Saturday, July 19, 2008

Dirty Martini: More fun than a dormroom game of Quarters

Talk about your drinking games. Bodog Casino’s exclusive bit of Real Time Gaming is all themed on what that great philosopher Homer Simpson once defined as “the cause of, and solution to, all of life’s problems”: Alcohol.

There’s tons of firewater sloshing around the 5-reel, 20-payline Dirty Martini with fruit symbols alongside more lucrative symbols (at least in this game). Just be sure not to take any of these combinations literally. While spinning Dirty Martini’s reels, LCD’s stomach was as much horrified as LCD’s central nervous system was thrilled with winning combinations like a martini shaker-pint of beer-shot-orange-pineapple and red wine-strawberry-red wine-lemon-shot. And how about olive-olive-olive-double flûte of champagne-pineapple? Sounds like the beginning of a decadent evening to me...

But hey, we’re here to play, not to drink, right? Don’t answer that. In reel play, Dirty Martini is a decently paced game; the sounds are good if a bit minimal with its old-school slot clunks, twinkly victory riffs and smoove-operator type chords when shaking the post-win cocktail. The graphics leave something to be desired in their realism, though; in attempting to recreate an honest-to-Bugsy brick-and-mortar casino slot, Dirty Martini leaves a, well, muddy shadow over the top portion of the game that may be around for ambience but does little for game play.

The SCATTER here is the sublime lower-case “b” of the Bodog logo and snagging three of these gets you to the “free game feature,” which is really just 15 free spins with the opportunity for more. A random progressive jackpot – gotta love the random progressive jackpot – is also offered at the conclusion of such rounds.

LCD won’t say that Dirty Martini is the most fun to be had while sober, but at least there’s no ugly hangover here. A solid playing game. LCD rating: 80 proof.

(Incidentally, for those not in-the-know, a dirty martini differs from the standard martini in the inclusion of olive juice along with vermouth and vodka.)