Microgaming has announced that it will launch a Batman themed slot game based on the third movie, The Dark Knight Rises, of the Warner Bros trilogy. The slot game is expected to go live this summer and some previews have been selectively released. This is an appropriate time to compare the two branded Batman slots already popular at online casinos. One of them is The Dark Knight, which is a Microgaming product based on the second movie of the Warner Bros trilogy. The other is the Cryptologic slot machine based on Batman from DC Comics.

The Dark Knight is a 243 ways to win online slot game. There are no defined paylines and symbols on any spots on adjacent reels from left to right can result in a payout. A striking feature of The Dark Knight is Cinematic Spins. After the spin is activated, the reels fade away and popular clips from the movie are shown on the screen. The Dark Knight logo is the wild symbol and it appears stacked on the reels. Batman or his archenemy the Joker can randomly appear on the reels and award features and prizes. In the free spins round the player is awarded 15 free spins with a multiplier that starts at two times. The Dark Knight is connected to the four-tier Mega Moolah progressive jackpot, which is triggered randomly. The largest jackpot resets at 1 million credits and usually pays out several million credits. In The Dark Knight there are two pointers to the wheel. One of them is operated by Batman and the other is operated by the Joker. The player selects one of the pointers and the other automatically gets disabled. The jackpot level that stops at the pointer is awarded to the player. The Dark Knight is live at Microgaming online casinos like Platinum Play, Jackpot City and Gaming Club.

The Cryptologic slot game is titled Batman. It has an introductory clip in which Batman chases the Joker through Gotham City. The symbols on the reels are characters from the Batman legend like Batman, the Joker and Commissioner Gordon. Many of the Batman accessories are also depicted as symbols. They include Batmobile, Batcycle, Batsignal and Batwing. Some of the accessories of the Joker such as Bang Flag, Acid Flower and Joker Card also appear as symbols. Batman is the wild symbol and it appears stacked on the reels. The Batman Logo is the scatter symbol. This slot game has the Batman Re-spins, which is triggered when Commissioner Gordon and Batsignal appear on reels 1 and 5. After the existing wins are paid, one of the central three reels is converted to expanding wilds and the other reels are re-spun three times. All payouts during the re-spins are doubled. Batman shares the Bonus Bet feature with other Cryptologic DC Comics branded slots. In this feature players have to place an additional wager of 10 coins and are offered certain advantages in return. An additional Batman wild symbol is added to reels 2, 3 and 4. The players will also get possible access to the Descent into Madness feature, which is not available without the Bonus Bet. For the feature to actually trigger at least three scatter symbols should appear aligned from left to right. In this feature Batman and the Joker slug it out with the player wining up to 100 times the triggering bet. Batman is live at Cryptologic online casinos like InterCasino.