scatter payouts only pay back your bet instead of 2, 3, or more times your wager. There should be a better payout for just missing a bonus trigger.
Bonus Video Poker:
Im really impressed with the 50 and 100 hand Bonus Video Poker games more and more as time goes by. The presentation is really good on the 50 hand-everything is well laid out and easy to see. Even the 100 hand isnt too bad considering how much stuff needs to fit on the screen. As others have pointed out, the way this game is designed (discards are shuffled back into the decks) is a little worse for us. Without being a math genius, I can safely say that the chance of drawing to a royal flush goes down slightly, but according to the Wizard of Odds, the overall return is actually higher for some of the variants when the returned card payouts are included. I would also guess (with the same lack of math genius) that the returned card payouts reduce the variance (how much, I dont know) which makes ones bankroll have a better chance of surviving.
There are several things I really like about the presentation:
The enlargement of any of your hand displays when you mouse over them after the round.
The colour-coding they use for hand values is consistent across all of the games. Four of a kind is always red, no matter how many things there are on the paytable. Further, if there is more than one type of 4oaK, they use different shades of red.
The display is in both credits and currency! Its jammed into their standard display, but I much prefer this to their other VP games and to other software providers. I want to know the $$$ details, not the candy-coated credits crap. It would be much better if you could simply toggle it, but this has obviously been included as best they could to make complainers like me happy.
I also like the 2 cent coin value. I usually dont play $25 (5 cents) on 100 hand, but I go back and forth between $5 and $10 (1 and 2 cents) regularly
On the bad side:
Even though Im happy with the returned card thing, Id like to see the same 50/100 hand games in the regular VP style.
The sounds are pretty cheesy. If I could control the volume level, I could mix just enough sound in with the music Im playing to hear if anything important is going on, but you can only go on-off.
I cant afford the Super Jackpot games at 25 cents and $1 per credit. To win the jackpot you need to bet $62.50 on 50 hand, 25 cent or $250 on 50 hand! I think we peasants need a 2 cent or 5 cent progressive game.
Cubis:
Ive mentioned this game in other posts, so Ill be brief. Its a totally new slot concept that involves 15 lines in each of three different directions. This is sickeningly entertaining and well made. The sounds and visual effects are really cool; I love the bomb explosions that remove some/all of the cubes even though theyre just mini-free spins. The background image for this game changes every so often too. Thats not something Ive seen in other slot games. Also, theyve got a lock button that lets you keep your favourite background instead of rotating. I even found a button on each background that changes the backgrounds right away. Im used to finding easter eggs in non-casino games and DVDs, but this is new for slots. Maybe the best thing is that it takes a little longer to play a spin on this game which makes the money I budget for fun games last longer.
Frightmare Jackpot Slots:
Casinomeisters favourite is in this group (Zombies) and its mine too.
Vampire Bats:
The feature is 4 re-spins, but its better than it sounds because all of the symbols on reels 2 and 4 become wilds and create lots of paying lines on each of the re-spins. It takes a long time to cycle through the wins, but if Im getting paid
Witches and Warlocks:
Ho-hum bonus round, but good effects on the animated symbols in the main game. Not my favourite, but better than the scores of clone games that most providers are churning out.
Zone of the Zombies:
This one is really special for its animations. I love the chainsaw and the girl/ghoul. The bonus game in this one is really entertaining and humorously gory.
Caesar Salad:
I think this is the best of the free spin games in the release. The theme and sounds are really cute. The whole Caesar/salad/Roman play on words lends itself to some funny symbols and animations, especially the Caesar symbol chomping on the chicken leg (Chicken Caesar salad, I guess). The Lion symbol is great too-the poor lion has a bowl of salad in front of him and just looks confused as to what to do with it. Without using Royal symbols, it was easy for me to tell which ones were higher and which ones were lower paying even though everything is well laid out on the paytable page.
I learned that the higher the top payout, the more volatile a slot generally is. 7500 is the top amount here (pretty big-most games seem to be in the 3000-5000 range), but the top prizes on the other symbols seem small (2000 or less) so maybe its not too much of a problem. The free spins pay triple, so one good feature and you can really pile up some cash.
Silver Star:
I like this one because I generally prefer bonus games to free spins. The animations in the background of main slot game are interesting. Subtle, but they show a nice touch and attention to details.
This is another no royals game although I did need the paytable to more easily figure out which symbols were higher or lower paying.
The bonus game is so-so for playing, but go-go for paying. You just click on the shoot button for each of five shots in a fairgrounds-type shooting gallery, but I have regularly turned a $2.50 bet(10 cents a line) into a $120.00 bonus round win. Ill take that any day.
