- Joined
- Mar 25, 2012
- Location
- IOM
A new 3Dice slot is something that always piques my interest and leads me to immediately don my investigator's hat. After being left battered and bruised by my extended encounter with Lil Devil, documented here:
I have retired from the world of 'shopfront' online casinos, where multiple providers along with endless games and new releases dissolve into a tedious miasma of dispiriting sludge and tiresome RTP watching for the latest round of stealthy percentage nerfs. (Lil Devil broke my gentle spirit, I haven't made a deposit to Videoslots, or any casino except 3Dice, since I threw in the towel with Lil Devil.)
Having decided to stop setting fire to piles of cash chasing a mythical decent bonus round on Lil Devil, I returned to the gentler shores of 3Dice, where RTPs are consistently the right side of 95%, and slots volatility, along with feature frequency, remain firmly grounded in the realms of the sane.
As such, I was pleased to see a new slot appear in the list of 3Dice's videoslots section, and abandoned my ongoing loony quest to hit the 3000x win on Dice Fusion:
To try out the new game.
I've done a fair few thousand spins on it up to now so here's my initial review, however like with other 3Dice games where I've done this, I'll continue to post further thoughts and experiences as the weeks and months roll by.
It's a 20-liner with a mini feature that triggers randomly before any spin, and a proper free spins feature that needs three, four or five scatters to trigger, more scatters means upgrades to the feature, and more free spins. RTP is 95.1%
Note that the reels are four stops high rather than three, so not everything you'd expect to be a winline, is a winline. You'll adapt pretty quickly though, as the winlines are at least logical - (I'm looking at you there, Blueprint.....) - so it becomes an easy slot to 'read' with a bit of familiarity.
BASEGAME - Not a whole lot to report here TBH, a 5OAK on wilds is only worth 200x, and there's no mechanism to get the upgraded multiplier wilds in the basegame. As such, this is mostly just going to be chucking back a modest chunk of RTP via regular smaller wins. I can't really see any way for the basegame to deliver much more than 200-250x. There are no stacked wilds or symbols, so as far as I can tell you'll be limited to a single 5OAK of wilds, and whatever other wins they contribute to.
As a basegame it's fine, it gets the job done, the game looks and sounds perfectly pleasant, so it's not an offensive presence on one's screen.
MINI FEATURE - This turns up reasonably often and can be thought of as being a single 'firing' spin from a three scatters free spins round. The reels will go into a special 'loading ammo' animation, and between one and five reels will flash to indicate that a wild shot(s) will hit that reel after they come to a stop. Multiple shots can hit the same reel, a single shot creates a wild, any subsequent shots at the same place upgrade it to a multiplying wild, up to a maximum of 4x. Any natural wilds that are already in place and are hit by a shot, are upgraded on the same basis.
As you'd expect of a regular mini feature, this generally doesn't do much. It can hit just a single reel, or two reels and then choose reels four and five for the shots, where a couple of extra wilds won't do anything.
This is where the reels being four stops high with only twenty winlines comes into play, as it's pretty easy for a few extra wilds to not do very much, even though they might look like they're in good spots.
That said, once in a while it'll surprise you and make a decent 5OAK, or a few 4OAKs, so it's not a total write-off, and it means that the basegame isn't just a case of camping out the main feature. Speaking of which...…
MAIN FEATURE - Three scatters gets you in here and awards 10 free spins, four scatters gets 12 spins, five gets 20 spins. Retriggers are a thing and any retriggers continue at whatever 'level' you're at, this is important because four scatters and five scatters also deliver upgraded spins. (i.e. A three scatters retrigger inside of a four scatters feature, will award ten extra spins at the four scatters level.)
Spins strictly alternate between 'loading' and 'firing', so every other spin you get shots at the reels as per the mini feature, the animation is a bit different but it's basically the same thing. This means that on a basic three scatters trigger, you're guaranteed five spins with shots.
Technically speaking only reels that contain the equivalent of the card symbols can carry a shot over from the 'loading' spin into the 'firing' spin, but in reality there's almost always a 'card symbol' on each reel so in practical terms that makes very little difference.
Four scatters means a bonus shot for each firing spin, five scatters confers three extra shots. I haven't had five scatters yet but I've had four scatters a handful of times and it does mean better pays to an extent, but it can still dick you off with where the wild shots land, and how many reels it fires them at on the initial barrage, before the four scatters extra shots kick in. Five scatters is definitely one to watch for and I'll report back when..... if..... I ever land them
My best pay so far is off three scatters, which did over 1000x on a single spin. The loading spin targeted all five reels, and then the firing spin made a 5OAK on wilds with a multiplying wild boosting to 3x, you can see the results of that here:
OVERALL - I like this one, the basegame never gets tedious or grindy because the mini feature turns up so often, plus the normal feature frequency is sensible too (my guess would be 1/170 or thereabouts). Three scatters can pay handsomely so you don't feel that the basic feature is a waste of time, but four and moreso five scatters are an appealing proposition to dig in for.
