Week 2 Round up News

The start of a New Year is always a big deal for most of us. The same applies to the world of casino games too. If you're raring to go and try some new slots this year, we've got news of the latest titles to be released to start things off. The first full week in January turned out to be a busy time, with software developers treating us to some stunning releases. Which of the following games will appeal most to you this week?

There is a Raging Rex on the loose from Play'n Go this week

Watch out - there is a dinosaur about… and it doesn't look too friendly! There are a couple of smaller dinosaurs on the main image for Raging Rex too - neither of which we'd like to meet anywhere, much less in a dark alley. So… can we be brave enough to find out whether this new game from Play'n Go is going to deliver everything we could hope for from it?

The first thing you'll notice upon loading the game is the presence of six reels. We've seen this happen already in a few new games for 2019. Could we be looking at the start of a new trend for this year? We hope so - we've played some awesome six-reel games in the past and it's something we would like to see more of.

The icons appearing in Raging Rex include various dinosaurs. You will also see various insects and creatures held in amber. The Raging Rex does of course appear in the game and can trigger free respins if it appears in a full stack on a reel. In this case, it will walk to the left by one reel per respin. So, the further over to the right it appears to start with, the more respins it will trigger. Once the Rex reaches the first reel, your respins will finish.

The scatter looks to be the very item that is thought to have wiped out the dinosaurs to start with - a meteor. This is the scatter and it can trigger the Raging Spins for you. Three, four, five, or six of them are required to earn you eight, 15, 20, or 30 free games. How many could you win? Better still, once they are triggered you get the chance to trigger them again - and this is unlimited. Your Raging Spins can be played in Wild Hunt or Primal Rage mode, according to the option you choose. Each one brings its own perks, so play Raging Rex today to see which version you prefer.

Are you ready for The Wiz from ELK?

The Wiz would seem to give us a magical theme, but there isn't much to glean from that title other than a guess at where it might take us. The good news is the journey we are about to be taken on by ELK Studios is a good one. You might guess that from the main image for the slot, featuring a magical setting, a rainbow, and some superb detail in the golden title itself and the castle that also appears just behind it.

They've gone for a 5 x 4 format for this one and it pays off nicely. The game has bonus icons featuring a wizard (or at least someone who looks like one), while the sun and moon appear on two other icons. Expect mystery chests, potions, and even a mysterious key to appear while you get spinning with this one.

With a fantasy theme in action here, it isn't surprising to spot a dragon turning up now and then. The dragon is wild and will assist with numerous prizes if you are lucky with the combination of symbols appearing elsewhere. Unusually, the game offers free spins (called Wizspins here) for just two or more bonus icons appearing on the reels. Two bonus symbols garner just one spin, but finding three, four, or five will award you five, seven, or 10 of them instead. As is the case with numerous other games, you can trigger these to occur again by finding more bonus icons.

That wild dragon is good to see anywhere, but it also carries with it a varying multiplier worth from 2x to 5x. Only the bonus cannot be replaced by this; everything else can be. The Wizspins have a couple of other perks too - firstly, all low-value symbols transform into high-value ones. Secondly, the dragon wild transforms into a walking multiplier wild. Just one more reason to give this new game from ELK Studios a go.

Boom Shakalaka is a catchy title - the game from Booming Games is good too

That's a catchy title, to be sure, but will the game be good to play? It's an odd one, this, featuring animals dressed for action and some diamonds, some balls of wool, and golden jewelry as well. Yes, we did say it was odd, although it is also great fun to try. That diamond we mentioned is also labeled as the CATPOT icon. Connected to a jackpot, perhaps? We can only hope we might be on the receiving end of that, right? Three, four, five, or six of these allow you to grab the corresponding Catpot for that number of icons.

Many slot games have their logos in action on the reels. We can expect that of the Boom Shakalaka slot too. In this case, it is used as a scatter and as a trigger for the free games. Meanwhile, the wild says just that and is shown in gold. Three or more will win a prize for the wilds alone, but it also replaces most other icons except the scatter.

This game offers 25 lines to bet on and is a lot of fun. The casino-style theme is used very differently here compared with other games. There is a chance of winning some big prizes, but of course the game itself will hopefully be good to play even if those big amounts don't come your way. Try the demo today and see what you think.

Play 100 Joker Staxx this week from Playson

We've seen titles for other slot games that are very similar to this one. So, what does 100 Joker Staxx hold in store for us? The joker smiles out from the main image promoting this game, and the presence of some familiar fruit and sevens around the joker tells us this is a classic of sorts. We say 'of sorts' because we get five reels in this instance, complete with the four icons required on each to give us the 100 lines referred to in the title.

Think of this as a big, bold version of a standard fruity slot game and you'll get the idea. You can see the joker in the role of the wild, meaning you can benefit from its appearance if it assists in any prize wins. This icon is powerful enough to appear on multiple reels and in stacks too. It subs for everything except the gold star, used here as a scatter. There's nothing much else to look for in this game, but it proves to be good to play, nonetheless. If you're a fan of basic slots with lots of fruit involved, this could give you something else to enjoy on a larger scale.

