Five things we hate about online slots
What really grinds our gears when playing online slots?
Here at Slot Gods we're truly passionate about identifying and sharing with you the very best online slots available to play at casinos across the internet, but that doesn't mean we don't get frustrated with some of the titles we come across for one reason or another.
When you playtest as many online slots as we do on a daily basis It's inevitable that we're going to pick up a few gripes here and there, and we thought we'd share them with you today! You never know, perhaps this could be the start of stamping out some pretty frustrating practices?
1) Unimaginative slot design
We're in 2021, we've seen thousands upon thousands of fantastic online slots arrive in casino lobbies over the last fifteen years, so can someone please tell us why online slot developers are continuing to release run-of-the-mill games that have no thought put into them whatsoever?
We're not talking about games that look and feel like other games (we'll get onto that later), but instead, we're talking about incredibly basic 5-reel slots that have little to no thought behind them whatsoever! These offensive slots usually have no real theming other than perhaps taking a few elements here and there from classic titles.
We understand that resources can run thin and that there are many studios out there that just don't have the manpower to create a top-rated slot such as Dead or Alive 2, Vikings go to Hell or Gonzo's Quest Megaways, but it costs nothing to have a little bit of imagination!
2) Great slots with low maximum win potential
When it comes to reviewing slots it genuinely hits us hard when we play through a new online slot and quickly fall in love with the way it looks and plays, only to realise that the winning potential is absolutely pathetic!
In our opinion it almost seems counterproductive for developers to pour so much time, effort and love into making an online slot game so good, only to hinder it by making the maximum win value worryingly low!
We've come across some absolutely wonderful slots such as Esqueleto Mariachi, Honey Honey Honey and Finn and the Swirly Spin that are a LOT of fun to play, but all offer a low maximum win potential, and it absolutely breaks our heart to think about what could have been.
3) Great slots with an unnecessarily low RTP
On a similar note, we've repeatedly come across slots that have an unnecessarily low RTP (return to player). The industry average RTP for most online slot games is 96%, as a rule of thumb anything that sits at or above 96% is a fair game in our books, and will be worth playing.
Sadly, many developers will drop their RTP below 96%, however, this could be for a number of different reasons, most of the time a low RTP is down to the inclusion of a progressive jackpot.
You'll find most progressive jackpot slots have an RTP that sits around 85% - 95%, this is something we can accept as we know a percentage of our bet has to go towards the progressive jackpot, which we have a chance of winning.
You'll also spot a number of online slots that have generous bonus features built into them, this may also cause developers the lower the RTP a little bit, as casinos don't want players taking take too much away when the game is already pretty generous. This is most certainly a practice we really don't enjoy seeing, and we thoroughly believe should be stomped out.
4) Sequels that don't improve on the latter
In the movie industry sequels aren't always better than the original film, and this can often be the case in the online slot world as well! You might be asking yourself 'If movies get it wrong, why is it fair that we're calling out the iGaming industry for the same thing?'
Well, look at it this way... It's not at all difficult for online slot developers to better improve on an original slot... All they need to do is add more bonus features, innovative mechanics and improve the winning potential. So please someone tell us why we're coming across slot sequels that offer absolutely no form of improvement on the original?
Don't get us wrong, it's certainly not a regular occurrence, there are some AMAZING online slot series out there that are well worth investing your time into... But there are also some games out there that do very little to improve on the latter especially in the win potential department, we're looking at you Fluffy Too, and you Mystery Reels Power Reels!
5) Copy and paste online slots
This is arguably THE most frustrating thing about online slots in our opinion... Copy and paste titles. You just have to take a look at some of the most popular games of all time and you'll easily find 10 more slots that look the same, play the same and feature the same bonuses and mechanics. It well and truly drives us nuts.
We genuinely appreciate the need to make money and get your game in front of as many people as possible, but ultimately online slot studios are meant to be creative, there's absolutely no creativity in copying another slot!
This isn't a new problem, it's actually happened in waves throughout the years... Firstly we saw a LOT of developers release Egyptian-themed slots that emulated classics such as Cleopatra, next we had an influx of Adventure-themed slots that copied popular slots such Gonzo's Quest and the Rich Wilde series and today we're seeing an absolute ton of Megaways slots come out.