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Jungle Jim El Dorado
If there was a pop trivia game for online casino games called ‘guess this slot’, where you had to list game hints and a veteran slot player had to guess the title – what would you come up with for the following? A 5×3 reel game, with 25 pay-lines, avalanche or cascading reels style, free spins bonus round? No? Ok, what about a theme based on the search for Eldorado, big video intro sequence and animated character? I figure most regular slots players are screaming ‘Gonzo’s Quest’ at the screen by now, but you’d be wrong – Gonzo has all the above for sure – but only 20 lines.
So what we are boldly stating is that Microgaming’s new Jungle Jim El Dorado slot is ‘basically’ Gonzo’s Quest with 5 extra paylines and a different character. The fans of Gonzo and even MG won’t like me saying that, but it’s true. Now that’s actually bigger news than you might think as this is far from a bad thing, for a number of different reasons. Firstly, the new Jungle Jim character is a fun cute game guide reminiscent of a young Indiana Jones, not vaguely creepy like Gonzo. Secondly – there’s an extra 5 active pay lines and last but not least – Gonzo’s isn’t a new game anymore, not by a long shot. Jungle Jim has all the latest audio and graphics touches built into it and it feels like a much more modern game as a result.
Microgamings other releases this year, Bikini Party springs to mind, haven’t shied away from controversy. On the other hand, they have also delivered stunning graphics and entertaining gameplay. Can Jungle Jim really oust Gonzo from his throne? Or will this jungle explorer fade into the mist as so many have before him?
Theme
Jungle Jim takes place in two very distinct settings. The base game is in the lush south American jungles, we really love that they have used transparent reels for the game as the backdrops are excellent and we don’t want a huge reel set obscuring them. The second is a gold laden treasure room, we assume in Eldorado itself, which again is stunningly rendered. The whole game is beautifully drawn for that matter, including Jungle Jim himself. The level of animation work here is right up there with many modern animated films though, maybe Jim could have had one or two extra moves programmed as he can get a little repetitive.
The reel icons will come as no surprise, there is a host of coin chests, rare native treasures and rare gems on offer. On the latter, a small touch we really like is that the emeralds, rubies and the like are large rough uncut stones such as you would find in the jungle, not the polished shop stones you would see on more generic slots. It’s small touches like this which really set apart slot games which use their theme to full effect from those which, quite frankly, miss the boat.
Features
The pay-lines are fixed so there’s no real user interaction in game style outside of choosing your betting and bankroll strategy. There’s more than enough room in the bet range to satisfy all kinds of players too. Microgaming haven’t yet released RTP and variance statements for the game, so we can only gauge how it pays from our brief play on it, initial impressions were a decent RTP and a medium-high level of variance, no surprises here then for a competitor of Gonzo.
IGT call it cascading reels, NetEnt term it avalanche and for Microgaming it’s rolling reels. Whatever you pick this popular mechanic is the process where existing wins fall or explode from the screen to be replaced by a fresh symbol drop from above. Younger fans will mostly know this style from the Bejewelled Blitz game on FaceBook, for those of us a little more seasoned, this is how Tetris worked. As with most slots titles that use it, there is an increasing multiplier on Jungle Jim from 1x to 5x.
The game isn’t out for full release yet so we don’t know the exact symbol values or how a wild will function, with everything else going on in the game and the high volatility, we’d have to assume it will be fixed and grant no reward of its own in terms of a jackpot, just like the individual scatters. Of course, with the scatters, if you can collect all three, you will trigger the free spins round. Whilst this does take place on a separate reel set, it uses all the same feature mechanics of the bonus round, only the re-trigger is extra in terms of win to spin potential. If this sounds critical, it isn’t, a re-triggering spins round on a game with so much action and pay-out potential is definitely worthwhile!
Summary
If you liked Gonzo, you will love Jungle Jim, it really is that simple. The game is lovely to look at, fun to play and contains all the serious win potential that a high variance game should. Clearly, the high volatility does require a bit more bankroll control than a gentler slot game but, that’s the point of high risk / high reward games. Also, it rather sits with the theme, many explorers went in search of Eldorado to come home empty handed, others plundered riches in the jungles of South America, which will it be for you?
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