Marvel Games:
I wont go into detail on these games. I only played them enough to form an opinion on them (i.e. until I could hit a bonus round). Theyre all really well put together like the rest of the Marvel games, but nothing tops Hulk for bonus round action or Thor for free spins.
Ghost Rider:
Decent pickem bonus game and good sounds, but nothing ground-breaking compared to previous Marvel games. Im sure the movie release helps keep this one in peoples minds.
Elektra:
I like the artwork better than Silver Surfer, but Elektra barely beats out Silver Surfer and X-Men for my least favourite Marvel game. This one has a pretty, but simple bonus round where you have 9 tries to hit 5 bad guys with Ninja stars.
Iron Man:
I think the main game is pretty basic, but the animations in the bonus round where you pick 3 of 9 square to find prize amounts are well-crafted.
Thai Sunrise:
Not my sort of thing, but very cute sounds and artwork that will appeal to free spin-seekers. More for the female demographic than for my tastes.
Thunder Down Under:
Definitely for the female demographic. Based on the all-male revue from Australia that was being advertised everywhere when I went to Las Vegas last year. Its a free spin game and the sounds and animated symbols are appropriately aggravating to me which means that there are bound to be lots of people that think its great.
Mystique Club:
At least this is the right gender for me, but given that were playing on the internet, theres bound to be better porn within a few mouse clicks from wherever you are. I like the user-choice free spins/multiplier feature here. If you mouse over one of the choices (I think theyre 15 spins @ 2x, 10 spins @ 3x and 5 spins @ 6x) you get to see a cheesy soft-core video for a few seconds before starting the free spins. Its a left-right/right-left paying machine which is a little different compared to most games. I think the most interesting thing about the game is the way the reels pop into place. Sort of like the game show Jeopardy when Alex is showing the category board at the beginning of the round.
I think that covers all of their new games. I will play Cubis, Zombies, and Bonus Video Poker regularly. I think they are top-notch games that beat the competition soundly. They're all well done and everyone will have their own favourites, but those are my top choices.
General:
Theyve released their Bonus Video Poker in 50 and 100 hand varieties across all of their usual game variants. Jacks or Better, Deuces Wild, etc. There are 12 new slot games; except for Cubis, which is totally unique, every slot game has a scatter and a substitute symbol. In general, I find that attaching bonus game or free spin triggers to scatter symbols wastes payouts on the scatter pays when they could make the scatter payout amount tiny and give you bigger bonus round payouts. Its the same thing overall, but the big scatter payout gets lost in the shuffle. They could make a bigger splash my way with the same overall return . Most non-triggering scatter payouts only pay back your bet instead of 2, 3, or more times your wager. There should be a better payout for just missing a bonus trigger.
Bonus Video Poker:
Im really impressed with the 50 and 100 hand Bonus Video Poker games more and more as time goes by. The presentation is really good on the 50 hand-everything is well laid out and easy to see. Even the 100 hand isnt too bad considering how much stuff needs to fit on the screen. As others have pointed out, the way this game is designed (discards are shuffled back into the decks) is a little worse for us. Without being a math genius, I can safely say that the chance of drawing to a royal flush goes down slightly, but according to the Wizard of Odds, the overall return is actually higher for some of the variants when the returned card payouts are included. I would also guess (with the same lack of math genius) that the returned card payouts reduce the variance (how much, I dont know) which makes ones bankroll have a better chance of surviving.
There are several things I really like about the presentation:
The enlargement of any of your hand displays when you mouse over them after the round.
The colour-coding they use for hand values is consistent across all of the games. Four of a kind is always red, no matter how many things there are on the paytable. Further, if there is more than one type of 4oaK, they use different shades of red.
The display is in both credits and currency! Its jammed into their standard display, but I much prefer this to their other VP games and to other software providers. I want to know the $$$ details, not the candy-coated credits crap. It would be much better if you could simply toggle it, but this has obviously been included as best they could to make complainers like me happy.
I also like the 2 cent coin value. I usually dont play $25 (5 cents) on 100 hand, but I go back and forth between $5 and $10 (1 and 2 cents) regularly
On the bad side:
Even though Im happy with the returned card thing, Id like to see the same 50/100 hand games in the regular VP style.
The sounds are pretty cheesy. If I could control the volume level, I could mix just enough sound in with the music Im playing to hear if anything important is going on, but you can only go on-off.
I cant afford the Super Jackpot games at 25 cents and $1 per credit. To win the jackpot you need to bet $62.50 on 50 hand, 25 cent or $250 on 50 hand! I think we peasants need a 2 cent or 5 cent progressive game.
