What Happened to Microgaming?

[Harry_BKK]

I would love to be able to play DOA. But not possible, so off I go to play BetSoft.

Some of my favourite games are listed below. Sorry, but am not sure of the maximum X factor on these games - don't know how to work it out. Oh well...some of us are born to be Stephen Hawking, some of us are not.

So...

The Angler: Even the base game can give good wins, and if you catch the FS in a really good mood you can end up with a screenful of sticky wilds. The bonus round is usually crap, but just occasionally it can be OK. The payout table states you can win 130,000 credits in a single game.

Alkemor's Tower: Again, reasonable wins in the base game. Some of the bonus rounds are total crap (Earth Elemental Spell, I'm looking at you!), but some of the others are awesome. But it needs to be in a good mood, otherwise get the hell out.

Puppy Love Plus: OK, I'm a sucker for these cute little puppies - just wish they were kittens. The bonus round can give a good payout, but it can also be crap. But the FS can be triggered frequently, so even though on average, it doesn't pay that well, continually triggering the FS can boost your balance.

7th Heaven: Never seen this type of game before, even though it is classified as a Video slot. If you are lucky enough to get two wild reels (Cols 2 + 4) paired with a 7 across all reels, you will be laughing all the way to the bank.

Under the Sea: Good for steadily increasing your balance. However, pray you don't trigger the FS. You don't get anything for the trigger, and they (usually) are total crap.

More Gold Digging: Wow, can this one pay, both in base game (up to x5 multiplier) and the FS (up to x15 multiplier). Also, up to 2,330,000 credits can be won in a single spin. Have never seen this (how I wish!) but I have had great wins on this game.

Tiger's Claw: Reminds me of Siberian Storm, so possibly a clone. It is a 720 ways with up to 96 FS to be won. Again, good for boosting balances. Base game wins are between 10x-20x, but with the FS, as long as the game is in a good mood, it can wander into W/D territory.

Bamboo Rush: A new game, and I have only played it once, but it really looks as if it has potential.

Carnaval Forever: Avoid! Avoid! Avoid! Dreadful game with lousy payouts. ALthough it says "Big wins with the Carnaval queen", all I can say is: In what universe? And the payouts even for top paying symbols are dreadful - 100x if you are lucky. Did I say I hate this game?

Anyway, hope some of this is of use. And good luck.

I can also recommend Spinfiniti Man and Gemmed.

The latter is like a poor man's version of Megaways with 81 pay lines but I found it pretty good when I did the review. Don't overuse the feature buy though as it will mostly obliterate your balance pretty quick.

 

[Hydr0]

Carnaval Forever: Avoid! Avoid! Avoid! Dreadful game with lousy payouts. ALthough it says "Big wins with the Carnaval queen", all I can say is: In what universe? And the payouts even for top paying symbols are dreadful - 100x if you are lucky. Did I say I hate this game?

Some good ones there ladyhawke

Re Carnaval Forever, my experience has been significantly different to yours.

I play it sparingly, and see it as a ‘quick hit’ slot only. The following strategy has worked well for me to date....

I wager between $10 to $20. I play max AUD $1.00. I wouldn’t recommend venturing too much higher than this. If I hit nice, I play another ~25 spins or so, if I hit again, I repeat the pattern, and so on... If ~25 spins straight hit nothing, I move on.

Max win is 1000x I believe (full screen of wilds), so it’s not going to make you rich. My best hit to date is ~500x ( lots of wilds on reels 1 to 4), and I’ve hit quite a few ~200x to 300x hits.

For the benefit of those who have never played it, and decide to give it a go, every free spin is a guaranteed win during the feature, but without 5OAK’s and a decent amount of wilds don’t expect much return. Every scatter that appears on the screen during the feature awards another spin, which can see the feature last for quite a while.

I would never buy the feature on it though; not worth it, and almost a certain fail. The number of scatter teases is insane, but because they’re so frequent, the feature doesn’t usually take too long to hit.

Please note, this isn’t a recommendation, just my experience.

 

[Hydr0]

I can also recommend Spinfiniti Man and Gemmed.

The latter is like a poor man's version of Megaways with 81 pay lines but I found it pretty good when I did the review. Don't overuse the feature buy though as it will mostly obliterate your balance pretty quick.

That Gemmed slot looks kinda cool, but after giving it solid play time over a few sessions, I’m not that impressed. Loves to troll.

Hitting anything of real merit seems ridiculously hard; getting three large rectangles in a row for example. The number of times I’ve had two from the back that pay nothing isn’t cool.

My best hit so far is ~150x.

Have you hit anything of value?

 

[ladyhawke]

Re Carnaval Forever, my experience has been significantly different to yours....

