The Mummy Slots

Review of The Mummy Slots

First of all, you should know right off the bat that this title is actually based on the second installment of the movie franchise, The Mummy Returns, which is obvious due to the presence of Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson as The Scorpion King. Also, in its instructions it confirms that the movie clips are from the sequel to The Mummy and not the original, so if you are a Mummy Traditionalist who’s only looking to play something that’s based on the first one in the series you are sadly out of luck.

These films are a little confusing: are they supposed to be horror or slapstick comedy? Technically they were probably a mixture of the two, which many should find odd, but they’re fairly enjoyable nevertheless. And since the studio execs decided to make tons of these movies in the following years, we can assume that lots of other people liked them too. Sure, Brendan Fraser is no Boris Karloff but he does do a good job of making the role from the 1940s his own.

Anyway, let’s not bring any sentimental feelings into this review because this game will have to stand on its own two feet if it wants to get a good rating from us. With that said, this review of The Mummy Slots will highlight all of the things that Playtech did right with this title, and a lot of you might be surprised at just how well it turned out.

Screenshots

There’s just no denying that this machine is starting to look a little dated, which is to be expected since it came out many years ago. We haven’t seen a new release with a design like this for a while, but somehow the look and feel of it seems to have held up. The classic-looking backgrounds and user controls definitely add to the whole “ancient Egypt” vibe.

Storyline

There were simply too many unanswered questions at the end of 1999’s “The Mummy” and so another installment of the franchise had to be made. The first movie set the foundation of the ancient Egyptian relationship between high priest Imhotep and Anck-Su-Namun, and the black magic they practice to resurrect the dead to achieve ultimate immortality.

The year is 1926 and we find the brother and sister duo of Evelyn and Jonathan Carnahan enlisting the services of Rick O’Connell to help them get to Hamunaptra, otherwise known as “The City of the Dead”. When they get there they discover that there is another team of Americans there combing the pyramids for ancient treasure. After many run-ins with evil spirits and humans doing the bidding of the undead, an ultimate battle at the River of Death transpires and Rick, Evelyn, and Johnathan eventually return the spirit world to normal. Then they get some treasure and ride happily off into the desert. Roll credits.

Seven years later we return to Rick and Evelyn who are now married with a son named Alex, once again digging for artefacts in Egypt, apparently having learned nothing from their previous near-death experiences with the supernatural. They find a bracelet that promptly locks itself onto Alex and gives him directions to the desert of Ahm Shere, which he must find within 7 days or the bracelet will kill him – talk about a fashion faux pas!

This is all a result of the Scorpion King offering his soul to Anubis, the God of Mummification, a few thousand years prior. The God gave him a jackal army to defeat his enemies in exchange for eternal ownership of this soul. After many twists and turns, a return appearance by Imhotep, more passages from the Book of the Dead, and bloody battles with pygmy mummies, the O’Connells are again victorious against the ghouls and triumphantly ride off into the sunset. Roll credits.

This release from Playtech takes us on the adventure all over again with the original cast, Egyptian artifacts, and terrifying mummies. The storyline that was included is stronger than that of many movie-themed slots and you should find yourself having flashbacks of slapstick comedy intertwined with gruesome images of the dead rising from the gave.

Unique Symbols

This title gets high marks for its unique symbols because it was able to strike the perfect balance between characters and objects, which is surprisingly rare in the world of online gambling machines. The reels seem totally balanced with nothing overbearing and you never get bored of the imagery.

Oh – and sorry John Hannah, you didn’t make it into the game as Jonathan Carnahan…although, perhaps it’s not that surprising. Here’s what we do get:

• Two Pistols
• Scarab
• Egyptian Canopic Jars
• Book of the Dead
• Bracelet of Anubis
• Imhotep (Arnold Vosloo)
• Anck-Su-Namun (Patricia Velásquez)
• Mathayus The Scorpion King (Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson)
• Evelyn Carnahan O’Connell (Rachel Weisz)
• Rick O’Connell (Brendan Fraser)
• The Mummy (Wild)
• The Mummy Logo (Scatter)
• Scorpion Scatter (Once Unlocked)

Rick O’Connell is the head archeologist in charge here, giving you 10,000 coins for five across the board. The payouts then drop dramatically with Evelyn Carnahan O’Connell paying 2,000 coins for 5 of a kind, and then Imhotep and Anck-Su-Namun weigh in with 500 coins each for the same. The Scorpion King is an insulting 250 coins for five in a row and if that doesn’t make him rise from the Underworld and wage unholy war, we don’t know what will.

Don’t rub your eyes, you aren’t under a magical spell: the Wild does only appear on reels #2, #3, and #4. And remember, you must always play a minimum of 25 lines each time so set your line bet amounts accordingly.

Jackpots

You can dig in the bottom of this pyramid all day and you still won’t find a Mummy Slots Jackpot of any kind. There’s only so much action they can cram into a game and frankly, you’re greedy for even considering that they might have one. (Full disclosure: we thought there might be one too.)

Bonus Rounds

The Lost City Adventure Bonus takes you to a tomb that has 6 ancient crates stuffed with cash that will give you anywhere from 1x to 4x your wager and it will unlock an extra feature if you still have any left to achieve. You will keep picking crates until you choose the one with “Collect” and that will end the action, take you back to the regular mode, and add all of your winnings onto your balance.

The extras will be unlocked in the specific order listed below.