Quickspin gives us access to some Divine Dreams

Do you love to dream? We guess the answer depends on the kind of dreams you have. Quickspin has been inspired by this theme and has created Divine Dreams, which sounds more magical than anything else. The game looks very appealing, offering a captivating start before boasting of multipliers thanks to the sixth reel. Yes, while the game has five main reels, the sixth one always shows multiplier values. So, if you garner a win from the main reel set, a multiplier on the final reel could give you more to celebrate than you thought.

The other element that could appear on the sixth reel is the message saying YIN YANG WILDS. If this should appear in the highlighted section of that reel, you will see two wilds moved onto the main reel set. The sixth reel will then scroll through several multiplier values, awarding you up to 10x on any wins garnered from those wilds added to the main reels.

If you look closely, you will also see this game gives you the chance to get a Super Respin or a Mega Respin. With multipliers worth up to 20x or even 30x in these features, you never know how good the next spin could be. Watch out for MEGA RESPIN or SUPER RESPIN to appear on that special sixth reel too. You might soon find you are watching that one more closely than the main reels. Divine Dreams might also treat you to some free spins in much the same way.

While it might take a while to get used to the way the game works, Divine Dreams has been beautifully designed and looks stunning. This is one game we think will be a huge hit in the coming weeks.

Magic is back on the cards with The Great Albini from Foxium

Foxium is starting the New Year in fine style by introducing us to The Great Albini Slots. That title kinda gives away the fact this is a magician, and we can expect the opportunity to try and scoop up to 4,000x our bet if we give this one a try.

Set on a stage, the game gives us some insight into the magician's trade. There is some real magic here too, with The Great Albini himself standing to the side of the reels and giving us a good look at everything that comes into view. His assistant appears with him on the free spins symbol, which features the words The Great Albini Magic Show. Find this symbol on the second, third, and fourth reels together and you will earn yourself 12 free games. If you are fortunate, you may unlock the Lily feature from within this element of the game. This is triggered whenever the assistant appears on reels two, three, and four. She is a full-height symbol though and must appear in entirety on each of those reels to trigger it. She is the wild, awarding a 2x multiplier to wild wins in this part of the game. There is a regular wild too, which also offers a multiplier. If she comes into play and triggers her feature, respins are the order of the day. If these are triggered within the free spins, those spins are paused and resume once your respins have ended. Confused? It's easy, really - you just need to take this one for a spin to find out more about it.

In short, you can enjoy a Mystery Box Respin feature, the Lily feature, and a Bonus Box feature too. No wonder this game, released on January 10th, has already proven hugely popular at casinos offering it for play.

Meet The Great Pigsby, released by Relax Gaming

Isn't that a cool title? Based on The Great Gatsby, of course, The Great Pigsby keeps a nice sense of humor going with a game featuring the pig himself in front of his mansion. But does the game live up to that exciting and amusing start?

Before the game begins, we get another look at that mansion. We can see there are some free spins to be won here, along with a chance at a wild re-spin or two. And could we also benefit from a Great Pigsby Spin, whatever that might be? It's clear from the beginning that this is not a basic game. Indeed, even though we have letters on the reels here, they all appear encrusted with diamonds. Clearly, the Great Pigsby is well-to-do with cash. Maybe some of it will flow in your direction if you manage to get some good combinations on the reels. If you manage to trigger the Wild Reels feature, you will see between two and four reels going totally wild. This cannot happen to the first reel but watch the others to see what happens there. Meanwhile, the free spins feature awards the player with 10 free games. Every other spin receives a mystery symbol element in it. This means a low-value icon is replaced by one of high value. Since this is cumulative throughout the 10 games you will play, the last two spins will only contain high-value symbols. Could you trigger some cool wins from that feature? We hope so!

The Great Pigsby Spin is randomly triggered and will see several high-value icons added to the reels on that spin. Meanwhile, the Piggy Bank feature sees the player collecting wilds and shooting for some free games or re-spins. You can see The Great Pigsby is a great game to play thanks to the presence of some awesome features.

Try and get hold of the Hot Fruits 100 slot from Amatic

Well, if this one isn't chock full of fruity icons, we would be surprised. There is some heat here too, evidenced by the flames underneath the cherries, berries, and sevens in the opening image. But where does the 100 come in? Do we get the chance to play on that many lines, we wonder?

Hot Fruits 100 is bigger than many other fruity games, with five reels giving us a four-icon stack on each. Speaking of stacks, many icons can appear stacked on their reels too - including the wild, shown here as a red seven on a flaming background and labeled for good measure.

The best you can hope for in this game is a complete screen filled with those wilds. If you manage that, you can sit back and wait to be awarded a massive 200,000 credits. You can also win for three, four, or five wilds on a line. A gold star against a blue circular background is the scatter, and five of those would reward you nicely too - this time with 25,000 credits. We wondered whether this game would produce 100 paylines and it does, so if you're looking for one of the biggest fruity-featured games around, Hot Fruits 100 does fill that need. It does so better than you might have guessed too.

