Chicago Slots
It seems as though those devils over at SGS Universal gaming have a real penchant for games which hark back to the perhaps the most infamous era within American crime history - the roaring 20s. Dangerous days when sharply dressed gentlemen in suits carried .45 sub machine guns at their hips and had free roam over entire inner city areas, controlling the flow of narcotics and other controlled substances. Days when a man could go from being a nobody to a fearsome and rich overlord in the space of a few days flat.
Dark days indeed, though undoubtedly an era which is looked back on with a certain degree of respect and admiration, for reasons unknown. Perhaps the genuine air of excitement experienced by those who lived to tell their tales in the ensuing decades played a part in this era’s infamy, or maybe it has something to do with innumerable movies and works of literature that act to bolster the reputation of cities such as Chicago, New York and Los Angeles during this decade. Either way, America in the 1920s remains one of the most iconic and game changing periods and places within recent history.
With this, it’s plain to see why a games developer may choose to base a game of theirs in amongst the action of this decade. One of the most well known cities of this time was of course Chicago – the heartland of infamous gangers Al Capone; who's exploits transcended decades to remain a rich part of American culture to this day.
All That Jazz
Chicago is city in Illinois in Americas Mid-West. It’s also the name of this awesome little slot game from the team at SGS Universal – who as already covered, seem to love every little thing about the Prohibition era United States of America.
With 5 reels and a grand total of 20 paylines, this game may not be the biggest out there, but is none the less a pretty fearsome beast. For starters, the games theme is highly intuitive and allows for a heightened level of interactive play that other games released this year don’t even come close to touching. With some pretty intense and very impressive graphics, as well as some charming (if not a little intimidating!) sound effects, we challenge anyone to not be at least a little enthralled with this game from the offset.
Emphasis lies heavily on the whole prohibition vibe throughout the games landscape. Starting with the surroundings of the reels as well as the reels themselves, which resemble wooden cargo crates (perhaps containing all manner of contraband materials?). From here, the game only delves deeper into this territory; its symbols showing up as armed police officers, alluring well dressed molls and those ‘read all about it’ style newspaper boys. Brilliant fun!
The Mechanics
During the game’s marauding storyline, players will encounter a typical range of symbols and icons – all of which are in-keeping with the usual layout and build of games such as this one. As already covered, Chicago has 5 separate reels and 20 paylines. Within the scope of these, bets can range from 0.01 to 5.00 per line and a player may activate anywhere from 1-20 lines per spin taken.
Symbols include the aforementioned as well as a trumpet player (we’re going to assume he plays jazz…) and a gangster, with the game’s logo itself acting as the wild – which is of course capable of replacing any of the others across the reels aside from the scatter (a glass of booze!).
Overall Thoughts
We are very much part of the crew of gamers who the SGS team knew they would be drawing in like flies to the light when they decided to turn this game out. As self-confessed 1920s romanticists, there’s very little chance we weren’t going to enjoy this game in at least some capacity.
That being said, this could well be where the appeal of Chicago ends. For those who aren’t wholly bothered about the, albeit quite well executed and captivating theme, there’s not a great deal here to get excited about. With this, this game may struggle to stand up to the greatest judge of them all – time.
