La Mina de Oro Slot
We’re back to old school gaming when it comes to La Mina de Oro, from MGA. Although one of their newer slot machines, it looks much older and more time worn, thus giving a retro experience for all you gamers out there.
The general theme is that of mining, as you’ve probably gleaned from the name alone, but with a sexy woman wearing next to nothing. As gorgeous to look at as that it, we can’t help but feel the inclusion of this eye candy isn’t necessary, especially when you look at the four bonus rounds and various other special features.
This real money slot delivers 110% when it comes to the gameplay, and to some extent it does with its design; just because it isn’t as immersive as MGA titles like Amazons, doesn’t mean it hasn’t got any aesthetic merit.
Tight Quarters
The size of this game is a factor you’ll notice from the off, for it’s a 3x3 grid, in which there’s only one active payline, at least in the main game anyway. Should you make it up to the top tier slot, which is once again 3x3, you’ll find there’s several other winlines to get involved with, thus increasing your chances of winning.
We love that games like this from the brand have two levels to work with because it keeps the gameplay innovative and fresh, allowing you to enjoy the slot for a greater length of time before becoming bored. Boredom is the enemy of all games, especially repetitive ones, so anything that keeps that at bay is a plus.
Bonuses are the Key
If you hope to ever see the top level game and the three mini levels associated with it, you need to collect bonus points. These come from successes during the main game, and will be listed on a display just above the grid. Sometimes you’ll be taken to the top game automatically, while other times you need to click to change game. We prefer doing it ourselves, but mainly because we’re overeager and much prefer the larger of the two grids.
Once up there, three levels become available to you, though you still need to match three symbols to unlock them, which is going to prove difficult: the volatility here isn’t for the faint hearted.
Whichever bonus you land, a lot of time the basis of the level is all the same – different variants of money can be rewarded, with only the appearance changing. So while you have one game that looks like a gameboard and another takes on the shape of a wheel, they both do the same thing: offer you prizes.
This is one of those things we love to hate about MGA and hate to love, for they give you a lot of variance, but at the same time they actually don’t, for nothing is truly different. Once you know that truth, playing their games becomes a lot more tedious, which is probably why a lot of users are starting to prefer their purer games, such as Vampire Treasure. During those playthroughs you don’t have any bonus rounds, thus simplifying the whole process.
Nudge Your Way to a Win
Nudges are occasionally seen in slot machines, but not very often, and usually in older games rather than new ones; in La Mina de Oro there’s up to four you can collect, meaning you have a greater chance of creating a win for yourself. Every time we played ours, we seemed to swap one potential win for another, yet ended up with loss nonetheless, so maybe the system is slightly flawed.
Personally, we find them to be another extra that isn’t necessary. If a win wasn’t meant to be it, wasn’t meant to be, chalk it up and move on, for the next spin could be yours. Though we could just be sore losers…
On the Fence
La Mina de Oro has left us undecided as to whether it’s a good or bad title, for it has just as many good points as it does bad. There’s variety and volatility in equal measure, but large money prizes that soon make up for that, not forgetting the amount of bonus rounds you can unlock.
But on the flip side, you have several bonuses that all do a similar thing, and a game that can be so difficult to ‘beat’ that you lose interest as quickly as you found it.
