Queen of Atlantis Pokie Machine
There’s something fishy going on with the Queen of Atlantis pokie from Aristocrat, as instead of paylines running across the 5 reels, players will see that wins come from landing 3 of the same type of symbol across adjacent reels, but it doesn’t matter where on those reels they appear.
Called Reel Power, this format is actually a good way to get lots of winning spins, although the amount paid out on each may be comparatively low. But Aristocrat haven’t sunken to new depths with this game, as it comes filled to overflowing with bonus features such as wild substitutions, scatter wins and a free spins round where treasure chests award more games with multiplier payouts.
Diving Right In
Queen of Atlantis is found at land based casinos, and comes housed in smart cabinets, where the big screens bring the details to life. Playable from just 0.30, all parts of the reels are permanently active, so there’s no need to decide how many lines to use, for the simple fact that there aren’t any. Those with bigger bankrolls can raise their bets, with the actual maximum varying from casinos to casino, but high rollers can expect to be able to wager up to 300.00 or even 450.00 per spin.
Like all games from this Australian developer, Queen of Atlantis has been beautifully designed, with pin-sharp graphics and smooth animations, while the picture symbols of jellyfish, dolphins, seahorses and yellow fish all look great.
Behind the reels is a simple picture of the undersea world that’s enough to set the scene, but not so overdone that it distracts from what’s happening in the game.
Some players may feel disappointed that the playing card symbols 9, 10, J, Q, K and A are exactly the same ones featured across most of the games from Aristocrat, with not even a bit of seaweed of the odd anchor to bring them in line with the rest of the game, but at least they are colourful enough.
Queen of Atlantis
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Extra Features
The red-haired mermaid Queen herself is a wild symbol, so if it’s possible to complete a winning line, she will act as any other base symbol, although she can’t replace the pearl scatter as this has other jobs to do.
When the Queen completes a winning line, she gives a little watery wave to the players, which is about as advanced as the animations get, as other symbols simply flash on and off a couple of times when they make up a winning line.
Big wins will see a shower of coins falling down the screen, which is a common feature of Aristocrat pokies and adds a little drama to the occasion. However, as there are so many ways to line up those symbols, and wins tend to be on the small side, those coins won’t be falling quite so often.
Most players would prefer to see more frequent payouts rather than sitting there feeding cash into a game for no obvious benefits while waiting for bigger payouts, which make these low-volatility pokies quite a popular choice.
A Treasure Trove of Free Spins
The pearl scatter symbol can appear in any positions to trigger a free spins game. The way that players begin the round however, is a little unusual, as they will first dive down to the bottom of the ocean, where they will see 10 different-coloured treasure chests.
They are prompted to touch the screen to open a number of them, revealing free spins with each selection and once they have selected as many as they are allowed, the numbers are added up and the games commence. Each chest will tend to have 2 to 4 spins and players will usually get 3 to 6 picks.
Any time that the symbols line up for a win during the free games, the value will be doubled from what it is in the normal run of play, although the reels are standard, so there’s no extra wilds or higher value symbols on them for improved winnings.
Three more pearls can retrigger the bonus game, with the new round starting once any left in the current session have played out.
The Verdict
There’s a couple of nice features with this game, the most obvious being the design and the fact that it follows a popular theme. A number of games have similar symbols, but what it lacks in originality it makes up for with colour and the Reel Power format which sees the potential for lots of winning spins.
While many of those wins will be modest, there’s still a few big rewards when lining 4 or 5 of the higher-value symbols right across the reels, and once in the free spins round, the prizes can really stack up.