It seems incredible to think that a decade has passed since the very first 'branded' online pokies machine made its way into online casinos.
The first to hit the shelves in this way was the Tomb Raider slot. Let's explore a little about the game and the legacy it has left ten years after it broke the mold for video slot gaming.
The Tomb Raider franchise is something unusual in the world of video slot gaming. Usually, when a branded slot comes along, it is because of a successful film or TV series, that may spawn a video game and then a successful slot. There are a number of slots that have followed this formula over time, such as the exciting Terminator 2 and Jurassic Park slots.
Tomb Raider was different. This franchise was spawned initially from a hugely popular console video game, which then spawned a successful film franchise and it was from this that the first Tomb Raider slot was developed.
In addition, Tomb Raider was unique in that it took its inspiration for the look of the slot, direct from the video game, rather than the film franchise (which famously starred Angelina Jolie in the lead role).
The original Tomb Raider slot was a 5 reel slot offering 15 pay lines, with a maximum coin jackpot or 35,000 coins when using multipliers.
While the licensing of the Tomb Raider name helped this slot gain popularity, it was also the fact that Microgaming developed an entertaining slot to showcase the inherent characteristics of the game that also played a key role in its success.
Ten years ago, Wild and Scatter Symbols were not as prevalent as they are now, nor was the idea of offering free spins to players as part of the bonus game and to allow them to hit bigger wins. While Tomb Raider wasn't the first game to offer this, its popularity certainly helped these features of the slot catch the imagination of the slot playing public.
Another key factor in the success story was cost. Players could wager as little as 0.05 on each spin of the Tomb Raider, or they could also wager up to 75 coins at the cost of 0.50 per coin (37.50 in cash terms). This meant that the slot also had a very broad appeal, affordable to play for the small stakes player, as well as appealing to those players who like to play for considerably more on each spin.
So popular was the first game in the Tomb Raider series, it was not surprising that it then spawned a successful sequel. The second Tomb Raider slot, best known as Tomb Raider Secret of the Sword, built upon the popularity of the first by incorporating the elements of the first game into a similar, but also distinctly different sequel.
The second game in the franchise saw the graphics given an overhaul, making them look much crisper than in the first and the structure of the slot was also altered. While still a five reel game, there were now 30 pay lines available to play on every spin and you could play for as little as 0.30 per spin, or as much as 6.00 per spin.
Secret of the Sword also featured up to 25 spins in the free spins game, as well as a new Rolling Reels feature, which when triggered in free spins mode, saw the winning symbols on a pay line explode and be replaced by new symbols, which could then trigger additional wins from the same spin.
In addition to this feature, the game also boasted a Super Mode, which triggered randomly throughout the game and awarded the lucky player 5 free spins at any point in the game, without having to land the three scatters.
Finally, the Secret of the Sword slot also introduced a storyline element into the game play, with the player having to play the slot and travel to various cities across the globe in order to collect the fragments of the sword (which came with a cash prize), or alternatively to trigger a booby trap which would leave them with nothing.
In terms of scope, the Secret of the Sword sequel was a much bigger game than the original, given that it possessed a huge range of additional features outside of the base game, but once again, it built on the successful original slot as the template for the game.
Yet the legacy of the first branded slot transcends the Tomb Raider name. Indeed, if a slot developer wants a quick and easy way to attract people into playing a new game, then linking a slot to a popular film or TV series is without doubt the best way to do this.
The proof that this works is evidenced at the most popular slots to be released over the last 12 to 18 months or so. The Terminator 2 slot may have come along almost two decades after the original film was released, but the combination of using real life action taken from the film, a pulsating soundtrack and a sharp, imaginative game design proved a winner with fans.
The same can be said of the innovative slot Jurassic Park, another that took many years to follow in the footsteps of the original motion picture. But Jurassic Park also set new standards featuring 3x parallax scrolling and a total of 5 different free spins bonus games, each based on a different type of dinosaur.
And of course, arguably the biggest and certainly the most anticipated slot of 2014 was the fantastic Game of Thrones slot, based on the books and television series of the same name. Again, this branded slot pushed new boundaries by having bonus games based on each of the four warring families central to the theme of the story, as well as having two different types of game to play a 15-payline game and a 243 ways to win game.
And it is not just standalone branded slots that are popular. Christopher Nolan's Dark Knight series of film has spawned two fabulous slots, the Dark Knight Rises and perhaps most interestingly, the Dark Knight.
The Dark Knight slot, which is based on the second film of the series starring the late Heath Ledger as the joker, is unusual for a branded slot in that it is a progressive jackpot game. Not only that, it is a progressive jackpot game that is tied to the massive jackpot's available as part of the Mega Moolah franchise.
What this means is that if you want to win the Mega Moolah jackpot (which as we revealed last week, stands at a record), then you can play the original Mega Moolah game, or the fabulous Dark Knight slot, with its Batman vs Joker theme.
Branded slots have come a long way from the first Tomb Raider game and they continue to push the boundaries of what can be achieved with a slot machine. It will be interesting to see how the next generation of branded slots matches up to the first.
They certainly have some high standards to match and hopefully, better.
Next Post: When will Mega Moolah welcome a new record-breaking jackpot winner?
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