It's Saturday, and instead of spending the day with my family I'm writing about new games from Microgaming. This isn't what I want to be doing with my time, but this week my oldest is starting a new day care, so the beginning of my week will be spent with him rather than working. This is me playing catch up early. You see, unlike Microgaming I like to be prepared when I know something is coming up. Microgaming releases new games every single month. This isn't something they've just started doing. This is something they have been doing for years. Their ambitious release schedule is part of the reason why Microgaming casinos are so brilliant. There is always something new to enjoy. One would think that they would want to tell the world about their new games release. Normally they do, but it seems for the last few months their announcements have been, well, not exactly been spot on in timeliness. I found out that Microgaming released new games on Wednesday when I got a promotional email from one of the many online casinos I play at. Nine new games this month from Microgaming piqued my interest, so I went to Microgamings site to find out more. Nothing. No press release announcing the games. Nada. The first of September was on Friday so presumably they should have published an announcement then. Nope. Off I go to my favorite Microgaming powered casino to find out something about these new games. Four of the games released this month are video slots, one is a video poker game, and the last four are variables on blackjack. All in all quite a wide selection for a month where most people go on some sort of vacation before school begins. It is Haiti, it is voodoo, it is Microgaming's video slot Witch Dr. which is the last video slot released this month and the first one that I will review because it just looked too disturbing for words and I liked that. Someone on the games team got really creative this month. Maybe the graphic artists felt the need to rebel after all the cutesy crap they had to do for the other video slots (which I will review in just a moment). Witch Dr. is raw, it's edgy, and it's not politically correct in any way shape or form. This 5-reel, 20-payline, multi-coin video slot has a base game jackpot of $50,000 and a potential free spins bonus win of $150,000. It also has graphics that will scare the heck out of you. Bones, chickens, skulls, voodoo dolls with pins in them and of course Witch Dr.'s are waiting for you. I loved this game. It's so rude that you have to love it simply for its gumption. With that said, I wish they took it one step further and gave it some sort of violent bonus round. Something like people being boiled in a pot with the Witch Dr. dancing around or something, and then show the peoples skin melting off of them. I mean, this isn't meant for kids anyhow and the theme is already rude, why not take it there? Have I been watching too many bad B horror movies lately on late night TV? It's altogether possible. As previously warned the other video slots this month are seriously cute. So cute one has to wonder who the designers think the audience of the games is. Dolphin Tale is a 5 reel video slot with 40 pay lines. Players can bet up to 200 coins and have the potential of winning up to 300,000 coins in return. The characters in this sea of a slot look like they came out of a Disney movie mixed with NYPD Blue. There's a walrus who is the chief of police, a turtle is the experienced cop, and the dolphin is the rookie. Only the dolphin looks like it came off an old can of Starkist tuna, before Charlie got the glasses. The shrimp reminds me of a character in The Little Mermaid, and while it has a dark side to it being about cops and robbers, this is a "Disneyesque" slot. The Age of Discovery video slot is still cute but more on the upscale arty side of things. It has a pirates theme that is very Marco Polo and Shogun. The characters on the reels are filled with exotic fruits such as guava, mango, pomegranate, and banana (banana?!). This 5 reel, 25 pay-line slot multi-coin slot offers maximum rewards in the 'Treasure Map' Bonus Game. The base jackpot is $30,000; however, with the bonus players can win a further $16,125. The bonus round is a treasure map with X's. The player can choose as many as they possible until they hit the skull and bones. I liked the continuation of the theme into the bonus round. The Nutty Squirrel looks like it should be on The Cartoon Network and not on a video slot. These nasty squirrels are Chip and Dale after hanging out with the Rugrats for too long. I liked this 5-reel, 20-payline, multi-coin video slot. I won 15 free spins almost immediately upon playing. The base game Jackpot of $100,000 can double to $200,000 with the free spins bonus feature. I am especially pleased that Microgaming didn't get lazy on the graphics for the reels on any of their slots this month. There wasn't a single Q, J, K, A, or number in any of the new video slots released this month. It's a pet peeve of mine when they use card symbols instead of keeping the theme completely and using a designed symbol. I'm ok with the fact that they didn't have a bonus for every slot this month as I'm sure they used the extra design time to keep the theme consistent. With that said the free spins are a nice touch. Normally I would end the review here, because back in the day they released four games a month. This month, as I previously mentioned, they launched nine games. That's over twice as many as they used to. Bonus Poker Deluxe is a video poker game where players have the opportunity to win from 4 kinds of combinations, and the chance to double their winnings on a simple gamble feature. This is a cleanly designed, straightforward video poker game played with one standard deck of 52 playing cards. I have to say this game won my heart when my third hand gave me a full house and the gamble doubled my win. The last games released this month are the new Gold Series Blackjack games by Microgaming: Classic Blackjack Gold, Single Blackjack Gold, Bonus Blackjack Gold and Big 5 Blackjack Gold. These games are simply the best designed internet blackjack out there. I couldn't be more pleased with the fantastic selection of games on offer this month from Microgaming. It's enough to make up for the lack of information on their website. Posted on: September 4, 2006
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