Aesthetically it's solid, the graphics and animations are all very well done, production value wise I'd say it's the equal or better of a lot of output from other far bigger providers, I certainly don't get any sense that I'm playing a second rate slot that was cranked out on the cheap. In fact if anything, as one of the trends I was becoming disenchanted with was low-effort rush jobs from the likes of NLC, 3Dice's games are a clear step up from that to my mind. Whilst I do still miss the unique '3D' identity of 3Dice present in their older games, the likes of Cannonball are perfectly fine.
Music and sound are good enough, a inoffensive pirate theme warbles along in the background with appropriate musical bursts for key events and a different tune for free spins, along with a complimentary collection of sound effects. It certainly doesn't make me want to cut my own ears off inside of five minutes like Bonanza's music does.
I think this will make the grade for a place in my regular slots rotation at 3Dice, I definitely want to see what five scatters can do, and it's a fun enough game to have burbling along in general, as any free spin can load a shot to hit all five reels, which gives a chance for a decent pay in any bonus round (mini or normal), even one that's looking like being a stinker.
FINAL NOTES - As you'd expect from 3Dice - No feature buys. No 'enhanced spins'. Single RTP model of 95.1%. No stored value mechanics. Both volatility and feature frequency are sensible.
New Slot Announcement Post in thread 'LIL' DEVIL by Big Time Gaming...'
Latest deposit played to a bust out, at least this time I'm only about 12% adrift of RTP
I've decided this is stupid and I'm not going to do it anymore. It's not fun, I'll never make a withdrawal in a million years plugging away at this rotten bag of shit, and it's a total waste of money.
I'm going to revive things over at 3Dice and get sorted out with Mifinity so I can deposit there. I got in touch with Mifinity's support to sort out the issue with my authentication and they've fixed it, so I'll test the waters with lobbing some money into Mifinity and then getting it over to 3Dice...
I've decided this is stupid and I'm not going to do it anymore. It's not fun, I'll never make a withdrawal in a million years plugging away at this rotten bag of shit, and it's a total waste of money.
I'm going to revive things over at 3Dice and get sorted out with Mifinity so I can deposit there. I got in touch with Mifinity's support to sort out the issue with my authentication and they've fixed it, so I'll test the waters with lobbing some money into Mifinity and then getting it over to 3Dice...
I have retired from the world of 'shopfront' online casinos, where multiple providers along with endless games and new releases dissolve into a tedious miasma of dispiriting sludge and tiresome RTP watching for the latest round of stealthy percentage nerfs. (Lil Devil broke my gentle spirit, I haven't made a deposit to Videoslots, or any casino except 3Dice, since I threw in the towel with Lil Devil.)
Having decided to stop setting fire to piles of cash chasing a mythical decent bonus round on Lil Devil, I returned to the gentler shores of 3Dice, where RTPs are consistently the right side of 95%, and slots volatility, along with feature frequency, remain firmly grounded in the realms of the sane.
As such, I was pleased to see a new slot appear in the list of 3Dice's videoslots section, and abandoned my ongoing loony quest to hit the 3000x win on Dice Fusion:
New Slot Announcement Post in thread 'New 3Dice slot - 'DICE FUSION', 3Dice does Reactoonz'
To try out the new game.
I've done a fair few thousand spins on it up to now so here's my initial review, however like with other 3Dice games where I've done this, I'll continue to post further thoughts and experiences as the weeks and months roll by.
It's a 20-liner with a mini feature that triggers randomly before any spin, and a proper free spins feature that needs three, four or five scatters to trigger, more scatters means upgrades to the feature, and more free spins. RTP is 95.1%
Note that the reels are four stops high rather than three, so not everything you'd expect to be a winline, is a winline. You'll adapt pretty quickly though, as the winlines are at least logical - (I'm looking at you there, Blueprint.....) - so it becomes an easy slot to 'read' with a bit of familiarity.
BASEGAME - Not a whole lot to report here TBH, a 5OAK on wilds is only worth 200x, and there's no mechanism to get the upgraded multiplier wilds in the basegame. As such, this is mostly just going to be chucking back a modest chunk of RTP via regular smaller wins. I can't really see any way for the basegame to deliver much more than 200-250x. There are no stacked wilds or symbols, so as far as I can tell you'll be limited to a single 5OAK of wilds, and whatever other wins they contribute to.
