Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice Slots

Review of Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice Slots

Like most other red-blooded American boys I love comic books and was therefore very excited when it was announced that this movie was in the works. Sure I wasn’t that excited about the actor chosen to play Batman but neither were the vast majority of DC Comics readers. We all know now that Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice disappointed a lot of diehard fans when it was launched in theaters, even though it grossed millions and made a “decent” profit, it just should have been a lot better than it was.

Speaking of things that should have been a lot better than what they were, now is probably the time to tell you that the Batman v Superman gambling game is just as disappointing as the original film and you probably won’t want to waste a minute of your time on it. This entire machine is basically just a skin of Superman: Man of Steel Slots that Playtech released a few months before this one, and that wasn’t so hot either. All they did was put different images on the board and kept all of the functionality and features, like the Smashing Wilds and loud free spins modes. They didn’t even try to give it a unique look and feel!

This review will be 100% honest and give you the straight facts as to why Dawn of Justice Slots is one of the biggest clunkers ever made. There’s simply no making lemonade from this rancid lemon. Pucker up and let’s begin…

Screenshots

The screenshots below show how beautiful the imagery is, however, they also reflect the lack of action that you’ll find throughout. Yes there are beautiful colors and effects but they’re not enough to keep the average person interested after a while. Click on the images to enlarge them so you can take a good look.

Storyline

It’s been about a year and a half since Superman defeated General Zod and saved Metropolis from evil, and Batman doesn’t like what the Man of Steel stands for: “Alienism“. The feeling is more than mutual with Clark Kent believing that Batman is nothing more than a bloodthirsty bandit dishing out rogue justice. While the two superheroes are plotting against each other, super villain Lex Luthor is on the hunt for kryptonite to protect the planet from future “alien” invasions and therefore increase his influence over the world.

The film has many twists and turns as Batman and Superman’s distrust for one another blinds them to Lex’s growing arsenal of weapons, which includes a zombie Zod and monster DNA, (you just can’t make this stuff up…well, apparently you can). Will Diana Prince, Lois Lane, and Martha Kent be the sobering female voices to bring the two superheroes together to save the day? Probably.

This release from Playtech doesn’t reference the storyline from the film in any way, except for the few images of the characters and noteworthy items that will remind you of a couple of scenes. This machine only has boom/crash action and there’s zero references to the original story to convey a plot and they clearly could have done so much more in this department. What a shame.

Unique Symbols

Like all newer films based on graphic novels it was packed with stars in roles of various sizes, so there were many different options on who to include. Could we interest you in some Laurence Fishburne as Perry White? How about Kevin Costner as Jonathan Kent? Jason Momoa as Aquaman, Jeffrey Dean Morgan as Thomas Wayne, or Amy Adams as Lois Lane would all have been excellent additions that are sorely missed. The list seems never-ending.

However, we can’t be too greedy because Playtech did give us the bare minimum with a few little additions sprinkled on. Jesse Eisenberg as Lex Luthor was a nice surprise but nowhere near as shocking as seeing Shakespearian-trained thespian Jeremy Irons as Alfred Pennyworth – it’s absolutely amazing that he agreed to be included!

Every image is original and they didn’t have to rely on the traditional playing card symbols of 10, Jack, Queen, King, or Ace, which was obviously nice. Here’s what they went with:

• Daily Planet Newspaper
• Camera
• Grant’s Peach Tea
• Wonder Woman’s Sword and Shield
• Batmobile
• Kryptonite Tipped Spear
• Martha Kent (Diane Lane)
• Alfred Pennyworth (Jeremy Irons)
• Lex Luthor (Jesse Eisenberg)
• Batman v Superman Logo
• Smashed Hole in Wall Wild
• Superman Wild (Henry Cavill)
• Batman Wild (Ben Affleck)
• Wonder Woman Wild (Gal Gadot)
• Doomsday Wild (Robin Atkin Downes)

It doesn’t matter which one goes “wild” on the reels because any of the 5 Wilds will give you 1250x your total wager if you get five of them across the board. The payouts then drop off dramatically with Lex, Alfred, and Martha Kent yielding 400x, 300x, and 200x your total bet respectively for 5 of a Kind.

Please note that this is a fixed 25 payline machine so you must wager a minimum of $0.50 each time and you can’t manually adjust how many lines you activate.

Jackpots

We finally get to a rare bright spot in this review thanks to the Batman v Superman Slots Jackpot, which is part of the network that most comic book fans will probably already be familiar with. The DC Super Heroes Jackpot extends to every game they’ve put out over the last few years, with all funds wagered across the network of participating partners adding to the overall prize pools.

The four amounts on tap are Mini, Minor, Major, and Grand offering anywhere between €100 and €500,000. Once triggered you’ll go to a Pick Em’ style area where you choose which tiles to flip over and if you’re lucky enough to reveal 5 red energy balls, congratulations – you just won a life-changing sum of money.

Bonus Rounds

Prepare to be disappointed by yet another Playtech DC title because just like their last few releases there isn’t a Batman V Superman bonus round that gives you a break from the spinning reels. This is both shocking and offensive considering the source material and it’s unbelievable that the software developers couldn’t think of something fun involving a few of the world’s greatest superheroes.

