Cyrus The Virus Pokie Machine
If the name Cyrus the Virus sounds familiar, it's the character played by John Malkovitch in the 1997 movie Con Air. The pokie game from Yggdrasil has nothing to do with the film whatsoever, but it's a cool movie, and it was bugging me that I'd heard the name before, so I thought it was worth a mention.
Anyway, back to the game, which is also pretty cool, although there are fewer explosions and flying Corvettes than in the film. What you do get however, are lots of different virus symbols that spin around a fixed 10 payline game with 5 reels, and features wins whenever at least three line up from left to right or right to left.
There's also some neat animations, wins of up to 2000 coins, and Wild Respins for extra chances of winning a prize, all of which come together to make an enjoyable pokie game, typical of the slightly off-the-wall offerings from Yggdrasil Gaming.
Gross But Fun Gameplay
If your very squeamish, this may not be the game for you, but it's all presented in a fun, cartoony style that's unlikely to freak out too many people. The reels are surrounded by what looks like the insides of someone's guts, with 5 little holes on each side of the reels that have a surprise inside each one, but more of that in a bit.
The viruses themselves come in a variety of sickly shades, with each one being worth a different amount, from the lowly Blue virus who is worth from 10 to 100 coins when between 3 and 5 land on a line, to the Dark Blue tentacle guy that brings from 100 to 2000 coins. In general, the bigger and nastier looking the virus is, the more it pays out, which I guess represents the severity of the diseases that they can give you.
Cyrus The Virus
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Unlike most pokies where you need symbols from the left hand reel onwards to line up, in Cyrus The Virus, winning combinations can run from the right as well, which gives 10 paylines in total.
When the reels spin, there's not much to see other than different coloured viruses rolling down, until at least 2 identical symbols land on a line.
Then, the fun animations that are a hallmark of this game start to appear, with eyes and mouths forming on any virus that could make up a win, and strange little worm creatures popping out of the holes at the sides of the reels. These will take a look at the symbols, ready to pounce in the hope that a winning combination will be spun up, and then race across the screen, over any symbols that made up the win. Those symbols will burst into evil-looking grins before exploding and dispalying the amount won.
Although the Wild is the only real bonus symbol, it's a real highlight of the game when it lands on the middle reel. Only a single Wild has to appear to launch a quick bonus round which starts off with him expanding across the whole reel in a flurry of tentacles and what looks like growing vines. This can often create a win as he replaces other symbols, but whether this happens or not, he stays locked in position across the middle of the reels while all other reels re-spin, which will usually result in a win.
Did The Virus Make Us Sick?
It may not be packed full of bonus rounds, but Cyrus The Virus remains an entertaining game that has a few nice features and is definitely all about the fun animations that can pop up every few spins. It's actually quite fun watching the different faces and creatures appear throughout, and of course when a winning combination brings out the worms, the reels really come alive.
Although the expanding Wild and the re-spins that he triggers are the only real bonus features, these events tend to happen pretty often, so players are unlikely to get bored waiting for the chance to get some bigger prizes.