I thought they would have themed games on offer this month for Thanksgiving (as I am a displaced American I still think the US is the center of the universe) and I was wrong. No turkey games at all. Fair enough, I ate enough turkey on thanksgiving to tide me over for the year. Instead Microgaming is introducing four new games for the player's enjoyment, two video slots, one video poker, and one blackjack game. This time around I learned from my last two times trying to get the new games from Microgaming. I went to the online casino of choice (this time it was River Nile) and downloaded all four immediately upon entering. Received no error messages and was very happy. Before I start on the reviews I need to tell you a story about political correctness and who I think of whenever I come across something that someone may find offensive. About fifteen years ago (yes, I am aging myself) when I was in university I was visiting friends who went to U C Berkeley. My friends and I were at a café not too far from campus standing in line waiting to order. The guy working the counter had on a Betty Boop t-shirt on that said "Girls Rule" and the two young women standing in line behind me were livid that he was wearing this t-shirt. I couldn't help myself from eavesdropping on their conversation "I don't need his affirmation," said one, the other agreed "He needs to be more careful with his message." They basically bashed the guy for his political incorrectness for their entire wait. After seeing the two new slots games on offer I automatically thought of those two women in line. Let's just say that the designers of the two new slots games aren't the most politically correct people. However, this doesn't mean I find the game offensive. I happen to not be particularly sensitive to that sort of thing. Loaded is great. It's an over the top, bling bling, hip hop, modern animated version of a 70's blaxploitation film. A 5 reel, 25 Line, multiple coin The next slots game on offer is Mucho Grande, which is a below the border Mexican food style themed slot that reminds me of the movie Three Amigos. The little guy with the sombrero in the slots game should be able to say "We don't need no stinking badges." Instead he just smiles. Mucho Grande is a new 5 reel, 15 pay line multi-feature video slot with a great bonus round. The thing that leaves me confused about Muchos Grande is the following description of the game by Microgaming "its larger than life Australian-American big gaming style…" and then "…sacks of gold, chili peppers, ancient treasure maps and happy hombres". What is Australian-American mixed with happy hombres? I thought happy hombres were Mexican? The game certainly seems to have a Mexican theme to me. I know there's something here I'm missing; I just don't know what it is. (Which is actually redundant because if I knew what it was then it wouldn't be missing, would it?) My favorite bit about Muchos Grandes is the bonus round. There's a treasure map that allows you to pick the places you think gold will lie and can bring some big wins if you guess correctly. I prefer bonus rounds to gambling rounds. You can't lose in a bonus round. The other two new games by Microgaming are card games. Blackjack players are going to love Vegas Strip Blackjack, an American hole card game played with four standard decks of 52 playing cards that are shuffled before each game. This is a variation on the usually single-hand game Vegas Strip. I liked the option of playing up to five hands at once. The goal is to beat the dealer's hand by either getting a higher value hand without going over 21, or by the dealer's hand going bust. A blackjack is the strongest hand in Vegas Strip Blackjack and can only be matched - not beaten. Splitting and doubling down are allowed under specific circumstances and insurance is offered. Blackjack pays 3 to 2. I love multi-hand poker because no matter what you always win something back on each hand. The last game offered by Microgaming this month is no exception to that. Jacks or Better 100 Play Power Poker is a 100 simultaneous hand video poker game. The jackpot is a whopping of 4,000 coins or $100,000.00, with a second highest pot of 1,000 coins. This is a game with generous pay tables. In Jacks or Better each hand is dealt from a separate and independent deck of 52 cards. I did fairly well when I played this game for fun. My third game gave me 3 of a kind, so I knew I would have at least that on 100 hands. This is why the game is so nice, when you do well, you do really well, and when you don't do well you end up with something anyhow. The graphics are nice, perhaps a tad simple compared to some of their other games (how can you make a video poker game compare to a crazy themed slots game in terms of graphics anyhow?) Related Links: Posted on: November 30, 2005
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game allows players to select the number of free spins from options of 12, 16 or 24, each with its own multiplier. I played it and did pretty well, but I never got the free spins. The characters all look like they just stepped out of MTV as does the animated video before the game starts. It's actually pretty amusing how every character in the slot game looks just like a current hip hop artist. Loaded has wild, scatter, free spin and gamble opportunities that can increase a jackpot of 35,000.00 to as high as 140,000.00. I did hit Triple 7, which is a rapper with rings on that say triple 7 and gives you a much larger win. I also tried the gamble feature, which is nice if you have ESP and can tell what color or suit the card will be. I don't have ESP and typically end up losing on the gamble feature. Winning on the gamble can double or quadruple your wins. 
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