Your experience on Fa Fa Twins is also totally different to mine, which is why I refer to it as the Fa Fa Off Twins.

 

[Harry_BKK]

That Gemmed slot looks kinda cool, but after giving it solid play time over a few sessions, I’m not that impressed. Loves to troll.

Hitting anything of real merit seems ridiculously hard; getting three large rectangles in a row for example. The number of times I’ve had two from the back that pay nothing isn’t cool.

My best hit so far is ~150x.

Have you hit anything of value?

Can't remember, to be honest. I review sometimes 5 to 6 slots in a day and mostly forget about them as it is often weeks if not months before they are released. In most cases, I only remember if a slot was interesting.

This was my final verdict:

The slot looks impressive but also slightly confusing as matching symbols need to touch for a winning combination. At times, it looked like an uphill task to hit any win with five or more symbols over dozens of spins. Since the pays are minuscule for a four of a kind, it can be quite a balance drainer. Overall though a fun slot to play with huge win potential when the right gems fall into place.

Another one which just came into my mind is Chilli Pop.

 

[brianmon]

I've found that some versions of IR do have an auto play option.
It's marked on the start button 'hold to autoplay'

But the loss and win limits are completely bizarre and useless. They're also fixed rather than variable and aren't linked in anyway to stake size
.
(sorry for the quality but the menus kept closing when I tried to take a screenshot, so had to take photos)



Obviously these conversations have been subcontracted out, to people who don't have a clue about the games, or how they should work.

Do MicroGaming not check their products before release, or do they just not care any more?

 

[goatwack]

Quite a few of their games still run in Flash, yet have had a completely pointless visual makeover.

Dumbed-down for no discernible reason, as though they genuinely are of the belief that pimping up the likes of Spring Break players are going to abandon Bonanza and other excitement-laden modern titles

No doubt when it comes to converting the remainder of their games come Dec. 2020 they'll probably hand over coding duties to YTS trainees or Community Service volunteers

And for the record, their games play shite across the board now, a far cry of how they used to

 

[pyst777]

I'm only a low stake (minimum) player and find that Microgaming slots treat me a lot kinder than any of the others do. I play most of the ones which my casino lists first and then get a bit picky about the ones further down - usually ones with movie titles. Mega Moolah WAS also a favourite but the jackpot spin feature is offered so infrequently I got bored with it. I also found the Free Spins feature with Moolah was coming up a lot less than I was getting before. They're all a bit rubbish sometimes of course.

 

[Aryol]

If it is not enough, here is my data from my "session" playing Immortal Romance:

Spins: 117 (85 Dead Spins, 32 Wins - 2 wins were above Bet size with 3,33x and 4,33x)
Bet Size: 0,60 - 0,90
Features: 0
Total Wager/Bet: 85,8
Total Wins: 18,85
RTP: 22 %

And this is just my last session on it, the few before were not better. Not sure if I want even open their slots anymore, I am really disappointed.

New Value: 5211 Spins, it cost me a bit. But the result:

RTP: 47,54 %
Bonus: 2 (paid 5x and ~22x)
Wild Desire: 1 (paid 30x with 2 wild reels)

Played on 3 casinos and it was a really bad experience but then I reminded that I had this already before the change to flash. I remember a time where the game became super cold for 8+ deposits (at that time each deposit was 50-100 € and played on min bet). The game seems be the same like before, but I maybe tried to force it a bit too much. But the bonus frequency is pretty low this time, on some days I get them all few spins and sometimes they seem to disappear. Probably will balance a bit more when I reach 100.000 spins but this will take a bit time since I limited myself since the break to avoid high loss.

Only Problem I now have is that sometimes a few spins (especially in the bonus) just skip any animation like I pressed the spin button twice.

 

[nikantw]

Particularly rich in clones this months new releases, aren't they?

 

[pyst777]

Played a couple of Microgaming slots today - Medallion and Long Mu's Fortune. Got 10 free spins in both games - playing 20 cents a spin. The return was 10 cents on Medallion and $2 on Long Mu's Fortune. Fortunately I hadn't played long before the free spins came up. Have learnt that it doesn't pay to chase after free spins for too long - the return is quite pathetic most times. $5 at 20 cents a spin is my limit - if nothing has happened by then I move on. Broke that rule tonight playing Mega Moolah ISIS - spent $30 to get the free spins which returned $27. lol

 

[nikantw]

Particularly rich in clones this months new releases, aren't they?

Here they are

 

[mcgameboy]

Seeing the above post makes me rue the fact that we do not have a facepalm smilie available for use

 

[Kroffe]

Seeing the above post makes me rue the fact that we do not have a facepalm smilie available for use

You shall rue no more!
And i agree. Clone-releases are no fun.

