Wacky Panda

Nothing like the holiday season to really get you in the mood – and when it comes to Christmas, Microgaming gives the gift of not one, but two titles! We already covered the first one, and this time, we’re taking a look at Wacky Panda, which doesn’t have that much to say on it. To be fair on it, it finally seems to break away from the idea all three reel slots have to resemble physical machines, and while it is wonderfully animated, there’s really not a lot to talk about it. The panda is a win if it falls onto the single winning payline, while for all other icons you’re going to need three in a row. And hey, if you managed to get the wacky panda to appear three in a row as well, you get an awesome jackpot out of it.

Honestly, the visuals surprised us. Most titles go with a very static look when it comes to three reeled games for some reason, as if emulating a physical machine is written as a holy rule that must not be broken. Even Wacky Panda doesn’t break away from this entirely. While the smaller reel space means that the payline is easily visible on the right side of the screen, making for an appealing user interface, it still feels like its emulating the layout of a physical machine. It’s just throwing a few more visual bells and whistles around to lure you into a sense of comfort to get you to play more.

The animations are top notch, but the title can start taking a bit too long after a while, so make sure you reach into the setting menu and turn on Quick Play – as there is no Autoplay for a reason we really can’t understand. As far as gameplay goes, you see most of it in the first ten spins. There’s no special features, no bonuses, nothing to break up the monotony. This slot gives you three reels, cute icons, a single payline, and you’re going to take it and like it. If we’re honest, it feels so boring to play. Sure, there’s some winning potential involved, but we’re admittedly spoiled by all the various bonuses that slots have been throwing at us over the years. Just one payline and no special features doesn’t quite cut it in 2018 anymore.

You can get the amount of coins and how many per line you’re willing to set, so you could be betting as little as $0.01 per spin, or up to $15 per turn. Honestly, it feels like an honest gamble either way, as there’s nothing to chase or to shift things around. It’s just repetitive clicking over and over again until you finally squeeze out a win from Wacky Panda, which can take a while. In our experience, it feels like a slow death march, where the wins are never quite enough to make up for the losses, with an exception here and there that got big wins early and managed to stay in the green throughout their entire gametime.

The symbols are decent enough – they’re certainly all unique, which makes it better than its counterpart. The animation on the pandas is what really takes the cake here, and while the fruits look good, we can’t help but feel they’re a little out of place. Something more native to Asia might have helped – maybe sticks of bamboo to go with the theme of pandas? Either way, it looks nice and that’s all that matters. On the subject of special features – well. There’s not a lot to say beyond the fact that there really aren’t any to be found. It makes for somewhat of a grind, especially with the absence of AutoPlay. Wacky Panda could have used something here and there to spice things up, but we’re not going to hold it over the game’s head too much.