| Slot detail | |
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| Provider | Genesis Gaming |
8 Bit Intruders slot summary
8 Bit Intruders slot may not ring any bells as you read the title unless you were around in the 1980's at the dawn of home computers and the first coloured video game home consoles. Their graphics were very basic and megabits were to be a thing of the future, so any images were constructed of relatively large squares unlike the millions of pixels we get today. Combine this with the classic Atari 'Asteroids' and 'Space Invaders' cabinet games of the time and you have a rare theme for a modern day slot. This retro arcade game theme has not gone unmissed by other developers, with examples including Thuderkick's Flame Busters, iSoftBet's Megaboy and Pariplay's Atari Star Raiders. So can you fight these 8 Bit Intruders off or will they get through to destroy your balance?
On the reels...
Genesis Gaming have taken the old style Space Invaders sounds (the slow oomp-oomp-oomp which sped up as the aliens came closer to destroying your missile stations) and merged them into a very catchy Techno-beat soundtrack for the game which unfortunately transpired to be the best thing about this game. The reels land with the sounds of battle over the 5x3 grid on which we are given no pay lines as there are 243 ways to win.
The game is set over an 8-bit space scene and the symbols are all single with Radio Antenna Dishes on the centre 3 reels as Wilds. You do get stacked Asteroids on all reels and this is where we see the first negative of this game of missed chances. You have a laser under reels 1, 3 and 5 and these 'zap' the Asteroids which then are replaced by more symbols, although this is not strictly a cascade-style game. You pay 25 coins a spin and these will reveal tiny amounts of 1 to 5 coins each, which is rather annoying as you may have been expecting a mystery symbol behind them.
The top icons are various colours of Space Invader 8-Bit symbols paying 20x bet for the Orange while the Green, Pink and Purple Invaders paying 10, 6 and 6x bet for the ful 5-of-a-kind. Card values are the remaining ones paying 4 or 2x bet for all 5. There is a scatter formed of 3 laser guns on each reels and 3 or more allow into hyperspace for the game's bonus.
Defend the planet bonus
Three or more scatters will begin 3 waves of alien attacks on the screen for which you get 5 lasers to defend against, one under where each reel was. You get 4 shields for your laser stations, but 5 or 6 if you trigger with 4 or 5 scatters. Alien craft will descend on your defenses and you can choose 3 out of your 5 lasers to fire at them. Each one penetrating your fire and getting to the bottom destroys a shield. Each alien destroyed awards a cash prize of 1 to 10x bet. If you survive these 3 waves of attacks with any shield still intact, a 3x multiplier is awarded for all prizes collected.
Our View...
8 Bit Intruders slot is highly innovative and the sounds are good too, especially the music if it's to your taste. Unfortunately this great idea is poorly executed. Firstly the Asteroids with their tiny coin awards appear every other spin nearly, and you have to watch the tedium of the lasers shooting them to reveal this - the game is simply too slow as a result. The symbols that replace these rarely help you get a win either. The RTP is 96.29% which is fine, but again the bonus game isn't - it simply has too little potential and whole game revolves around small and frequent awards. With a bit more in terms of volatility and potential Genesis Gaming could have dished us up a cosmic classic here, but in my opinion have just fallen short. It's not quite 'game over', but it is missing some levels for me...
