Review G2E LAS VEGAS 2014 - PART 1
show, with a 42ins. rotated to landscape top box with a mechanical reel embedded over the top (the WMS designers have gone to town on this one). Featuring over 80 different clips from the cartoon, all the different character elements had been included in the game, including lots of bespoke animations. The legs of pre-historic birds blur over the top of spinning wheels as players chose the frequency of the triggered bonuses, from normal, high and extreme bonus options, enabling players to create their preferred gaming experience.
Clearly showing no shame in the creation of its next big licence, Austin Powers will cause a few blushes as the Mike Myers film series has been mined for gags and maximum entertainment value by a WMS team obviously having fun with the material. Mini-Me, Fat Bastard and the Fem- Bots all grace the bonuses, though again, all of the game play elements have been simplified as much as possible.
further cascading sweets. The game is targeting a different demographic and the success of Candy Crush in the social space would highlight the fact that there’s certainly an audience for this type of game across a wide player group.
Hot Hot 8 sees the return of WMS’ Hot Hot flame character, with multiple different games available to play simultaneously, drawing from a library of some of the company’s biggest recent hits. The more games played, the greater the rewards, which feeds into a top level spinning wheel for major wins. Games have been pulled from both the CPU2 and CPU3 libraries, with Fallen Angels, Great Zeus and Raging Rhino among the games available from launch.
Heading to the enormous Gamefield cabinets, Iron Man, Wizard of Oz and Willy Wonka titles were all present, alongside new additions Mad Men and Gremlins, both looking stunning with bespoke top boxes. Gremlins is interesting as a game mechanic as it uses the film’s protagonists to create two different game modes. There’s the player selectable Gizmo game mode, which is lower volatility, friendlier and more entertainment orientated, while the Gremlins mode introduces much more volatility and drives bigger bets towards the Gremlins progressive, whereby the mischievous monsters take control of the game, tearing into the screen and causing
“We are looking to refresh the
mechanical reel space. We want operators to update stale
content as players are looking to play attractive and yet simple slot games.”
chaos and triggering major wins as they go.
Mad Men, which was prominent on The Venetian slot floor at the time of the show, has been testing extremely strongly according to Mr. Chan. “Even players unfamiliar with the TV series have loved the game,” said Mr. Chan. “The artwork and design is incredibly strong on its own, but with the high frequency bonus triggered curved top box incorporating a dynamic wheel, the game has proved an instant hit with players.”
Notwithstanding a new Lord of the Rings game heading to floors in January that will use the Mad Men bonus mechanic, plus a new Monopoly game on the way in the same period, WMS will launch Wizard of OZ - Not in Kansas Anymore,’ in February, another strong brand on the Gamefield that will feature a spinning tornado progressive. However, a G3 show favourite has to be The Flintstones, a game based on the ’70s TV cartoon
Alongside Austin Powers was the new S23 slant top cabinet, slated for launch in January. Featuring arresting back lighting and a sleek ergonomic design, WMS has created a comfortable platform from which to play the latest CPU3 games. Two music legend themes see Elvis and Elton John enter the WMS Gaming library, with an Elvis title that spans the three eras of his career, from Memphis, Hollywood and Vegas. And with the sound chair plugged in for maximum effects, the new Elton John slot mixes and blends tracks seamlessly to match the game elements with, as Mr. Chan explained, yet another ‘simple’ feature based bonus.
Game Chest HD on the Blade cabinet running CPU3 content showed eight game sets, with an intriguing new feature that allows players to preview the games before playing. It’s a clever bit of functionality and one that is bound to be commonplace in the future. Two additional game mechanics drew our attention, the first being Max Bet Advantage with a bonus guarantee. Effectively, if a player plays at max bet and wins less than 10x their bet in the bonus, the Max Bet Advantage makes up the difference.
Max Bet Discount is another feature that rewards max bet play, but this time discounting the credits played. Players bet 400 credits on max bet, but are deducted only 390 credits. “Max Bet Discount addresses a general sense that we are recognising the high value player and rewarding their play,” explained Mr. Chan. “We’re giving players a two and a half per cent discount on their max bet play, giving back to the player something of real perceived value for their play. We’re looking forward to seeing the player response to these features.”
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