The only thing to highlight in this section is the small feature of “Shifting Wild Symbols” that has the Superman and Batman Wilds hanging around on the board a little longer to give you extra wins. Each spin they will move 1 reel over to hopefully boost your balance before continuing to move along the board. They will do this in both the regular and free spins mode, with Batman always going right and Superman always going left.

Like other newer DC creations that we’ve seen in the last few years, there are “Battling Wilds” that involves two character symbols fighting for supremacy on the board. This time the clash occurs when the Batman Wild and the Superman Wild both land on the same row during the regular mode, with Batman on the left. They smash together to commence a freeroll that provides some of the only true action to be found.

Free Spins

As just mentioned, when the two main characters smash together in the regular mode they ignite the Batman v Superman Free Games which will give you an opportunity to stack up some cash. Each time they both land on the same reel they’ll fight until one of them is victorious, sending the loser off of the board to lick his wounds and leaving a trail of normal Wilds behind them.

This feature actually allows you to gamble on who you think is going to win the fight and you’ll want to give your selection a bit of consideration because if you were correct in choosing the victor you’ll add 4 more spins to your total.

The other item you can trigger arrives when the Doomsday Stacked Wild covers all three sections of reel #3 and brings the Dawn of Justice Free Games, which gives you a fixed 5 spins each time. During the round he’ll stay stacked and move across the board to the left each time and when he finally hits reel #1 your freeroll is over. However, on the last spin he’ll morph into a double-stacked Wild that entirely covers reels #1 and #2 so he’ll leave you with a few extra bucks before he disappears into the night.

Now this doesn’t necessarily mean that you’ll only get 5 gratis games because the superheroes can save you by landing to the left of Doomsday and smashing him back to the previous reel. And yes – if more than 1 hero lands in a spin they’ll each whack him back one, (obviously to a maximum of 3), so keep your fingers crossed for Batman, Superman, and Wonder Woman to swoop in and save the day.

Graphics

The symbols are ridiculously detailed with the glowing neon behind certain ones looking amazing, however, nobody walking into this title would expect anything less. The bar has already been set high by other new games but Playtech decided to limbo under it, letting it slightly graze their swollen bellies as they sashayed below.

Those of you who’ve seen recent DC slots made by Playtech will notice that the user controls and overall graphics are exactly the same in this machine. For example, the “Big Win” text and the coins that shoot out after bonus features are identical, as well as the buttons and selectors. It appears as if the software designers just did a “select all”, “copy”, and “paste” for this release, and you’ll understand if we think that people might have deserved a little better than that.

And don’t bother searching for any cool clips from the movie because they didn’t bother to include even one. This omission is simply another slap in the face for us comic book fans who like a bit of action while we gamble. Insert sad Ben Affleck meme here ______ .

Audio & Soundtrack

The “song” in the main game is a menacing and foreboding score with a tortured choir belting out eerie random notes. I understand what the audio engineers at Playtech were going for with this soundtrack but since it plays constantly it doesn’t really “set a mood”. It just gets more annoying each and every time it loops.

The sound effects are atrocious, with the win audios being a high-pitched “beep beep beep beep beep!”. They are then capped off with a cute cash register “cha-ching“, which in no way fits into the theme of the rest of the action. All of these audios come together to form an obnoxious potpourri that will have you quickly clambering for the mute button.

When a free spins mode is triggered the music becomes intense and frantic, with Doomsday and others growling, zapping, and crunching along the reels. It really is just a bunch of noise that tries to distract you from the fact that it’s a tired and boring game that never should have seen the light of day.

The final error by the audio department was that they didn’t include one line of dialogue from the film, ensuring that the few super-fans who hang around for a bit will quickly lose interest in this underwhelming release. It’s just a bunch of dings, bings, and tings…what the hell were they were thinking?

Conclusion

Much like the film from which it was spawned, there’s a certain arrogance that surrounds this title every time you load it up on your computer. It’s like they thought to themselves, “We’re Playtech. This is a DC blockbuster. People will enjoy it no matter how much effort we put in.” Well guys, we’re here to tell you that you were dead wrong. Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice Slots is a massive disappointment, and this time we couldn’t even get lost in Ben Affleck’s rugged good looks to ease our pain.

Sure there are two unique free spins modes you can trigger but they were too lazy to include a fun bonus round…even though they had two of the greatest superheroes of all time at their disposal, (3 if you want to count Wonder Woman). The freeroll does have some neat reel features like Sliding and Smashing Wilds but this gets old pretty quickly.

There is zero dialogue from the film, zero video clips, and zero storyline – it’s just spinning for the sake of spinning: and if I wanted to do that, there are hundreds of machines before this one that I’d want to spend my money on. Batman v Superman somehow walks the perfect line between “boring” and “annoying”, and after my original session I haven’t been able to play it for longer than five minutes without getting enraged.

Don’t waste your time – this was a spectacular fail. Everyone involved should be embarrassed.

Random Video of Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice

Here’s the official red carpet premiere of Dawn of Justice, back when everyone involved in the project was still happy and hopeful. This was only a few short days before their spirits were crushed by the following weekend’s gate receipts…