Psycho is a 5 reel, 25 payline video slot powered by NextGen Gaming software provider. The game was produced in co-operation with Universal Studios and, as the name suggests, it is based on the iconic 1960’s film directed by the legendary Alfred Hitchcock. Psycho slot is visually brilliant in its mysterious setting and has a thrilling soundtrack that really brings the core of the film back to life. Play it right here for free, or head over to NextGen Casinos to play for real money.
Before you enter the Bates Motel, be sure to adjust your bet, especially if you want to get out of there alive. Set your coin size by pressing red and blue arrow buttons. Having done that, click on the start button for the reels to begin spinning. There are 25 paylines you can hit a winning combination on. If you would like the slot to spin for a preset number of times without any interruptions, press AutoPlay.
When it comes to Psycho game features, you can benefit from Psycho Wilds as these wilds may be added to any spin. If you a have a win with wilds in the base game, they can be randomly multiplied up to 20x!
There is also a Free Spins feature which is triggered when you get 3 or more Haunted House scatters: 3 will give you 10 free spins, 4 will give you 15 free spins and 5 will give you 20 free spins. More wilds will appear in the feature and wins with wilds may be multiplied up to 40x. What’s more the feature can be retriggered (by getting 3 or more Haunted House scatters during the feature).
After each line win you can click on the "Gamble" button and try to double your winnings. All you have to do is guess the colour of the card correctly. If you succeed you will double your winnings, and get another turn. If your guess is incorrect, you lose, and the game ends. You can also end the game at any time by clicking on the "take the win" button.
Game Play
Red and Blue arrow buttons: Adjust the coin value.
Spin: Start the game.
Auto Play: Spin the reels predetermined number of times without any interruptions.
Gamble: Enter the gamble feature.
Movie licenses are popular with game developers of all kinds but more often than not the cost of obtaining the license itself takes up the vast majority of the titles budget resulting in a low quality product that does little to promote the overall brand. The situation is undoubtedly worse in the console game market but there's certainly been plenty of sloppy efforts in the slot machine market too so I treat all such games with a certain degree of caution and skepticism and I'd certainly be unlikely to spin a movie themed slot with my own money before trying it out in free play mode first.
That being said my experiences with NextGen games though quite limited have always been mainly positive so far. There are only a handful of NextGen slots that I can easily recall playing but so far they have all been at least reasonably good quality and I really enjoy horror films too although Psycho itself isn't one of my favourites in either of it's incarnations. I couldn't help wondering if the iconic shower scene might feature in the game somewhere though!
Everything started off well and I was instantly impressed by the games sound - there's an atmospheric background layer consisting of random sounds and stabs rather than an actual musical score so it doesn't become instantly repetitive like the vast majority of slot machine music and when you begin to spin the reels there's a fantastic array of high pitched notes, crashing thunder, and spooky off-key arpeggios which all mold together beautifully and give this game a genuine "horror" feel.
The graphics are well drawn too, though perhaps not as high resolution as some recent games. Like the last NextGen game I played the animation did feel a little choppy and seemed as if it could benefit from a few extra frames particularly during the reel spinning animations, but it wasn't quite as slow and jumpy as "Gorilla Go Wild" was. There's a random "Psycho Wilds" feature that can activate after any spin and is signified by a knife animation which is definitely reminiscent of the film. It is perhaps only a small touch but you do get the impression that NextGen have put a fair amount of effort into creating a game that captures what the horror genre is all about.
Most important of all with any on-line slot is of course the WINS! and thankfully Psycho does not disappoint in this area either. A large chunk of the games RTP is tied up in the free spins feature where combinations containing a wild can be boosted with a multiplier anywhere from 2x all the way up to a maximum of 40x! It does feel a little as if the higher multipliers are intentionally offered much more often for smaller 3 and 4 of a kind combinations, although that could just be a result of the obvious fact that five of a kinds show up so much more rarely.
Psycho definitely shows that NextGen know how to pull off a film license just as well as Microgaming or NetEnt, I loved it!