April 2017

While I was in my last year of university, I played a TON of slots all across the board – good slots, bad slots, fun slots, boring slots, you name them! And one thing that always stuck out to me is that most slots really didn’t look particularly impressive – the majority relied on just barebones still images that moved a little bit whenever you lined them up, like in those old motion comics that nobody’s doing anymore because they look like a monkey’s butthole. I understand why that’s happening, since most slots don’t really have that impressive of a budget and a lot more effort tends to be spent on things like payout and bonus games than visuals, but it’s still a bit of a bummer to see so many slots looking subpar. That’s why it’s always a fun surprise whenever a slot has particularly good graphics. Sure, they don’t always contribute to how much you’re winning, but only a fool would claim they don’t make the experience all the more appealing! So with that said, what are the three slots with best graphics that I’ve personally played?

3. Gonzo’s Quest

NetEnt’s “Gonzo’s Quest” may not look like much at first – if you check out a screenshot or something similar, you’d be forgiven for wondering just what madness compelled me to place it on here. I mean, it’s not particularly shiny or pretty or anything at all, it’s just a bunch of blocks and some guy next to them, right? Yeah, well, looks can be deceiving, and “Gonzo’s Quest” deserves credit on two fronts. First and foremost – it doesn’t look like a traditional slot. Have you noticed that? It’s styled a lot more like a puzzle game than something whose reels you’d spin, which is very fitting because its block-breaking mechanics are actually styled after those of certain puzzle games! That’s extremely creative! And second, once you actually play the slot, you’ll notice the cute little Conquistador-looking fellow move around lively and motion around with his hands, cheering for you when you win and being genuinely bummed when you lose, all while displaying a good bunch of character just from his body language. Each of these qualities makes “Gonzo’s Quest” a fantastic-looking slot, but combined together, they rank it up among the best.

2. Iron Man 2

Almost all of Playtech’s Marvel slots look utterly fantastic – truly some of the best slot graphics in the business. Sure, sometimes they go the lazy route (like in “Thor”, where they just photoshopped the actors into the symbols), and a few of their slots are downright ugly (namely their earlier work like “Elektra” or “Blade”), but for the most part they’re pretty beautiful. Slots like “The Avengers” and “Spider-Man: Attack of the Green Goblin” stand up on their own even today, years after being released. But unfortunately, they all suffer from the same issue, an issue that plagues the overwhelming majority of slots – their symbols are just too small to be appreciated as they are. So when “Iron Man 2” rolled around, Playtech just said “Screw it, let’s make our symbols really big!” This slot distinguishes itself from the other Iron Man games by the fact that most of its symbols take up two or even three spaces, allowing them to shine in all of their glory! True, the new mechanic made pays a bit rarer (even if they were bigger when they happened), so overall I’d rate this slot a solid 7/10… Which, coincidentally, is the same rating that the movie has on IMDB.

1. Secret Santa

Before I dive into why I picked this relatively obscure Microgaming slot for my No. 1, allow me to elaborate something – it wasn’t because its graphics are the most realistic and greatest EVAR!11!1! It’s not because they’re amazing, epic, hand-crafted by the finest artists or what have you. Don’t get me wrong, they’re really good, miles above most other pictures you see in slots – every symbol is a painting depicting a heartwarming scene from a typical home on the night before Christmas. But it’s not the quality of the symbols that elevate “Secret Santa” above its compatriots. It’s the feeling that those symbols manage to elicit in the players. Imagine that, a slot machine that actually manages to make you feel stuff other than nervous anticipation and endless frustration! “Secret Santa” brings you back to a simple time, when you were a kid and you placed the stockings up above the fireplace. Or perhaps it reminds you of what you still do with your children every year, sharing the magic of the holidays with them. It wouldn’t have worked if the same things (the turkey, the fireplace, Santa Claus himself) were depicted as cartoony caricatures – the realistic artstyle makes them feel tangible, like images from your past, things that you can realistically touch and feel. I don’t know, maybe I’m just reading too deep into it, but this slot’s artstyle made me feel genuine nostalgia. And for that it more than deserves the top spot.