Universal Monsters: The Phantom’s Curse™ slot

 

Renamed after the initial title “The Phantom of the Opera” ran into some licensing issue just before its release in July 2017, Universal Monsters: The Phantom’s Curse™ is now due for launch on 24th January 2018. It is the next Netent slot creation under a licensing deal with Universal Studios and based on the 1920’s silent horror movie produced by the early Universal Studios motion picture company.

 

Universal Monsters: The Phantom’s Curse™ slot

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Up to €300 + 30 Wager-Free Spins*

For all new players at Casumo

Universal Monsters: The Phantom’s Curse™ slot

Rate this game
(No Ratings Yet)

Up to €300 + 30 Wager-Free Spins*

For all new players at Casumo

Slot Details

The background of the slot is very fittingly an opera theater with a frameless game window in front. Netent has given it sharp graphics with flawless animations, all to a soundtrack that could be straight from Mozart’s pen. The Phantom’s Curse is be a 5-reel, 4-row, 40-pay lines (fixed) video slot, paying both ways with stacked symbols, Wild substitutions, a Pick-and-Click Bonus Game, Free Spins and a random Phantom Re-Spin feature.

 

 

The TRTP of this low – medium variance game is stated with 96.57%, featuring as maximum win on a single pay line of 4,000 coins or 20x stake. Not an awful lot but considering that all symbols are stacked it could lead to a total win of 160,000 coins or 800x bet with a full screen of the top symbol. Bet sizes range from $0.20 – $200, adjusted with the usual controls and buttons for coin denominations and bet levels. The slot is in HTML5 format available on desktop, mobile and tablet across all OS platforms.

Pay symbols start at the low end with clubs, spades, hearts and diamonds and continue on the medium level with a knife, a white pearl, a yellow rose and a ring with a red gem. Top symbols are Christine and the Phantom. Pays for 5OAK range from 20 to 200 coins. There are a range of Phantom Wild symbols while scatters are a traditional Chandelier with minimum three needed to trigger the Free Spins.

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The Phantom’s Curse™ Slot Features

 

Masked Phantom Re-Spin with Sticky Wilds

First feature that Netent has given to this slot is the “Masked Phantom Re-Spin”, triggered when a double – stacked Phantom symbol lands on reel 1 and a double – stacked Mask symbol lands on reel 5. The Bonus Stacked Symbols, as well as Mask symbols and Phantom symbols visible during the spin that activated the Re-Spin, turn into Wilds and stick on the reels for one free Re-Spin.

 

 

Pick-and-Click Bonus Game

The Pick and Click bonus game is triggered when the double – stacked Phantom symbols land on reel 1 and the double – stacked Christine symbol land on reel 5. Free Spins and Bonus Features cannot be triggered at the same time. Maximum win in the bonus game is 7,200 coins which can be achieved in two stages:

  • Stage 1 – pick from 8 roses with some of them having coin wins in them and some having a X blocker sign.
  • Stage 2 – once a “”X” is revealed the game goes to stage 2 where players pick one of 3 mirrors to uncover a multiplier of x1, x2 or x3.

 

 

Phantom Free Spins

Three Chandelier Scatters landing on reels 1, 3, and 5 will award the Free Spins feature. During the Free Spins, a chandelier hangs by ropes  above the reels with a section of the rope being cut every time a Phantom symbol lands on the reels. When all five ropes next to the reels are cut, the chandelier falls and the round ends. The Phantom symbol also acts as a Wild symbol in Free Spins. When a Masked Phantom symbol lands on a reel and cuts the rope section, all Masked Phantom symbols on that reel become fully stacked Masked Phantom symbols from the next spin, and remain stacked, for the remaining Free Spins session.

 

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Final Words

Ever since the initial July 2017 release date, we were missing the Phantom of the Opera slot, which left us guessing as to what happened. We know now that there were some licensing issues as Microgaming released in the same month a similar slot.

Our first reaction after a few hundred spins was that it looks like an entertaining slot with some new pay mechanisms and Free Spin features, plus a soundtrack which makes for great listening with the speakers on full volume. However, the negative part is that it falls into the same row of low – medium variance games that we have mostly seen from Netent in the past 2 years which can give long slotting sessions even with smaller balances but all at the expense of that desirable mega win potential. Small to medium wins will be happening probably often enough but I would not expect something a la Jungle Spirit: Call of the Wild™ where wins can go up to 7,680 x bet.

On another note, those Free Spins seemed very hard to hit, but that could be just a cold spell we caught when testing the slot. Other than that, I would recommend everyone to try the game as the new pay mechanisms are fun to watch and have big win potential.

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