Micro Knights (ELK Studios): Overview
It might not be their forte, but ELK Studios have
chosen to head into the cluster pays genre with their new Micro Knights title. The
result is similar in feel to Relax Gaming’s’ Snake Arena with a dash of Rabcat’s
Treasure Heroes. On mobile devices, Micro Knights looks like a smartphone game you’d
download from iTunes or Google Play. Everything is small and intricately detailed, and
that goes for the grid as well. In portrait you won’t notice, but in landscape mode,
the grid is shrunk down to reveal more of the surrounding countryside. It’s one of the
smallest grids you will see. Thankfully, modern phones have such high resolutions. A
few years back, you’d be staring at a pixilated blur. Next to the grid are knights that
join the melee at times, as does the dragon that looks like Toothless the Night Fury
from How To Train Your Dragon.
The action takes place on a chess inspired 7x7 grid
where 49 symbols tumble into place with each new spin. Micro Knights uses a cluster
pays system, meaning 5 or more matching symbols landing adjacent to each other results
in a payout. When that happens, the winning symbols are removed from the grid to let
new ones fall into the gaps. A common system, and one that can result in chains of wins
from just one spin. With Micro Knights, it's also the way that many of the features are
pulled into the game as well.
To get involved, players choose stakes from 20 c/p
toR$/€100 per spin – on manual or auto which is called traditional betting. ELK has
once again provided their four betting strategies - Jumper, Booster, Leveller and
Optimiser if you want to take a strategic approach. When it comes to symbols, like most
grid slots, each one is custom-built for the game in question. Micro Knights uses meat
on the bone, water wells, arrow targets, and mushrooms as the low pays. The high pays
are bunnies, frogs, goats, and bulls. At the most, a cluster of 20 or more bulls
returns 250 times the stake. The golden chalice is the final symbol of note in this
section and is wild - it can substitute for any symbol except the bonus
symbol.
Important stats include the return to player rate which is nicely average at
bang on 96%. Overall potential is nothing to get too excited about unfortunately as ELK
has decided to cap its game once again, but a medium/high variance math model produces
a balance of those smaller one-off wins, with the bigger, feature fueled ones.
Micro
Knights (ELK Studios): Features
Like a good grid slot should, Micro Knights is one of
those games that can get on nice rolls of consecutive wins. These are the best moments
by a long shot, and you’ll need to activate as many features as possible to make that
happen. The first initial spins are a little confusing, but if you've ever played other
grid slots such as Reactoonz, for example, you'll quickly get the grasp of it.
One of
the most used features is The Queue and is the hardest one to explain. To the left of
the reels is the Charging Knight who randomly runs across the grid, pushing one row
off. This row moves below the gird, and the symbols line up in a queue.
Matching
symbols are grouped together. Say there are two clusters of three bunnies on the grid,
and next in the queue are two bunnies. The symbols from the queue will drop onto every
cluster on the grid that could make them a winner. In this case, the two groups of 3
bunnies. Once those symbols have been taken from the queue, the next in line can be
used if possible. Fresh spins remove all symbols from the queue. At the top left of the
grid is the Smashing Knight. He also comes into play at random, and when he does he
increases each symbol counter in the queue by one.
Along with cluster pays is a win
meter to the right of the grid. Each winning cluster moves the meter along, and if it
is filled it triggers one of these Feature Flags each time it is filled, in this
order:
Inferno – the dragon burns all low value symbols from the grid.
– the dragon
burns all low value symbols from the grid. Extra Wilds – places 3 to 15 wilds on the
grid at random.
– places 3 to 15 wilds on the grid at random. Super Size – drops a big
sized symbol up to 4x4 onto the grid.
– drops a big sized symbol up to 4x4 onto the
grid. Charge –moves 2-5 rows of symbols into the queue.
–moves 2-5 rows of symbols into
the queue. Epic Charge – moves all of the symbols into the queue.
– moves all of the
symbols into the queue. Boosted Queue – uses all of the symbols in the queue to make
winning combos.
The meter will keep filling and awarding features as long as clusters
continue to form. During the base game, the meter resets with each new spin.
The final
feature is the Bonus Game which is triggered when 3 bonus symbols are in view. The
bonus game consists of 5 free spins where the win meter and the queue are sticky and do
not reset between spins.
Micro Knights (ELK Studios): Verdict
Micro Knights is one of
those games that has several elements that remind you of other slots. Despite that, it
doesn’t feel like a cheap attempt to make something quick and easy. Indeed, Micro
Knights is extremely well put together, from the excellent intro to the intricately
detailed graphics, ELK Studios has put their craftspeople to good use. There is more
than enough personality injected and feature add-ons to make the experience a fairly
original one. It’s fun too, with a crazy ‘I want more’ factor to it.
What makes it
compelling is partly the speed at which things happen. Partly because one spin is all
it takes to set a train of features rolling which is neat when several do link
together. It’s much easier to accomplish that during free spins, and you can see why
you only get 5 to start with.
Although ELK has accomplished quite a decent grid slot
there is some downsides too. The biggest gripe is the potential which ELK, for whatever
reason, have once again capped at 2,500 times the stake. That factor alone results in a
game that lacks the bite to compete with the big grid slot competitors out there.
Matching it with one of those beasts is like putting Aunt Franny’s Chihuahua up against
the neighbour’s Pitbull. While it can go on and on, when the features chain together,
it doesn’t quite go as berserk as massively volatile grid slots like Dragon Fall or
Jammin' Jars that can go on and on.
Nevertheless, Micro Knights is a well designed game
that has plenty of fun moments and entertaining gameplay. It might be a little
underpowered to be a top contender, but is still worthy of a session or two.
