Rocky Slots

Review of Rocky Slots

It’s safe to say that any man, woman, or child alive in the 1970s and ’80s watched at least two Rocky movies in their lives, and rightfully so. I happen to be one of the more serious fans who has actually watched them all – including the terrible Rocky V in 1990.

Of course it’s impossible not to love Rocky’s story and the “average joe” that Sylvester Stallone plays so perfectly and if you don’t know how the original movie came to be, you really need to listen to the YouTube video embedded on this page. Tony Robbins tells a crowd about Sly’s full story and it’s absolutely amazing, not to mention thoroughly inspiring.

So as you can see, I’m a huge fan of the Rocky franchise and was going to be hard-pressed not to write a glowing review of any gambling game that was created with his name on it. Thankfully, this release outperforms even my high expectations and totally knocks it out of the park so no polishing is needed.

Continue reading to find out why Rocky Slots is one of the best movie-themed titles ever created. Period.

Screenshots

The screenshots below show you just how sleek things are and how well the imagery for each character was designed. The American Flag theme on the letter symbols is great and a perfect patriotic accompaniment to the reels. We haven’t included any images from the special features because we didn’t want to ruin it for you, but if you want a sneak peek just play the promo video in the right column of this page, (or at the bottom if you’re on a mobile device).

Storyline

When Rocky’s girlfriend Adrian asked him why he wanted to fight he responded with, “Because I can’t sing or dance.” And with that statement, the greatest boxer in the history of film perfectly explained himself and his outlook on life.

Rocky Balboa grew up in a rough Italian section of Philadelphia and never got an education or learned any skills – other than debt collection and fighting. His luck changed after Apollo Creed, the World Heavyweight Boxing Champion at the time, lost his opponent to an injury and offered to fight someone local instead. He eventually decided on Rocky “The Italian Stallion” Balboa as an opponent and the story of the ultimate underdog had begun: Rocky Balboa was soon to become a household name.

Rocky goes on to give Creed the fight of his life, which leads to epic matches with numerous other opponents over the many sequels of the movie. Every movie eventually paints Rocky as the long shot and details the hurdles he has to get over on his way to glory. The story unfolds to reveal more about his girlfriend Adrian, trainer Mickey, and the friends and foes he meets along the way. Over his illustrious career Rocky fights for pride, he fights for revenge, and he fights for his country. It really is one of the most beautiful stories to ever come out of Hollywood.

This game is all over the road in regards to storyline but this is actually a good thing: it takes the best parts of each of the first four movies and sprinkles them throughout the machine in a celebration of his career. For example, from Rocky IV we get the gray and red boxing gloves from the movie poster and of course, the Russian beast Ivan Drago.

Anyway, if this has all been too much for you to keep track of, the main thing you need to remember about this story is that “Rocky ain’t no bum”.

Unique Symbols

Most people will love the unique symbols that Playtech chose for this online slot because they’re totally different to what you would find in most other machines. This is primarily due to the letters for Rocky’s name being used as reel-filler instead of the old Jack/Queen/King/Ace playing card ones, and this small twist totally helps to push things “over the top”. It’s probably one of the best symbol ideas that’s ever been done to date.

When it comes to characters from the movies the software designers went all out and brought you the best of the best, regardless of which Rocky film they were actually in. This was another fantastic decision by the crew at Playtech and they honestly outdid themselves with this one.

The only thing that the crabbiest of reviewers could criticize is that there’s no Burgess Meredith as Mickey Goldmill, but no one will probably notice that there’s no Hulk Hogan as Thunderlips. Here’s the A List:

• R
• O
• C
• K
• Y
• Adrianna “Adrian” Pennino (Talia Shire)
• Paulie Pennino (Burt Young)
• Clubber “Southside Slugger” Lang (Mr. T)
• Ivan “The Siberian Bull” Drago (Dolph Lundgren)
• Apollo “The Master of Disaster” Creed (Carl Weathers)
• Robert “Rocky The Italian Stallion” Balboa (Sylvester Stallone) (Wild)
• Italian Stallion Logo (Scatter)
• Gray Boxing Glove (Bonus)
• Red Boxing Glove (Bonus)

It should come as no surprise that the highest-paying character is Rocky himself with a whopping 10,000 coins for 5 of a Kind. Next is Apollo Creed with 1,000 coins and Ivan Drago with 800 for five across the board. Clubber Lang weighs in next with 500 coins for five in a row, and then Adrianna Pennino and Paulie Pennino finish off things with 300 each.

Jackpots

There isn’t a Rocky Slots Jackpot so if you’re searching for one you might as well throw in the towel now. You’ll have to fight your way to fame and fortune the old fashioned way – just like The Italian Stallion himself.

