Little Green Men: Cosmic Blaster from IGT

By John Grochowski on Friday November 9, 2012

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I love a little skill in my games. That doesn’t mean I’m particularly good at applying the skill, but I love the feeling that I have an impact on whether I win or lose. International Game Technology has taken its popular Little Green Men theme and added a test of skill in a bonus event on Little Green Men: Cosmic Blaster.

The latest take on the durable favorite of alien chasers everywhere, Cosmic Blaster is a Megajackpots game, with the potential for a big progressive win. It also lets gamers test their ability with the joystick. Instead of merely picking spaceships to shoot down, you use the joystick to maneuver into firing range to blast them out of the sky.

If you don’t trust your ability, you can choose a non-skill event and let the random number generator do its thing instead. The same goes for the new video version of the vampire-themed Blood Life. There are no Megajackpots here, but the joystick is in play.

I chose to test my skill and quickly found out just how out of practice with a joystick I am. As I flew a bat through a cave, trying to fly through gems to collect bonuses, I zigged left when I wanted to go right, up instead of down, and when I wanted to move up and left at the same time to turn a cave corner — forget it. But as the round progressed, I collected some nice bonus jewels and left feeling like I was improving.

For those who prefer chance to skill on the slots, you can choose a free-spin bonus instead. And if you choose to play the skill-based version and don’t do very well, there’s a treasure-picking bonus at the end of the round that serves as an equalizer.