Sterling Silver 3D Pokies
It seems that the trend for 3D movies has now extended to the world of online pokies, with the release of Microgaming’s Sterling Silver 3D which is simply an update of an existing, albeit very popular, game.
Like the cinema experience, without special 3D glasses, it’s going to look pretty weird, so players can get some sent out to them by online casinos that feature this pokie, but in the meantime, we will cross our eyes and squint a bit to see what happens when the reels of Sterling Silver 3D are taken for a spin.
Alternatively, there’s a little button above the reels that switches between 3D and 2D, so players don’t have to wait for their glasses to arrive and can play it without giving themselves a headache.
A Sterling Effort
Silver dominates the reels, with the playing card symbols 9, 10, J, Q, K and A all designed to look as if they have been cast from the precious metal, plus there are single and triple bars of the stuff having the highest values.
A contrasting black background sets them off nicely, with a small splash of colour coming from the payline indicators that run down each side of the reels.
Each playing card symbol is enhanced with a little brass-coloured gear that may have little to do with the game but pops out of the screen in 3D mode with great effect, enhanced by the continuation of the black behind them.
Control buttons appear to be floating above further bars of silver and these are used to determine the number of paylines in play and how much is staked in total. Coin values can be adjusted from 0.01 to as much as 0.25, while between 1 and 5 coins can be used on each line and any number of lines, from just a single one to all 25,to give minimum and maximum values per spin of 0.01 and 31.25, which may be a little low for high rollers, but should be fine for most.
The playing card symbols pay from 5x, 20x and 100x the amount wagered on each line for landing 3, 4 or 5 of the 9’s, up to 20x, 50x and 300x when landing the A in the same combinations. The silver bars pay up to 500x for the single and 1000x for the triple bars, while a couple of bonus features are triggered by wild and scatter symbols.
Sterling Silver 3D
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Shiny Bonuses
The Sterling Silver logo is the wild symbol here and to help it complete winning combinations it will appear stacked on a reel, potentially making up more than one line at a time. A welcome touch is the random multipliers that will increase the basic value of a win created by the wild by anything from 2x to 10x.
A big stack of silver bars is a scatter symbol that pays 10x the total bet when just a single example lands on the middle 3 reels at the same time. Once this award has been credited, 15 free spins will commence with all wins being doubled in value throughout.
Another feature that can either turn a modest win into a much bigger one, or end up forfeiting a prize, is the gamble round which players can choose to take after any winning spin. It’s a simple round that’s common across lots of Microgaming pokies, where the triggering bet is doubled if the colour of a playing card is guessed correctly, or quadrupled if the right suit is picked.
Getting it right means players can either collect the new win or go again for an even bigger prize, but of course a wrong pick loses the triggering bet plus any gamble wins accumulated so far.
The Verdict
The 3D effect literally makes this game stand out, but it’s not all about appearances, as the bonus features are pretty good as well. The original version of Sterling Silver has been a big hit for Microgaming and it’s easy to see why, with wild multipliers, stacked wilds, a free spins round that can pay out some nice wins and the gamble game all being attractive features.
There’s not much colour to the game as apart from the payline indicators it’s all blacks and silvers, with just a splash of bronze. However, it remains a good looking pokie and the 3D works really well, so anyone who has the glasses will get the full effect, while those who haven’t just need to click a button to revert to the 2 dimensional version.