Bonus Rounds

If you get the Gray Boxing Glove symbol on reel #1 and the Red Boxing Glove on reel #5 in the same result it will trigger the “Boxing Match Bonus“, which is one of the best special features in the history of online pokie machines. You first get to choose your opponent of either Clubber Lang, Apollo Creed, or Ivan Drago, and then you’re sent into the ring to start swinging.

This fight is scheduled for 10 rounds of non-stop action so you’d better be ready. Each one consists of short video clips from one of the movies showing Rocky fighting it out with the opponent that you chose. If he wins the round you get an award of 3x your original wager but if your opponent comes out strong and wins it you don’t get any loot added to your total. Every Boxing Match Bonus has a “movie script ending” and Rocky always comes out on top with a devastating knockout to end the action.

If you’re lucky enough to beat your opponent by knocking them out early you will get a cash prize for each round that you didn’t have to fight and you’ll be considered as the winner of each one. So if you knock them out in the 6th you will get a bonus for not having to go to 7, 8, 9, or 10, and that will count as four winning rounds for you, which again is 3x your total wager each time.

Another little nugget of fun to chase is that if you spell out his name with the R, O, C, K, and Y symbols in a row on every reel from left to right you will receive 5 times your total wager. This can happen in both the regular and free spins modes.

Hardcore gamblers will be happy to know that there’s a Double Up Feature included that allows you to choose between red and black and if you’re right you double whatever winnings you just won in the previous spin. Although if you choose incorrectly you lose everything and get booted back to the regular mode. You can keep doubling up until you reach the maximum amount of $/£/€ 1,000 or you can cash out your funds at any time and add them to your balance by clicking the “Collect” button.

Free Spins

The Italian Stallion Scatter is something that you will want to see as much as possible because if you nail 3, 4, or 5 of them together you’ll get 15, 20, or 25 free spins with a 2x multiplier. While freerolling it adds extra Rocky Wilds to the reels so you really have a good chance of stacking up some serious moolah.

Rocky never quit in the ring and neither do his free spins: if you hit 3 or more Scatters again while rolling you will win another 15 that will be added on to your total. The instructions say that this can be done “infinitely” but it’s probably more reasonable to say that “there’s no maximum”. However, if you ever do find yourself caught in an infinite freeroll continuum that has been going on for 12 hours or more, please contact us…or your family physician.

Graphics

With video clips such as Rocky telling Adrian, Wish me luck – I’m gonna need it, this game takes you to places that you never even knew you wanted to go. Clubber Lang pointing and screaming, Hey Fool! You ready for another beating? You should have never came back! is another example of this and there are tons of other movie clips throughout that add to the extremely fun experience.

Win, lose or draw, every spin of this machine looks fantastic with all of the symbols designed beautifully and all of the graphics for the reels being immaculate. Also, when you hit winning paylines all of the animations are awesome, with Playtech including the perfect amount of visual effects on each one.

Audio & Soundtrack

The engineers at Playtech continue to impress with the audios they chose to include. The sound of the reels whirling is a speed bag getting worked over at a boxing gym and it’s one of the most imaginative audios ever been put into an internet gambling machine – its perfect.

The song in Info Mode is taken straight from one of the original movies and has a strong ’80s feel to it. The only criticism with it is that the loop is too short and it only gives us a small portion of the song, which can obviously get quite annoying after a while. However, the song during free spins mode is a sassy little jam that will have you bouncing in your chair and flashing back to the early ’90s.

Lastly, super fans of the films don’t need to worry…yes, if you play long enough you will eventually hear Drago say, “I must break you.” Awesome.

Conclusion

Everybody loves you when you’re the champ and this outstanding release from Playtech is the undisputed Heavyweight Champion of movie-themed titles. They really set a high bar for quality with Rocky and this is even more shocking when you consider that it’s already a few years old now.

Whether you’re a fan of the fighter himself, the original movies, or just enjoy boxing in general, you will definitely want to spar a few rounds with Rocky. With one of the best special features ever, fantastically unique symbols, and tons of free spins, this is a machine that even casual players will want to check out.

A quote from Mickey explains it best: if you give this slot a chance you’re gonna eat lightnin’ and you’re gonna crap thunder! Well, maybe you won’t feel that good but you know what we mean.

So don’t trade your passion for glory – give Rocky a shot and rise up to the challenge of your rivals. An all around A+ effort.

Random Video of Rocky

There’s only one video that can end this review and that’s the official song for Rocky IV, “Living in America” by the Godfather of Soul, James Brown. This is hands-down one of the best made-for-movie songs ever released. In fact, you could say that it’s a total “knockout”…