Cubis:
Ive mentioned this game in other posts, so Ill be brief. Its a totally new slot concept that involves 15 lines in each of three different directions. This is sickeningly entertaining and well made. The sounds and visual effects are really cool; I love the bomb explosions that remove some/all of the cubes even though theyre just mini-free spins. The background image for this game changes every so often too. Thats not something Ive seen in other slot games. Also, theyve got a lock button that lets you keep your favourite background instead of rotating. I even found a button on each background that changes the backgrounds right away. Im used to finding easter eggs in non-casino games and DVDs, but this is new for slots. Maybe the best thing is that it takes a little longer to play a spin on this game which makes the money I budget for fun games last longer.
Frightmare Jackpot Slots:
Casinomeisters favourite is in this group (Zombies) and its mine too.
Vampire Bats:
The feature is 4 re-spins, but its better than it sounds because all of the symbols on reels 2 and 4 become wilds and create lots of paying lines on each of the re-spins. It takes a long time to cycle through the wins, but if Im getting paid
Witches and Warlocks:
Ho-hum bonus round, but good effects on the animated symbols in the main game. Not my favourite, but better than the scores of clone games that most providers are churning out.
Zone of the Zombies:
This one is really special for its animations. I love the chainsaw and the girl/ghoul. The bonus game in this one is really entertaining and humorously gory.
Caesar Salad:
I think this is the best of the free spin games in the release. The theme and sounds are really cute. The whole Caesar/salad/Roman play on words lends itself to some funny symbols and animations, especially the Caesar symbol chomping on the chicken leg (Chicken Caesar salad, I guess). The Lion symbol is great too-the poor lion has a bowl of salad in front of him and just looks confused as to what to do with it. Without using Royal symbols, it was easy for me to tell which ones were higher and which ones were lower paying even though everything is well laid out on the paytable page.
I learned that the higher the top payout, the more volatile a slot generally is. 7500 is the top amount here (pretty big-most games seem to be in the 3000-5000 range), but the top prizes on the other symbols seem small (2000 or less) so maybe its not too much of a problem. The free spins pay triple, so one good feature and you can really pile up some cash.
Silver Star:
I like this one because I generally prefer bonus games to free spins. The animations in the background of main slot game are interesting. Subtle, but they show a nice touch and attention to details.
This is another no royals game although I did need the paytable to more easily figure out which symbols were higher or lower paying.
The bonus game is so-so for playing, but go-go for paying. You just click on the shoot button for each of five shots in a fairgrounds-type shooting gallery, but I have regularly turned a $2.50 bet(10 cents a line) into a $120.00 bonus round win. Ill take that any day.
Marvel Games:
I wont go into detail on these games. I only played them enough to form an opinion on them (i.e. until I could hit a bonus round). Theyre all really well put together like the rest of the Marvel games, but nothing tops Hulk for bonus round action or Thor for free spins.
Ghost Rider:
Decent pickem bonus game and good sounds, but nothing ground-breaking compared to previous Marvel games. Im sure the movie release helps keep this one in peoples minds.
Elektra:
I like the artwork better than Silver Surfer, but Elektra barely beats out Silver Surfer and X-Men for my least favourite Marvel game. This one has a pretty, but simple bonus round where you have 9 tries to hit 5 bad guys with Ninja stars.
Iron Man:
I think the main game is pretty basic, but the animations in the bonus round where you pick 3 of 9 square to find prize amounts are well-crafted.
Thai Sunrise:
Not my sort of thing, but very cute sounds and artwork that will appeal to free spin-seekers. More for the female demographic than for my tastes.
Thunder Down Under:
Definitely for the female demographic. Based on the all-male revue from Australia that was being advertised everywhere when I went to Las Vegas last year. Its a free spin game and the sounds and animated symbols are appropriately aggravating to me which means that there are bound to be lots of people that think its great.
Mystique Club:
At least this is the right gender for me, but given that were playing on the internet, theres bound to be better porn within a few mouse clicks from wherever you are. I like the user-choice free spins/multiplier feature here. If you mouse over one of the choices (I think theyre 15 spins @ 2x, 10 spins @ 3x and 5 spins @ 6x) you get to see a cheesy soft-core video for a few seconds before starting the free spins. Its a left-right/right-left paying machine which is a little different compared to most games. I think the most interesting thing about the game is the way the reels pop into place. Sort of like the game show Jeopardy when Alex is showing the category board at the beginning of the round.
I think that covers all of their new games. I will play Cubis, Zombies, and Bonus Video Poker regularly. I think they are top-notch games that beat the competition soundly. They're all well done and everyone will have their own favourites, but those are my top choices.