As far as officially licensed movie slots go, this is one of our favorites, sans the license. This feature the best production values we have seen among the movie tie ins that don’t use photos, and the images here actually managed to look better than the original given how old the original actually is. It has modern features that you will love, but still pays homage to the classic movie that started an entire franchise. If there were just one movie themed slot machine game we could recommend, this would probably be it!
Drawn to Perfection
This game features a hand drawn art style that takes its cues from the classic film. Although it is much a lighthearted take on it, and cartoony, so was the original in intention. The film was based on a book, after all, so anybody is welcome to their own artistic interpretation of it. We like this light heart to take on it, and it is one of the happiest among most of the ones we have seen in recent memory.
Specifically, you can bet across five different reels here, and on 50 lines in total. They have a fun and generous bonus round that comes up, which will happen if you match all of the main images that you see. The most you can bet at one time is 10 cents, and the maximum payout is around $20,000. Yes, you read that right! $20,000. In terms of slot machine games, that is huge! It more than makes up for the complete lack of a progressive jackpot, which would have been nice, but not as large as this in most cases.
Looks Great
As far as imagery goes, we enjoy this game. The look to it is both cartoony and from there, capturing a unique take on all of the different characters. The scarecrow here, for example, doesn’t look dumb so much as he looks scared. The lion looks sad, rather than cowardly. The wizard himself works kind of creepy, being taken from the floating face inspired by the movie. Everyone else associated with the cast is also present here, including the time man and all else. The tin man here kind of looks like a rat to us, but maybe that’s just their take on it!
The main theme here that makes it the world of oz rather than the Wizard of Oz is that they are targeting many of the other things that came out in the series before and after the film that everyone is mostly familiar with. This will make it somewhat odd to see who some of the characters on the reels are, but if you have ever seen anything associated with the franchise, you’ll be able to understand how to play and have a good time. It is interesting here that the slippers are silver rather than red, but that doesn’t detract from the fun.
This game is suitable for anybody that likes cartoony and colorful art styles associated with feature films. They take a childish direction with this one, being akin to low budget caricatures. This will not be everyone’s cup of tea, as these aren’t exactly pixar level quality artwork. Still, however, they look like colored versions of someone that is currently taking an art class, and have a vibrant look to them for that reason. We have a hard time faulting them when we still have fun with the game, largely due to how easy it was for us to win at it.
Always Works Perfectly
When we played it across various devices, we found it ran equally as well across all of them. It is clearly optimized for mobile devices, however. They don’t do much to make use of the extra space of a web browser, which mostly blows up the illustration images to resolutions that they look somewhat unflattering him. That’s not to say we would not play this in a web browser, but if you have a phone or a tablet, particularly a smaller one, you’re clearly the target market here.
Another gripe that we have with the series is that it’s awfully green. That’s not to say that there wasn’t any green in the Wizard of Oz itself, but we felt that there was actually a lot more yellow than green in the series. They instead chose to make everything green around here, almost as if they were a leprechaun themed game. If green is your favorite color, you will love this. If you’re not a big fan of a neon green look, however, the color scheme is something you will probably find to be grating.
Another thing that is commendable here are the large number of bonus rounds. They have the drop feature, for example, alongside the emerald spins bonus round, and the world of oz bonus round. Technically it is called the emerald spin super round, but we all know it’s a bonus round. They’re all called super rounds, but it means the same thing.
You can match most of the things you would be used to associating with the series, alongside playing cards. These include the all powerful oz, the cowardly lion, the monkey, Dorothy and her dog Toto, a nice witch, the queen herself, a scarecrow, Dorothy‘s magic shoes here featured in silver, the tin man, and the villain of the series, the wicked witch. We never quite understood why she was wicked, but here she still is, and is just as green as ever! It is hard to think that the color scheme of the game is actually featured around her and not any of the protagonists.
Great Game You’ll Love
Overall, most players will enjoy this game, and you can’t go wrong with rival gaming. It is a typical example of a middle of the road rival gaming title that sacrifices production values for higher winnings potential, and has a quirky art style that you will either love or hate.
