Lord Of The Rings Slot
Microgaming's much heralded first Lord Of The Rings slot was entitled "Lord Of The Rings - The Fellowship Of The Ring" but perhaps oddly, was taken down after around 12 months and re-launched as a progressive slot game with a similar look and feel but different features. Can't tell you why though and to be honest, I prefer the older version but there you go.
And again, in June 2012, this second game was also decommissioned and replaced with the Dark Knight slot which is an identical game in terms of gameplay but obviously with a batman theme.
The following review is now archived for historical purposes:
This one is the first of 3 slot games that Microgaming will be releasing based on the film trilogy apparently. It shouldn't be confused with the WMS slot game of the same name - very different kettles of fish - as WMS got the licence to do land based slot games based on the LOTR franchise while Microgaming got the online franchise.
Incidentally, LOTR is now available in both the download and Instant Play versions of popular Microgaming casinos, including 32Red Casino, Ladbrokes Casino and Roxy Palace Casino.
The game is the first to use Microgaming's new concept dubbed "Cinematic Spins" which is essentially behind-the-reels video footage. It's novel - and quite impressive too - but after a while got a tad annoying to this player but at least you can turn the video movement off in the Settings menu option if you want to.
As for the gameplay on Lord Of The Rings, Fellowship I'd call it "OK" but not as entertaining in my book as other comparable Microgaming slot games like the Hitman slot or Thunderstruck II. It does feature stacked wilds on every reel which means there is some great potential for big wins, especially during the free spins feature and there are also random wild reels awarded. But there is something about the Lord Of The Rings slot that just doesn't keep me going back. Can't quite put my finger on it as it has all the ingredients of a top slot game.
In the free spins bonus, triggered as usual by three scatter symbols anywehere in view, you get 15 free spins with a 3x multiplier. When the stacked wilds drop there are some decent hits as you can imagine but it can bequite hard to build up a big bankroll without the feature or random wild reels, unless perhaps you get stacked wilds on each reel. Not seen that myself.
It will be interesting to see if Microgaming intends on resurrecting the LOTR slots or whether the licence is the issue.