As a basegame it's fine, it gets the job done, the game looks and sounds perfectly pleasant, so it's not an offensive presence on one's screen.
MINI FEATURE - This turns up reasonably often and can be thought of as being a single 'firing' spin from a three scatters free spins round. The reels will go into a special 'loading ammo' animation, and between one and five reels will flash to indicate that a wild shot(s) will hit that reel after they come to a stop. Multiple shots can hit the same reel, a single shot creates a wild, any subsequent shots at the same place upgrade it to a multiplying wild, up to a maximum of 4x. Any natural wilds that are already in place and are hit by a shot, are upgraded on the same basis.
As you'd expect of a regular mini feature, this generally doesn't do much. It can hit just a single reel, or two reels and then choose reels four and five for the shots, where a couple of extra wilds won't do anything.
This is where the reels being four stops high with only twenty winlines comes into play, as it's pretty easy for a few extra wilds to not do very much, even though they might look like they're in good spots.
That said, once in a while it'll surprise you and make a decent 5OAK, or a few 4OAKs, so it's not a total write-off, and it means that the basegame isn't just a case of camping out the main feature. Speaking of which...…
MAIN FEATURE - Three scatters gets you in here and awards 10 free spins, four scatters gets 12 spins, five gets 20 spins. Retriggers are a thing and any retriggers continue at whatever 'level' you're at, this is important because four scatters and five scatters also deliver upgraded spins. (i.e. A three scatters retrigger inside of a four scatters feature, will award ten extra spins at the four scatters level.)
Spins strictly alternate between 'loading' and 'firing', so every other spin you get shots at the reels as per the mini feature, the animation is a bit different but it's basically the same thing. This means that on a basic three scatters trigger, you're guaranteed five spins with shots.
Technically speaking only reels that contain the equivalent of the card symbols can carry a shot over from the 'loading' spin into the 'firing' spin, but in reality there's almost always a 'card symbol' on each reel so in practical terms that makes very little difference.
Four scatters means a bonus shot for each firing spin, five scatters confers three extra shots. I haven't had five scatters yet but I've had four scatters a handful of times and it does mean better pays to an extent, but it can still dick you off with where the wild shots land, and how many reels it fires them at on the initial barrage, before the four scatters extra shots kick in. Five scatters is definitely one to watch for and I'll report back when..... if..... I ever land them
My best pay so far is off three scatters, which did over 1000x on a single spin. The loading spin targeted all five reels, and then the firing spin made a 5OAK on wilds with a multiplying wild boosting to 3x, you can see the results of that here:
A nice 1046x on the new 3Dice slot 'Cannonball', this was off a basic three scatters trigger so none of the shot upgrades were in play, however on one of the 'loading' spins (it alternates between loading and firing the cannons on the free spins), it loaded all five reels and landed the shots in the perfect place to make some 5OAKs, including five wilds, and it upgraded one of the wilds to a 3x as well with a couple of extra shots.
I need to write a full review of this game which I'll be doing in due course, but for now this is a very pleasant win.
...
I need to write a full review of this game which I'll be doing in due course, but for now this is a very pleasant win.
OVERALL - I like this one, the basegame never gets tedious or grindy because the mini feature turns up so often, plus the normal feature frequency is sensible too (my guess would be 1/170 or thereabouts). Three scatters can pay handsomely so you don't feel that the basic feature is a waste of time, but four and moreso five scatters are an appealing proposition to dig in for.
Aesthetically it's solid, the graphics and animations are all very well done, production value wise I'd say it's the equal or better of a lot of output from other far bigger providers, I certainly don't get any sense that I'm playing a second rate slot that was cranked out on the cheap. In fact if anything, as one of the trends I was becoming disenchanted with was low-effort rush jobs from the likes of NLC, 3Dice's games are a clear step up from that to my mind. Whilst I do still miss the unique '3D' identity of 3Dice present in their older games, the likes of Cannonball are perfectly fine.
Music and sound are good enough, a inoffensive pirate theme warbles along in the background with appropriate musical bursts for key events and a different tune for free spins, along with a complimentary collection of sound effects. It certainly doesn't make me want to cut my own ears off inside of five minutes like Bonanza's music does.
I think this will make the grade for a place in my regular slots rotation at 3Dice, I definitely want to see what five scatters can do, and it's a fun enough game to have burbling along in general, as any free spin can load a shot to hit all five reels, which gives a chance for a decent pay in any bonus round (mini or normal), even one that's looking like being a stinker.
FINAL NOTES - As you'd expect from 3Dice - No feature buys. No 'enhanced spins'. Single RTP model of 95.1%. No stored value mechanics. Both volatility and feature frequency are sensible.