Gem Saviour Sword comes to us from PG Soft

This turns out to be a busy week for PG Soft - the first of two games from them this week. Gems and the sharp point of a sword both appear in the title image, with an unusual format taking us into this charming game. We get five reels but just one line, although you can just see the icons appearing above and below that line with each spin.

The game looks impressive no matter how you play it. With a chance to view Gem Saviour Sword on your smartphone, you'll want to enjoy it wherever you are. There is a chance to form a complete sword over the middle three reels of the game if you get lucky. This will trigger the Bonus Wheel and you must spin it to find out what happens next. You might receive a multiplier to boost a win here or there could be a bonus respin involved too.

The game also includes a cute white cat, and if this should appear three times over those middle reels, you will get a Cat Respin feature instead. This might result in another win for you. You can see that while the five-reel game only offers one payline, it offers far more entertainment and special features than you might suppose.

Will the new Red Tiger game be truly Gemtastic to play?

Ah, gems… which of us hasn't played a slot game or two based on gems and not much else? These games range from the superb to the disappointing, so there's no way we can tell where Gemtastic will fall on that scale without exploring further. Will it be a gem of a title to take us into the New Year?

If you are expecting a standard slot here, you will be surprised by what greets you as you start the game. We have a six-reel format with icons stacked five high on each one. And yes, as you would likely guess, those reels give us lots of gems of varying shapes and colors. There is a sparkly and multicolored wild in store on the reels too, with a black W making it stand out even more. These can appear all over the place, which is good to see if you're spinning with real bets in play.

Watch for the multiplier stack of icons to the right of the reels too. This sees the multiplier climb higher as it reaches the top. Could you go all the way to receive the highest win multiplier you possibly can here? The more consecutive wins you manage to get, the higher it will go. There is also a Magic Glow feature that could produce wilds and respins. Oh, and watch out for some gems appearing far bigger than usual while you play the game. With 2x2 and even 3x3 giant gems on offer, getting some wins could be easier than you think whenever these appear.

With 30 lines to try and score some wins on, Gemtastic truly does live up to its boastful - and justified - name.

1x2 Gaming treats us to some Fairie Nights

Fairies show up with pleasing regularity in lots of online slot games. However, rarely do they look as good as they do in this great new title from 1x2 Gaming. You will be tempted deep into a dark forest before the game begins. The 5 x 3 game itself treats us to several magical-looking toadstools and plants, while butterflies and tree-type characters also pop up. And hey, is that a gnome we see there?

The character who looks like a cross between a wizard and a tree is quite useful, appearing as a wild that can expand to fill its reel. Of course, the game is named after fairies, and so it should not come as a surprise to learn the fairy with wings is the symbol to look for whenever you want to earn some free games. Three or more are required to trigger those. These contain Willo the Wisp-type icons that stay in position for a few spins when they appear. The more of those you find, the more profitable the free spins could potentially be.

This forest contains plenty of surprises and treats for the players who prefer their games to come packed with detail. Unicorns, letters designed as tree trunks, and other fairytale characters and images appear on every spin. You never know where you will be taken next, but you can be sure Fairie Nights is a delight to play.

Amatic strikes again with another new release - Dragon's Gift

Dragons can be friend or foe - you just never know which way things are going to go when they pop up in a slot game. However, we think the wide-eyed dragon appearing in this game from Amatic Industries might have a few surprises in store. Dragon's Gift suggests it will be friendly, so let's see if that is true.

We get an unusual five-reel format here, delivering a 3-4-5-4-3 presentation on a green background. This provides 720 ways we can try to win prizes per spin. The Oriental theme you might have guessed at already is shown in various icons and golden symbols on the reels. The dragon is the wild and it can expand, and the pearl is used as a scatter. This will trigger five bonus spins whenever three or more are found in a single spin.

The number of bonus spins won doesn't sound too good, but each spin means you see wilds on the middle three reels. The third reel only contains those wilds, so you could be luckier here than you think. You can also trigger more bonus spins in the same manner, so there is a chance to do well. Dragon's Gift could indeed bring a gift or two your way.

PG Soft issues another new slot release in the shape of Piggy Gold

Our final release this week is Piggy Gold - the other release coming from PG Soft. Another Oriental-themed slot, this one features a three-reel format and just one payline. The paytable appears on the same screen, showing the pig itself as the wild symbol. The game offers players the chance to score up to 5,000x their bet, which is reason enough to give it a try, wouldn't you say?

This is quite a simple game, although it does feature a Double Symbol Feature that could produce a nice change for you. Think of it as a maxed-out three-reel game and you'll get the idea. You also get the opportunity to find a wild symbol with a multiplier value on it. This will be x2, x5, or x10. It can appear on the middle reel and obviously boost your win if you manage to secure one.

As such, while this is one of the smallest new titles on offer this week, Piggy Gold still manages to be anything but formulaic. We could say that of most slot releases we have reviewed here. Do you have a favorite? Will we see more releases next week with some new delights in the mix? We'll soon have the answers for you.