Superman Man of Steel Slots

Is it a bird, is it a plane? Nope, it’s not Superman either, although, it is the latest slot game based on the comic book hero’s reinvented film universe released in 2013. Like the reimagined Batman series of films the new theme is dark and brooding, fittingly cynical for the millennial generation and ridding itself of simple cartoon fun, with that in mind, how will it translate to a video slot environment?

The good news is, pretty darn well, in fact, outside of the IGT Avatar slots this is one of the most exciting movie themed slots we’ve seen in ages! It isn’t all show either, the game includes two unique game modes, one set on earth and one on the planet Krypton. These not only give you a dazzling array of symbols, characters and special effects but also the ability to adjust your choice of playstyle between higher and lower volatility.

Theme

The gameplay on Superman takes place on the massive new bonus wheel cabinet from Aristocrat and features huge HD TFT screens for the maddening selection of bonus rounds, video sequences and video game style special effects and voiceovers which are present throughout play.

You get two distinct game universes in which to play, the first, which is low variance, is set on earth and features all the more homely and pleasant imagery, with Clark, his parents, Lois Lane and the editor from the daily planet providing your human figures. All of these are animated when part of a win sequence though this doesn’t detract from the splendid rendering on the cameras, buses and other props of Metropolis which appear on the reels.

The second universe is the dark brooding atmosphere of Krypton itself, here the armies of General Zod do battle with Superman & Jor-El, the special effects here are far more inspiring than the earth round and so are the wins as the variance on this second base game style is much higher. It’s easy to forget quite how much work goes into a slot of this scale, with no low pay playing card symbols and two entire game themes full of unique icons the graphics production team would have to work flat out on something like this.

Gameplay & Features

The slot isn’t finalised, what we do know is that it should have twenty five active pay-lines, that they will be fixed and that the initial setup will be as a penny slot. No news on max bet, but given the variance is selectable on the title we expect Aristocrat to give players a similarly decent choice of wager to match.

The sheer number of potential paying symbol combinations does mean you will either have to give the game some serious playtime or have a real good look at the provided pay-table to know what’s going on. It may seem counter intuitive to not just rely on the surprise of a good win spinning in at random but we find it increases anticipation when you know you have two or three high pay symbols on a row and are waiting for the last reels to spin in.

The bonus rounds on the game are still being sketched out but we have had chance to play two of the preliminary ones, the first is random and can occur at any time during the base game, the man of steel thunders into view to start adding symbols to the reels. At this point anywhere between 2 and 5 bonus symbols will be added to the existing spin result which can, at times, deliver truly heroic wins.

The second bonus round is a progressive pick win bonus round which is delivered in a video game style, you will control one of the characters (selected from the bonus wheel above the main cabinet) and by clicking on various options, guide them through the bonus round. The example we played followed Lois Lane through Zod’s mothership, picking up keys, weapons and other symbols which constitute credits and multipliers.

Summary

Until the game is finalised, it’s pretty hard to know just how good or bad it will be, the preview so far looks solid, by addressing a serious criticism in licensed slots of low variance gameplay the dual round system of Superman Man of Steel gives a player far more choice in gambling style. The one thing that is guaranteed is the entertainment factor, as this is one of the most visually stunning and engaging movie themed slots we’ve even seen developed, worthy of the world’s greatest hero and a significant improvement of the existing superman slot.