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Microgaming released four new exciting games on February 28th. With four new games a month (two of which are always slots) they are probably the most prolific internet gaming software manufacturer out there. Not only do they release great new games every month, they make sure that these new games have original themes as well. Although I'll never understand why their press release calls these "February 2006 new game releases" when they released them on the last day of the month. Personally I see them as the March releases, released a day early. With that one difference aside, both Microgaming and I are excited about these new releases. This time around, there are two new big video slots, a multi-hand blackjack and a brand new video poker waiting for players to enjoy.
Wheel of Wealth Special Edition is a new video slot that has so much to offer it doesn't just have one page for the payout table, it has three. Yup, three full pages of information just on the payout. That means there is a ton of ways to win in this 5 reel, 25 pay-line video slot. Players can win through the base game, Reel bonus and Wheel of Wealth. The theme of the graphics is a little weird to me, as it has cherries, apples, limes, and oranges mixed in with stacks of cash and jet liners but the point of the graphics is supposed to be money. Fruit doesn't make me think of money, it makes me think of summer and fruit salad. While the goal of the graphics may not be totally clear the game itself is, especially the Wild and Scatter rewards, a multiplier advantage and 2 generous bonus features through Reel and Wheel of Wealth opportunities. It didn't take me long to win big while playing this game. During the wheel of wealth bonus round I missed on the WOW wheel in my guess. I would have liked to have seen what happened when you get the wow. In my short time gaming I got into the bonus wheel round twice and the reel win once. Players will definitely be pleased with the wins in this game.
Kathmandu, the other amazing video slot released, is a 5 reel, 9 pay-line video slot. The theme of the slot is much clearer than Wheel of Wealth with exotic and wild graphics of distant mountain temples, giant bells, superbly detailed prayer wheels and city scenes. This is a very pretty video slot. It's also not too shabby on the payouts with two payout information pages. Players will enjoy the 5x mystery multipliers, two wild opportunities to win within the Free Spins rewards, and a gamble feature that enables the player to take a chance on doubling or even quadrupling wins. I won twice on the gamble feature (I took the 50/50 color of the card route as opposed to the 25% chance on the symbol.) Players can wager up to 20 coins per pay-line from 0.01 cent up to 0.25 cents, and on a maximum bet of 45.00 players can achieve rewards right up to the $30,000.00 jackpot in the base game. That can be boosted as high as $150,000.00 by maximum rewards from the opportunities generated by the Free Spin features. I got 15 free spins my first five minutes playing. The music changed to something that sounded like a majestic announcement soundtrack and I felt royalty as I watched the reels go by and my winnings added up.
The All Aces Video Poker gave me a surprise when I started to play. It doesn't have the expert feature available, and for good reason on Microgaming's side, as the payout is 99.92%. This means there's no automatic hold on cards. However there are direct hints, such as if you have two pair the pay-line 2 pair flashes. I opened up the game, clicked on "Bet Max" and then waited to see the automatic hold go on the cards as they do on the one-hundred hand video poker games I typically play. I sat there staring a moment before I realized that the "Expert" button wasn't active and that there wasn't going to be any extra help in my decisions on this game. I guess Export mode has made me lazy. Fortunately the game designers at Microgaming are not lazy. The graphics in this game are big and clean. It's a change from the small details in their one-hundred game versions. The gamble "double your money" feature allows players to take another chance even after the game has been won. After my initial shock went over and I started to play I got lucky my first time around with the gambling feature and got a two as the up-card. It wasn't too hard to pick a down-card which would be higher than that! This game is played with one hand of cards drawn from a single 52 card deck.
The last game offered up is Multi-hand Vegas Downtown Blackjack, a multi-hand variant of a traditionally single-hand game. Players can bet on up to 5 hands at a time on an American hole card game played with two standard decks of 52 playing cards that are shuffled before each game. Of course with the shuffle before each game card counting doesn't help so much but at least there are only 2 decks for 5 hands. The game has great clean graphics which feel like a land based casino. This game does offer expert mode and autoplay so you don't have to think about your strategy, the game thinks about it for you. After playing the video poker without the expert mode I played in expert for this game and watched all the decisions being made for me for a few games. I have to say I think I did better playing the new Video Poker.
All four new Microgaming games released are fun, fabulous, and sure to make the players happy with great payout percentages and loads of ways to win. I'm still confused on what fruit have to do with the wheel of wealth slots though.
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Posted on: March 6, 2006
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