There is a world of space-themed games out there - but did we say world? We meant worlds, and lots of them. Prepare for lift-off. Click here to read more.
Slots Reviews (Game Unavailable)
Bring on the Solar Flare! No, not the 1970s trousers - these solar flares scorch their way through Nova 7s. And let’s have Hypernova while we are at it! Great graphics of meteors, planets and atoms whizz by, with entire reels sometimes turning wild - it is probably the lack of gravity. Realtime Gaming can move you at warp speed to new galaxies if you trigger a feature. The epic music makes these slots really exciting to play.
If your idea of otherworldly nirvana is 30 unfixed paylines, NetEnt’s Nrvna can take you there. Calling itself ‘the nxt experience’, it features quite a lot of weirdness. For a start, it doesn’t look like any other slot you have ever played - there is something spacy about the grid and the shimmering gold columns. The symbols appear inside a circle of gas. This is a very strange and different slot - have a go and see what you think. Needless to say, it has a grunge soundtrack.
Cute robots and dinner on Mars
After all that weirdness, it is reassuring to turn to Robo Smash. As high-tech and masculine as it sounds, it is actually a whole bunch of cute-as-ninepence little egg-shaped robots. The free spins round is really challenging to keep up with, with stacked wild robots and great gameplay.
Yggdrasil's Robotnik features somewhat similar robots. It has a great backdrop of space where Jupiter and the Moon are about to get hit by asteroids. The asteroids are all lovely chunky little things, and at first there is a complete absence of robot. Don’t worry - Robotnik shows up when you win and sometimes flits about the screen turning rocks wild. The asteroid wilds are sticky and can stay in place when you spin.
Stars Awakening also has cartoon aliens. Red planets pay out the best bonus; when you win, you get the Supernova Scatter feature with respins. Win on the first level and you go to the next level; at level three, you can get the supersized red planet. With great gameplay and graphics from Playtech, you won’t nod off when you are playing!
Next we come to the superb madness that is Mars Dinner. A diner has landed on Mars. Well, why not? This probably happens most days! Can you imagine the meeting at Mr Slotty when they dreamed this one up? All the customers are aliens, which is not unknown in diners on earth. You have five reels and 25 paylines. There is an alien waitress, who is the wild, and a bonus game and a free spins round.
Trekkies alert!
It’s a slot Jim, but not as we know it. IGT has the right to use the Star Trek brand for slots, with the graphics taking you straight into the series. From the opening you are told to prepare to be emotionally compromised! Captain Kirk, Scotty, Spock and Uhura all appear and bring different levels of bonus with them; obviously, Captain Kirk’s is the highest.
Star Trek Red Alert from WMS will entrance Trekkies everywhere. It has music phrases from the original TV show and a great video in two parts featuring the game. There are Klingon birds, phasers, and that medical thing the doc always waves about over sick people. The more you win, the more you get to explore. When you see the Enterprise hitting warp speed across the screen, the bonuses start mounting up. As for the red alert button flashing on the screen, this means something profitable is about to happen.
In Space Adventure you get astronauts, aliens, satellites, space rockets, the red planet and a little green Martian. This is a Rabcat game with the typical Rabcat quirkiness. Three or more planets trigger the bonus function; in addition, there is a gamble feature. There is also a progressive jackpot - three euro jackpots symbols on a line and it’s yours, so get your spacesuit on and get going.
Serious space geeks - this is your game
Merkur’s Planets has - you guessed it - planets galore, including the Sun. It also has a spinning version of the Milky Way, Earth and Saturn. Oh, and three-pronged tridents, obviously. It turns out that these represent a planet - Neptune, obviously, as the God Neptune is seen with a trident. This game is one for serious space and general knowledge geeks, which makes it different from a lot of slots. The golden letter that combines E and P represents Pluto, while the pink circle with a smaller circle inside and an arrow coming out of the top is Uranus.
Moving swiftly on, Mercury is the pale green circle with the arrow. The Milky Way is wild, with the top earner - Earth - coming next in the payout league. The game has quite low normal payouts but has a great gamble feature where you can bet half or all your win.
Video gaming and slot gaming - brilliant combination
Drone Wars may just represent the way slots will develop as they increasingly combine elements of video games with the wagering element. As the game starts, you are in a spaceship looking out to space, ready to fire at incoming invaders. There are space fighters wearing futuristic headgear, neon symbols, space stun guns, and technicolor drones. Even the black hole is colorful - they must be a cheerful lot at Genesis Gaming! The Planetary Assault and Space Attack features have drone fights - you have to fight back by shielding your ship. Your win depends on how many drones you manage to eliminate.
There are dozens of other space-themed games to try - Galactic Cash Attack, Space Botz, Aliens Attack and Out of this World to name just a few. Space - here we come.