[P R O D U C T
REVIEW
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ELEMENTS: THE AWAKENING
By Net Entertainment
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Elements is NetEnt’s latest title and, in my opinion, no other developer has quite embraced the power of online slots in the same manner as it has, with its range of platinum titles including Gonzo's Quest pushing the boundaries of 3D animation. As you'd expect, there are plenty of excited reviewers and players queuing up to see what they've managed to conjure up. At this stage we've only seen a brief minute long video of Elements: The Awakening. At first glance, it looks like it's going to revolve around four individual freespin bonus rounds, each one centred around a different element (earth, air, water, fire) and a signature wild feature including fire storm wilds that spread across columns turning any two adjacent symbols into additional wild symbols for bigger wins. We suspect, however, that NetEnt will have a few more tricks up its sleeve when it unveils the game at this year’s show, and we can't wait to get our hands on this slot machine's reels.
THE DARK KNIGHT
By Microgaming
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This originally started off life as The Lord of the Rings slot but, thanks to alleged legal issues with the Tolkien estate, Microgaming has re-branded this big money progressive using the epic Batman film, The Dark Knight. It also borrows the big money bonus game associated with one of the most successful online slots of all time, Mega Moolah. When you first load The Dark Knight slot, you can't help being taken in by the high level of graphic complexity complete with Microgaming's special cinematic backgrounds feature, which uses panoramic stills from the film as the backdrop to the reel action. The atmosphere is cranked up further with various sound effects taken from the film used when the reels move and features are unlocked. The problem with The Dark Knight is that it’s arguably an exercise in style over substance. It may be one of the best looking games you've ever seen and some of the bonus effects are superb, but it falls short in the one place that really counts – the reel action. It simply doesn't pay out big enough prizes in relation to your spin cost in order to maintain a player’s interest. Still, if you like your slots big, bold and bat-like, then The Dark Knight isn't a bad game; it's just that in today’s modern competitive slots market, there are better titles. Let’s hope its other soon-to-bereleased big name video slot, Battlestar Galactica, delivers the goods.
THE SOPRANOS
By Playtech
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It's been nearly five years since we've seen Tony, Silvio, Pauly and Christopher on HBO's hit mafia television series The Sopranos. Once you've stripped away the murder and marriage from this drama, it's all about making a fast buck, which is an ideal theme for a slot machine. When I first loaded The Sopranos, I wasn’t that impressed by the reel mechanism, which seems slow and clunky, while the graphics lacked that little something that you get with more cartoon-style titles. Once you get over the design, however, there are some excellent prizes available on the reels, and the bonus games, in particular the one where you get to hide money from the Feds, are a lot of f [????]?\?x?&[H?????[??Y H?\X?? ?X[ HX] \? ?]H?? ?[???\? ^Y\?? ??\?H] ?X?Y ? H?[YH ?[?[?[ ?XY H]?HH ? ???[[?[?[[?? ?] H [YHY?\?]?[?? ?]?Y H? ?????X[?H YX\??\?YX[?? H [YH?\??]?H ? ???\?\? ??X]HH]?[? ^Y\?^?][Y[?[? ] HXX?[?H?[?[??XY ?[ H? H?[Y\^H[???\?YX?[?X?? ??Y\ ^Y\??] H ?Y[ ?H ?\?H??? ?? ] ??H???[? ? ^H8?$??] [?H[HH Y?H?[?? H ???????????Y?XY?^?[?K???B??