Lost Vegas is 5×3 reels pokies from Microgaming set on the rainy streets; and dimly lit halls of the casinos of the Las Vegas strip. You start by choosing a side, the zombies are led by an Elvis impersonator, Showgirl and Nurse. The survivors group on the other hand features a golf club toting casual player; a suited rugged high roller and a working girl. There is some crossover with a well-dressed couple; and elderly tourist on the Zombie team whilst a Security guard and waitress make up the numbers for the survivors.
Theme
The theme is set on the rainy streets and dimly lit halls of the casinos of the Las Vegas strip. You start by choosing a side; the zombies are led by an Elvis impersonator; Showgirl and Nurse; so it seems the staff of the various resorts bore the brunt of the outbreak! The survivors group on the other hand features a golf club toting casual player; a suited rugged high roller and what we believe is supposed to be a working girl. Ahem. There is some crossover with a well-dressed couple and elderly tourist on the Zombie team; whilst a Security guard and waitress make up the numbers for the survivors.
Every character, bonus feature and win sequence in the Lost Vegas pokie gets its own bespoke sound effect and animation. It’s the most superbly developed Microgaming pokies; we’ve ever played from an entertainment perspective; and the art style is very much in tribute to dark comics such as Frank Miller’s Sin City. You can switch sides at any time between spins. Much the way as you can choose between the Krypton / Earth game modes on the Superman pokie.
Features
As fun to watch as Lost Vegas is, the game’s biggest strength is its gameplay. The survivor section of the game comes with a random blackout bonus feature which can occur after any losing spin. Here a scan of the reels with night vision goggles randomly revealing high value cash prizes. The random bonus for the zombie mode is the ‘zombie fist of cash’, likewise triggered by a losing spin and a giant zombie hand reaches up from below the reels stuffed with dollar notes. The added bonus to both these features is that if just one scatter is in play at the time, it will trigger the free spins bonus also!
Landing the free spins round under normal circumstances requires three scatters. These are unique spins to each game mode with both scatters being a hazard symbol. The survivors get free spins with a ‘stash’ feature. This is an avalanche or cascading reels style mechanic where low-value playing card icons fall from the reels which fresh symbols takes over. This is already a generous mechanic but as a bonus, each of the symbols which disappear adds to the survivor’s stash meter above the reels, with the total prize accumulated here awarded at the end of the bonus games.
The zombies get what’s called an infection feature instead. The zombies now become stacked wilds and infect each reel they touch for the remainder of the spins games. Whilst this is by far the more volatile of the two-game modes, it’s largely a result of the pay-out potential. A full 5 reel set of expanded wilds is theoretically very possible here and can reward up to 2155x the max spin – which is a generous 45.00 credit.
Synopsis
Whilst the Walking Dead official pokies might rule the roost in the land-based casino world purely on its fan draw, Lost Vegas is, we think, the best Zombie pokie ever released online. With a decent bet range, simple format, and medium variance level it has appeal to all sorts of players. The visual and audio work is outstanding and the gameplay is a lot of fun whilst retaining decent pay-out potential. This isn’t just one of the best new poies of the year, it’s one of the best pokies online and even puts many of the big branded land casino machines to shame. Between this and the recent Jungle Jim game, it’s clear Microgaming is ready to give NetEnt and Betsoft a real run for their money in terms of wow factor.
