Reviewed on July 28. 2016
LIKED
There are quite a number of Dolphin-themed games around, with almost every game provider having such a game in their list, so I was expecting Dolphin Tale to be yet another similar addition to Microgaming's list, but I was dead wrong! As its title implies, Dolphin Tale has a tale to tell. Play the game to know the tale, know the tale to enjoy the wins, enjoy the wins and tell the tale!
This game might as well be entitled 'Dolphin Tale : The Rookie', because that's what it is exactly about - a Rookie cop dolphin. 5 of them pay 3000x the line bet, but being such a rookie, it doesn't double any wins or anything like that but just to substitute other symbols for additional wins in the usual manner. The Rookie has an informer and a spy, the Clam, which is the Scatter symbol and pays 50x the total bet for 5 of them. Get 3, 4 or 5 of the spy Clams and get awarded with a choice of 5 different Free Spins games like you've never or hardly seen before! You can only choose 1 of the 5 choices, so do choose with care and discretion. The choices are: 25 free spins with all wins x2, x3 or x5, 20 free spins with all wins x2, x4 or x7, 15 free spins with all wins x3, x6 or x8, 10 free spins with all wins x5, x8 or x12, and 5 free spins with all wins x10, x15 or x20. More Free Spins games cannot be retriggered.
Walrus the Chief pays 1000x, Merl the squid pays 500x, Karl the turtle pays 300x, Lucile the fish pays 200x and Louie the shrimp pays 150x, all as per line bet. Other lower symbols pay from 100x down to 40x the line bet, from the Casino down to the Diner symbol. During the Free Spins game, Extra Wilds can randomly appear on reels 2, 3 or 4 to create additional wins.
Firstly, I like the graphical presentation of the cartoon symbols, which are big and nice looking, but the dolphin Rookie and the Spy Clam symbols could do with some better highlighting for better distinction of their Wild and Scatter roles. Secondly, I like the 5 different choices of Free Spins games provided, from 25 free spins with 2x multiplier down to just 5 free spins with 20x multiplier. In my various plays, I had tried each and everyone of the 5 choices, but it still boils down to playing the game at the right time to get nice big payouts from any of the 5 choices. No single choice would pay big all the time, or vice versa, and the payouts that I have had ranged from under 10x my total bet up to about 140x. No wins had exceeded the 200x total bet amount as yet, but playing Dolphin Tale can be a good and very enjoyable experience.
This game might as well be entitled 'Dolphin Tale : The Rookie', because that's what it is exactly about - a Rookie cop dolphin. 5 of them pay 3000x the line bet, but being such a rookie, it doesn't double any wins or anything like that but just to substitute other symbols for additional wins in the usual manner. The Rookie has an informer and a spy, the Clam, which is the Scatter symbol and pays 50x the total bet for 5 of them. Get 3, 4 or 5 of the spy Clams and get awarded with a choice of 5 different Free Spins games like you've never or hardly seen before! You can only choose 1 of the 5 choices, so do choose with care and discretion. The choices are: 25 free spins with all wins x2, x3 or x5, 20 free spins with all wins x2, x4 or x7, 15 free spins with all wins x3, x6 or x8, 10 free spins with all wins x5, x8 or x12, and 5 free spins with all wins x10, x15 or x20. More Free Spins games cannot be retriggered.
Walrus the Chief pays 1000x, Merl the squid pays 500x, Karl the turtle pays 300x, Lucile the fish pays 200x and Louie the shrimp pays 150x, all as per line bet. Other lower symbols pay from 100x down to 40x the line bet, from the Casino down to the Diner symbol. During the Free Spins game, Extra Wilds can randomly appear on reels 2, 3 or 4 to create additional wins.
Firstly, I like the graphical presentation of the cartoon symbols, which are big and nice looking, but the dolphin Rookie and the Spy Clam symbols could do with some better highlighting for better distinction of their Wild and Scatter roles. Secondly, I like the 5 different choices of Free Spins games provided, from 25 free spins with 2x multiplier down to just 5 free spins with 20x multiplier. In my various plays, I had tried each and everyone of the 5 choices, but it still boils down to playing the game at the right time to get nice big payouts from any of the 5 choices. No single choice would pay big all the time, or vice versa, and the payouts that I have had ranged from under 10x my total bet up to about 140x. No wins had exceeded the 200x total bet amount as yet, but playing Dolphin Tale can be a good and very enjoyable experience.
DISLIKED
There are only 2 things that I don't quite like about this Dolphin Tale game - the low paytable and no retriggering of the Free Spins Game. 5 free spins with a 20x multiplier may still end up with a blardy small win, so a retrigger of it would certainly make a huge difference to the rating.
