Cash Noire Review
Get ready for a deep dive into a gloomy world of unresolved crimes,
femme fatales and the hardboiled ♣ Detective, Tom Flint, who’s job it is to make sense of
it all. NetEnt is a master when it comes ♣ to creating atmosphere, and the gritty
voiceover that narrates you through this whodunnit slot sounds just like the voice from
♣ a classic 1940’s black and white noir movie. They just don’t make ‘em like that
anymore, unfortunately.
Cash Noire will bring ♣ forth the detective in you for sure, and
you’ll definitely want to dust off some old crime/mystery DVDs after playing ♣ this game.
With a mysterious dame smoking in the shadows on the right-hand side, the reels come
with a Crime ♣ Zone that keeps shifting position for each spin. This hotspot starts out
covering 3 reel positions, but will expand one ♣ or two spots as you climb the Clue
Bonus-meter you’ll see on the left-hand side of the reels.
Climbing all the ♣ way to the
top is what you’re hoping for all along, as this will trigger the City Map Chase bonus
♣ round. This is far from an easy feat, and we basically had to give up after going 200
spins above ♣ our usual 200 spins test run. Read all about that further down in the
review, and be aware that the ♣ low to medium volatility feels a bit misleading for this
game. It plays out more like a high volatility game, ♣ although bigger wins above 500x
your stake is extremely rare here. It’s just a mystery to us, more so than ♣ the game
itself, why NetEnt would mess things up like this with what could have been a great
addition to ♣ the genre.
Cash-Noire - Reels Screen
What are the bonus features?
There is
plenty going on in almost every base game spin here, ♣ so you’ll hardly have a quiet
moment while you wait to trigger the elaborate bonus round. We’ll start with the ♣ most
basic bonus features first, and work our way down the list.
First of all, this is a
Cascading (or Avalanche) ♣ engine game, just like so many others from the developer that
first invented this feature. You’ll see a lot of ♣ cascading wins almost on every spin
here, and winning symbols are hit by flying daggers and removed. This leaves room ♣ for
new potential winning symbols to drop from above, and the process goes on as long as
you keep winning.
On ♣ every spin you’ll see a red marker that frames 3 random reel
positions. This is called the Crime Zone feature, ♣ and the red frame jumps around the
reels on each spin, and it can also morph into different configurations. On ♣ the
left-hand side of the reels you’ll see a Clue List bonusmeter, and as you make your way
up this ♣ meter you can also expand the Crime Zone with up to 2 reel positions. You
advance up the bonus meter ♣ by landing winning symbols inside the Crime Zone, and
getting all the way to the top triggers the bonus round.
Sometimes ♣ you’ll land a vault
symbol on the reels, and this will turn random regular symbols into matching symbols
whenever it ♣ lands outside of the Crime Zone. If the mystery vault lands inside the
Crime Zone however, it will clone itself ♣ to fill the whole Crime Zone frame. This can
lead to decent payouts, and also be of great help when ♣ it comes to filling the Clue
List meter. The Clue List meter will reset on any non-winning spin.
Free spins in ♣ Cash
Noire
As mentioned above, you need to climb all the way to the top of the Clue Meter to
trigger ♣ the free spins feature. That means you need to activate 13 clues by landing 13
winning symbols inside the Crime ♣ Zone. To make things a bit easier for you, the Crime
Zone will expand to 4 and 5 reel positions ♣ after 3 and 7 clues have been highlighted on
the meter, respectively.
When all 13 clues in the meter are lit ♣ up, you get 5 free
spins to start with. The expanded 5-reel-positions Crime Zone will still move around
randomly during ♣ the free spins, and now you’ll see a City Chase Map with a progressive
multiplier that starts at 1x. Similar ♣ to the base game, any winning symbols in the
Crime Zone will take you further down the city map. The ♣ difference is that this meter
does not reset on losing spins.
For every 7 locations on the map you manage to
♣ highlight, the progressive multiplier will increase by +1. You will also get 2 extra
spins every time the car reaches ♣ 13 locations. You close the case by reaching the final
destination on the map, and this rewards you with a ♣ 10x multiplier and 3 extra free
spins.
How to play
Despite being a murder mystery slot, the gameplay is not really as
♣ complicated as it might sound. We will walk you through everything you need to know
here, and especially new players ♣ should probably pay attention. If you’ve played a lot
of online slots before, you might not need to read this ♣ part and you can skip to the
next section.
Cash Noire from Netent comes with 5 reels, 4 rows and 1,024 ♣ ways to win,
which is a fairly classic setup for a video slot. One of the innovative things that
make ♣ the game stand out is the voiceover narrator. This raspy male voice has some
interesting remarks, and helps set the ♣ dark and gloomy mood for the game. You don’t
need this voice to play however, and you can turn it ♣ off in the settings if you want.
You can also turn on/off subtitles for the voice there, as well as ♣ turn on quick spins
to increase the pace.
Mystery Symbols Win Screen
The hamburger menu opens up the game
setting menu discussed ♣ above, as well as the paytable and game rules. The paytable
explains all about the features, and the visual illustrations ♣ in there might be useful
to check out. You can also get an overview of all the symbol values, and ♣ the dynamic
paytable will update itself according to your chosen bet level.
Speaking of, it’s now
time to choose your total ♣ stake between 20p and £200, and this is done via the up and
down arrows. The volume can be adjusted ♣ seamlessly within the game, which is a good
thing, and you can also set up the autoplay feature with between ♣ 10 and 1,000
autospins. That’s pretty much it, you are now ready to solve the murder mystery and
close the ♣ case with a big smashing win.