• Scorpion Scatter: A new Scatter that pays when 2 or more arrive.
• Expanding Mummy: The Wild becomes Expanding and covers the entire reel.
• Scarab Attack: Wilds on reel #3 will trigger 2 more on #2 and #4.
• Free Games: Free Spins symbols are added to reels #1, #3, and #5.
• Collapsing Reels: Winning symbols explode and the symbols above them fall down to form new combinations. This continues until the winning paylines have dried up.
• Mummy Power: Wilds in payline wins will give the amount a 3x multiplier.
• Mummy Hunt: A secret area where you hunt and kill mummies.
• Mummy Respin: Reels with Wilds on them will lock while the others spin until a payline win is achieved.

By far the coolest of the above features is the Mummy Hunt Bonus, which is a lot of fun to play every time. You are sent to the bottom of a pyramid where you can kill anywhere between 2 and 10 mummies, all of which will be hiding cash amounts of 1x, 2x, or 3x your wager. This is a “choose your own adventure” where you can decide which way you go when you come to a fork in the road. Your choice will either lead to a solo mummy that you execute and then continue on, or to a group of mummies that will swarm and kill you, obviously ending your round. Yikes!

You will be able to track your extra cash and where you’ve been thanks to the map that appears in the top right of the frame. If you successfully kill the maximum amount of 10 mummies you will be treated to a video from the movie that will absolutely knock your socks off.

Everything that you unlock will be listed on the left side of the screen so you can easily keep track of what you’ve accomplished. And don’t worry: whatever you unlock will be saved and available the next time you load it up.

Free Spins

If fighting mummies wasn’t bad enough, you’ll also have to fight for free spins because you won’t get any until you’ve won the special symbols during the Lost City Adventure Bonus. Thankfully, as mentioned, they will always be available on reels #1, #3, and #5 once you’ve unlocked them and they’ll give you 5 spins and 1 “Super Spin” every time you get one on each of them.

During the action, all of the Wilds that fall are tallied up on the lefthand side of the screen as “Collected Wilds” and are then redistributed for the one Super Spin. They will be randomly placed on reels #2, #3, and #4 and locked in, with an obvious maximum of 9 Wilds being able to be frozen.

Sadly, you are unable to re-trigger anything while you roll.

Graphics

There are tons of cool movie clips and lots of still images of the character symbols when they’re used in winning paylines and the non-character ones pulsate when they’re part of a victorious combination. These graphics will definitely not be considered as “groundbreaking” these days and you might find yourself shaking your head more often then you find yourself impressed with them, but they’re part of the game’s charm.

The backgrounds of the regular mode and special areas were all well-designed and will immediately transport you to ancient Egypt, and the one they chose for the free spins mode is a beautiful view of Egypt from the top of a mountain. Another great visual is when The Mummy logo is used in a payline win and gives you fireballs burning through the sky to decimate a desert village. The effect is quite profound and it’s of course accompanied by a blast from a sad Arabian clarinet.

One of the scariest visuals to be found is when you’ve unlocked the Expanding Mummy Wild and then he drops onto the board. He’s quite gruesome with his flesh half-rotted away, creepy faces throbbing out of his torso, and screaming at you as it zooms in on his face. And if this all sounds very disturbing, you’re absolutely right.

Each feature that’s unlocked brings on another cool graphic, with a favourite being the Scarab Attack. When the Mummy Wild lands on reel #3 and unleashes two hordes of scarabs on the reels beside it, it’s quite the crazy sight – they’re hungry little buggers.

Audio & Soundtrack

The song that’s heard as the machine loads up is great and it’s a techno-inspired, slow rising song that you would expect to hear at a European beach party as the sun is setting. It’s hard to remember if this particular tune was in the Mummy Returns or not but it sure seems out of place given the subject matter.

There are also ancient Egyptian style clarinets each spin (Arghuls) and there are different Arabic melodies that play with each payline win so sometimes it gets a little much. Also, occasionally you will hear the old school whirling sound when wins are being added to your balance.

Whenever you hit 5 of a Kind you get blasted in the face with that “fire alarm sound” that Playtech loves, but that could also potentially give someone a heart attack. All of these sounds mixed together get very annoying after a while so you might want to eventually turn them down.

Also, when you trigger a special feature you get spooky Arabic music that builds the suspense of whatever adventure you are about to go on. There is then a creepy voice that announces what you’ve triggered followed by an intense beat that will get your blood pumping.

All of the other noises like the reels stopping and user control buttons are fine so there’s nothing to report there.

Conclusion

Even though The Mummy Slots is getting up there in years there’s still lots on offer here for those who like complicated games with the ability to level up and unlock extra features. The bonus rounds seem to come fairly often, which might be expected considering that there are a whopping 8 different ones to unlock. That’s definitely part of the fun though because there’s always something to shoot for when you first start playing and it is very satisfying to start filling up that list of accomplishments on the left side of the screen.

Fans of the first couple of Mummy movies will be extremely happy with Playtech’s interpretation of them since they gave us all of the original characters, tons of images from ancient Egypt, and stills and videos from the original films. Not to mention that all of the special features are directly inspired from the movie and dig deep into the storyline, which will have diehard fans giddy with morbid delight. Although there is quite a serious tone with the mysterious symbols and a raging, half-rotten zombie clambering for you, it’s balanced out by the chill lounge soundtrack and wacky audios when you win.

There’s definitely enough going on here for non-fans of the Mummy to have lots of fun as well. So if you want to fight your way through pyramids or simply relive the days when Brendan Fraser was “Box Office Gold”, check out The Mummy today…or you shall be banished to The City of the Dead for all of eternity!!

Just kidding, that place doesn’t really exist…does it?

Random Video of The Mummy

There aren’t any good videos from around the time the original films were being promoted so here’s a great interview with Brendan Fraser a few years after The Mummy was released with the always funny Craig Ferguson. Enjoy!