Village People Macho Moves

Village People Macho Moves (Microgaming): Review

Announced with much fanfare on the first day of the 2019 London igaming event, Microgaming's game publisher David Reynolds laid it on thick, using the following words to describe the company's upcoming branded slot Village People Macho Moves; "Starring all six members of the iconic group, the game has been stunningly designed with colourful graphics and dynamic animations to bring all of its special features to life", while also adding that "players will be tapping their feet to big wins." Probably more like "banging their heads against the wall to the frustratingly low payouts and boring gameplay" given how completely out of touch with the gambling community Microgaming has been in recent years. But we'll see, maybe things have finally changed for the better.

Created by Fortune Factory Studios exclusively for Microgaming, Village People Macho Moves is a 6-reel, 15-payline video slot that is based on the iconic American disco group Village People who were a worldwide sensation during disco's heyday. Famous for their flamboyantly gay antics and on-stage costumes, the band went on to release several international dance hits such as Y.M.C.A, Go West, Macho Man, and In the Navy, all of which are included in the game and available in the virtual jukebox to the left of the reels. Playable across all devices from 20 cents to 25€ per spin, Village People Macho Moves comes with expanding wilds and a token collection feature used to trigger one of six free spin features.

Unquestionably unique and indeed colourful, the game is set on a disco stage where you'll see all the iconic characters from the band, each one of them representing their own reel. For comic effect, we suppose, the band members have been designed with gorilla arms and made to look like they skipped leg day. Spinning the reels you will see 4 card suit symbols alongside more valuable sunglasses, dancing boots, vinyl records, microphones and cassettes. The latter 5 are all of the same value, giving you 6 times your stake for 6 of a kind. There's also a standard wild symbol in the form of a white ball that substitutes for all symbols.

Village People Macho Moves (Microgaming): Features

Central to the game is the VP Wild symbol. Whenever it hits, it activates the VP Wild feature, expanding to form a fully stacked wild reel. If lucky, you can land it on all 6 reels in one spin.

Look closely, and you will see that each band members is standing on a platform with 5 spaces. This is the so-called VP Wild Meter -when a VP Wild appears in view on a reel, it will add a token to that particular reel's meter. It takes 5 tokens to fill a meter and by doing so, you activate that reels respective Free Spins game. Starting with 5 free spins, this is what's on offer:

• Construction Worker (Reel 1) - gives you a random multiplier on every spin ranging from between 2x and 20x.
• Cowboy (Reel 2) - in this feature you will benefit from between 2 to 12 added wild symbols on every spin.
• Cop (Reel 3) - gives you 2 to 4 fully stacked wild reels on every spin.
• Native Indian (Reel 4) - starts with fully stacked wild reels on the two rightmost reels which then move 1 reel to the left on each spin.
• Biker (Reel 5) - replaces the lower value card suit symbols with one of the more lucrative premiums for bigger payouts.
• Sailor (Reel 6) - will give you 1 to 3 wild symbols that randomly lock in position for each spin.

Village People Macho Moves (Microgaming): Verdict

With dated gameplay and weak payouts, Village People Macho Moves is a slot that depends heavily on the iconic band's famous hit singles. Sure, some effort has been invested in setting it apart from other games, but adding a sixth reel, for example, serves no other purpose in this case other than to be able to include all band members in the game. Visually, it looks good with well executed graphic design work, and while the base game is utterly boring, the free spins features can offer some surprisingly fun highlights at times.

For recreational players, Village People Macho Moves will likely seem interesting thanks to its mix of bright colours, good music and silly looking characters, but the avid gambler will probably go elsewhere to satisfy the need for exciting slots action.