Where to play Cash Noire?
Since you know so
much about how to play this game, ♣ it’s only fair that you should know equally as much
about where you can play Cash Noire slot. This is ♣ exactly what we will assist you with
here, but you first have to make a choice. Do you want to ♣ go for the real money action
right away, or do you prefer to test the free demo game first? The ♣ good news is that we
can help you out right here no matter what the answer is.
Play for real money
If ♣ you
know your way around the online casino world, you will have no problem getting started
for real right off ♣ the bat. The NetEnt game interface is probably well-known to you
from before, and you can easily get into the ♣ gameplay in no-time. We just happen to
scan all the casinos on the market on a regular basis here, which ♣ gives you the best
possible overview of where to play and which welcome bonus to go for. Simply follow the
♣ link to the top of this page, and you can choose from hundreds of casinos and play Cash
Noire slot ♣ with a sweet welcome offer.
Play free demo version
If you are a new player,
or if you just feel a bit ♣ uncertain if this game is for you, then you can always check
out the free demo version of Cash Noire ♣ first. This way you don’t risk anything from
your own pocket before you know for sure, and you have all ♣ the time in the world to get
familiar with the gameplay without any pressure. We have the demo version installed
♣ right here on this page. Just follow the link to the top, and you can get started with
Cash Noire ♣ free demo play immediately.
The 200 Spins Cash Noire Experience
We are big
fans of the film noir genre, having watched most ♣ of the classics from the 1940s and
50s, like The Maltese Falcon, The Big Sleep, Double Indemnity and Shadow of ♣ a Doubt to
name a few of the most well-known. When NetEnt announced a brand new game with the
title ♣ Cash Noire, we therefore had our hopes up from the get-go. Here’s how it went
with our 200 spins test ♣ run on this gloomy and somber title.
We set the bet level to £1
per spin, and loaded in 250 autospins ♣ in the autoplay feature. The quick spin feature
was turned on, but you still have to click the screen (or ♣ the space button) to shorten
all the animations. This is a problem, because you tend to get a lot of ♣ cascading wins
here, but they usually don’t amount to much in terms of winnings.
Free Spins Gameplay
Screen
After a while, this ♣ becomes somewhat tiresome, as you just want the spin to go
on so you can trigger the bonus round. We ♣ had plenty of close calls in that regard, and
it’s really frustrating to get almost to the top of the ♣ Clue Meter, just to have to
start all over again. Our biggest base game win was around 10x our stake, ♣ which is not
very impressive, and triggering the bonus round seemed all but impossible.
This is
supposed to be a low ♣ to medium volatile slot, but after 200 spins we had lost £70, and
had yet to see the bonus round ♣ a single time. We had no choice but to power through
some “overtime” spins, just to see if the bonus ♣ round was possible to trigger at all.
After around 200 extra spins (above our regular 200) we gave up. The ♣ biggest mystery to
us is how you can call this low to medium volatility, as 400 spins would trigger the
♣ bonus round at least 2 times on most other games.
Review Summary
The gritty atmosphere
and the visuals are top notch in ♣ this game, but we expect nothing less from NetEnt.
However, you might find yourself bouncing cheeky remarks off of the ♣ narrator's comments
when he says stuff like “it’s all falling into place”, just as the Crime Zone and Clue
Meter ♣ is reset for the nth time. This is the major problem with this game, in addition
to the measly base ♣ game payouts.
Landing 3 scatters (which is how most games trigger
the bonus round) benefits from the “illusion” that it can ♣ happen at any time. Climbing
the Cash Noire Clue Meter however, seems more and more impossible as you keep failing
♣ at it. This frustration, combined with annoyingly small base game wins from lengthy
cascades, is not a good way to ♣ condition players to want more. The math model might say
one thing, but Cash Noire feels more like a high ♣ variance slot with a lousy max win
potential than anything else.
Pros Crime Zone, Clue meter and mystery symbols
Free
spins map ♣ with multipliers and extra spins
Gritty atmosphere with narrator voiceover
Cons Triggering the bonus round via the Clue Meter is frustratingly ♣ hard
The low to
medium volatility feels like a bad joke
If you appreciate Cash Noire you should also
try:
There are plenty ♣ of games out there telling a detective or crime story, but few of
them come with the gutsy realism Cash ♣ Noire slot has to offer. This is not enough to
carry the game however, but we’ll suggest some similar slots ♣ you can check out below.
Follow the link to read more about each game, and you can also play the ♣ free demo
version if you want.
Narcos - is NetEnt’s branded effort based around the cult TV
series by the same ♣ name. It comes with explosive bonus features where the bullets are
literally flying, and the cartoonish visuals will remind you ♣ of Grand Theft Auto. The
Drive-by feature and the bonus round with walking wilds are the highlights here, and
you ♣ can win up to 1,506x your stake.
Holmes and the Stolen Stones - is Yggdrasil’s
masterpeice based around the legendary detective ♣ and his loyal crime-solving companion.
It comes with 5 local progressive jackpots, an exciting Warehouse bonus game and a free
♣ spins round where you’ll benefit from a 3x win multiplier. Solve the mystery and win
big on this charming medium ♣ variance title.
Jack Hammer - might be an oldie, but it’s
definitely a goodie. This classic gumshoe slot from NetEnt is ♣ far better than the game
at hand in our view, and it comes with a 3,000x max win potential which ♣ is rock solid
for a low volatility game. The sticky respins feature defines the base game, and you’ll
benefit from ♣ them in the exciting bonus round also.