 

[pyst777]

I take back anything nice I said about Microgaming. Just spent $200 (spread over 5 days) playing 4 of their games (minimum 25-50 cents per spin - Rugby Star, Thunderstruck2, Ariana & Immortal Beloved. Got Free Spins feature once in Arianna - paid $2.70. Rubbish. Time to quit these stinky slots . lol

 

[pyst777]

Didn't quit like I suggested I should. Still no luck with Rugby Star & Thunderstruck2. Got free spins in Immortal Beloved - $8 from 18 free spins. Also Mega Moolah - $1.70 from 15 free spins. Showdown Saloon 5 free spins gave me $3. What's the point of playing these games with lousy returns from free spin features. A question: when you play a game available in a large number of online casinos are you playing a single virtual machine connected to all the casinos which have it or is there a separate virtual machine for each casino offering it?

 

[georgietemple]

I reviewed Rising Royals recently, and realized it's basically Tiki Vikings all over again. It's just weird to me that Microgaming is working with smaller companies like Just For The Win and is still coming out with clones. I'd rather see more games like The Smashing Biscuit.

 

[nikantw]

To be honest, I did some "4-wins" hunt trying mostly new MG games last week.
I have mixed feelings about them, but mostly good time and plenty of playtime and frequent bonuses.

I only hated Zombie Hoard and Village People. Not so fond of Side W...er and the new Lara either (for hours, 200x lost and no jackpot wheel that would pay just 15x anyway).

 

[goatwack]

Shocking decline with this provider and its regular assorted wonderment of games.

Playing them the other day just to fuel some forlorn sense of nostalgia, and get away from the modern wank they call 'innovative', it was unfortunately the most turgid sand-timer gameplay this side of slotdom.

Bonuses reeling off with gay abandon and then completely ceasing. Oh and what bonuses. 10x, 10x, 15x,12x etc........you get the picture

Oh and they've even gone and done the unthinkable - royally botching up Thunderstruck 1 with their most wonderful HTML5 conversion. Gone is the dependable gameplay to be replaced with some stilted, clunky-ass reel action with the most pointless post-bonus 'Congratulations' screen (complete with TWO thunderclaps)

Oh and Georgie Porgie's like a different game now, I daren't even try some of my other old favourites now for fear of being rectally-intruded

 

[helafast]

The Festive Indulgence slot looks to be an ACTUAL Microgaming game, so hopefully more are on the way.

Also a tweet that was posted (then deleted pretty quickly) by BTG, said they were "testing out the first Microgaming Megaways slot"

I still hold out hope for MG, the other studios are starting to make some games that are ok but I still really want good old MG games!

 

[slot_zombie]

The Festive Indulgence slot looks to be an ACTUAL Microgaming game, so hopefully more are on the way.

We can but hope. Completely done with megaways and grid games, just give me a decent 9-liner or 243-wayer with a free spins bonus and I'm happy.

 

[pyst777]

Finally made it to the highest (25) free spins level in Immortal Beloved. A bit disappointing really AND a bit annoying to get the spinning vines column which hardly ever (maybe never) made any difference. ie. there was little to no gain for me. Getting annoyed with online slots - seems to be for every win there are 30 losses. Have reduced my playing on any game, to $2 of 20-30cent spins. If there is little to no return from that play (and they're most often like that) I'm moving on. Most times(99%) if I continue playing more than $2 worth they don't improve. Thunderstruck2 is still giving me a hiding - must be $50 spent on it so far over a couple of weeks and nothing returned. Will probably need at least 5 free spin features to recover that. Played Showdown Saloon yesterday - got 20cents return for 5 free spins.

 

[pyst777]

My latest Microgaming hate is A Dark Matter. Keep popping money into that one with very little coming back - spin after spin with very infrequent tiny (less than 50cent) wins.

 

[Harry_BKK]

The Festive Indulgence slot looks to be an ACTUAL Microgaming game, so hopefully more are on the way.

Also a tweet that was posted (then deleted pretty quickly) by BTG, said they were "testing out the first Microgaming Megaways slot"

I still hold out hope for MG, the other studios are starting to make some games that are ok but I still really want good old MG games!

Festive Indulgence is indeed a MG original but a near 100% clone of Thunderstruck, Ladies Night, Spring Break. The only difference is the stacked wild in the free spins.

There is already on Megaways game running on the MG platforms, Viper and Quickfire, which MG half-heartedly declined to be involved. Question is only how it got onto the platforms, especially Viper.

 

[Panasony]

Also they are closing their poker network soon

You do not have permission to view link Log in or register now.

OMG that was sad reading

As for new Microgaming games, I somehow like Showdown Saloon, apart from that one I agree with everyone in here.