La Rouge

A new slot from a new developer is always an interesting thing for us. We all heard of the big names, we know their quirks and styles, so new blood is always welcome to bring in new ideas and changes to the existing formula. And we were eagerly awaiting Old Skool Studios’ La Rouge. We were drawn in by the striking visuals that emulate Sin City, the smooth jazz music and the atmosphere of the 1940’s US cities, paired with free spins that award multipliers, a multi-stage elevator ride that could leave your pockets a lot heavier, and an interesting gamble mechanic that has you guessing the colour of the movie star’s dress.

We have to admit, we love this style. The large backdrop looks amazing, but we feel it could have been balanced better with the reels, which can feel cramped and tiny despite the fact you can see everything clearly. However, grey, red and black dominate this world and coat it in such a unique light unlike anything seen in games so far. Telephones, roses, radio microphones and phonograph records all sit proudly to draw your attention and pull you into the world.

Of course, then the honeymoon ends and you find yourself losing spin after spin. When you do score something, the win is usually less than what you wagered to begin with, and what few special feature wins you do manage to squeeze out are pitifully low, all the while you’re chasing some massive fixed jackpot that could bring it all back. Then we found out that Microgaming published this slot and it sadly began to fit together. It was simply their existing formula stuck on another game, with the logo of the new developers plastered front and centred to distract you from who’s pulling the strings behind the scenes.

And don’t worry, there’s no progressive jackpot so that at least you can feel like your dead spins are contributing to some higher goal you could walk away from. Instead, you have a fixed jackpot of $5,000, which is a 500x increase from your max wager of $10. A particularly despicable tactic is also at play here, as you can set the amount you bet in dollars, but the slot displays wins in coins. Something you’ll pick up quickly that will just make you feel more scammed by this game. At the very least, La Rouge isn’t a slot you can lose too much money on at once before you realize what’s going on. It can be played for $0.20 up to $10, and it doesn’t seem to matter how high or low you go. With 8 free spins and a 2x multiplier, our highest win in the game occurred, which was a massive 21x win. And then it had the gall to tell us this was a Mega Win!

The annoying thing is that we really felt like we could fall in love with these graphics. The different card symbols are intermixed with phonograph records, microphones, roses and telephones, following the silver, black and red colour scheme that makes it seem so distinct from anything else we played recently. Sadly, we weren’t able to enjoy these visuals as nearly as we would have liked, so they only sit there as a painful reminder of what might have been. Scatters can appear anywhere on the reels and can award between 8 and 20 free spins.

Before the extra rounds start, you are rewarded with a multiplier that will last throughout the bonus and can go up to a maximum 10x. While the special feature is triggered, Wilds can appear stacked, and it can be retriggered if enough Scatters appear on the reels. The bonus game is a multi-stage pick and win, in which you ride an elevator, select floors, and win prizes for it. The prizes range from mediocre to okay. As you progress through the floors, the amounts you can win increase, but this being Microgaming, good luck getting off the second or third elevator.