Doctor Love Slots Review
Doctor Love slots was developed by NextGen and released by software provider Amaya in 2009. This game has since gone on to generate a cult following at online casinos that spawned a sequel called Doctor Love on Vacation.
So what elements made Doctor Love popular enough to spawn a sequel? And will you think this slot is as great as its popularity would suggest?
You can decide as you read through our review, which covers Doctor Love's details, bonus round, and how the original compares to the sequel.
Also provided is a free playable version of the game, which you can find below:
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Overview
Doctor Love features 5 reels and 20 pay lines, and you can change the coin size from $0.02 to $5.00. This makes the minimum bet $0.02 per spin and the maximum wager $100.00.
You can use the handy Max buttons to turn betting options all the way up, and auto play allows you to keep reels running for up to 500 spins.
Doctor Love features a retro 1960s background that's purple with various designs in it. The overall feeling is Austin Powers meets the emergency room.
We wouldn't really say the theme or background graphics are outstanding. But obviously some players appreciated the theme enough to convince Amaya that a sequel was in order.
We have mixed emotions about the sound effects / music since you hear an outer space type sound every time you spin the reels. However, this is somewhat offset by the fact that sounds during the animations are more in line with the love subject.
Symbols include love inspired illustrations combined with typical hospital items. You'll see medication, a stethoscope, crutches, patient chart, flowers, ambulance, teddy bear, an injured patient, a beautiful nurse, and of course Doctor Love.
These symbols don't quite measure up to modern 3D slots in terms of graphic quality, but they do a solid job of conveying the theme and adding some fun to the equation.
You might also appreciate a few of the animations, including the doctor stroking his well styled hair and the Love Meter filling up when it hits the reels. Most of the other animations merely consist of symbols flashing when they create a winning payout.
As for special symbols, Doctor Love is wild and he substitutes for every other symbol except the Love Meter scatter. Speaking of which, the Love Meter multiplies payouts by 2x for 2 symbols, 4x for 3 symbols, 15x for 4 symbols and 100x for 5 symbols.
If you're able to land five Doctor Love symbols on a pay line, you get the top regular pay out of 5,000 coins. Assuming you hit this combination coupled with 5 scatters on the reels, you'd receive the maximum possible amount of 500,000 coins.
Doctor Love is available on both Android and iOS devices, allowing you to play through your smartphone or tablet.
Note that the return to player for this game is 94.5%, which is a little below average in comparison to some other online slots.
Bonus Round
Doctor Love doesn't feature a second screen bonus round, which is one definite downside to this game. But you can at least get free spins, which are awarded when three or more Love Meters land anywhere on the reels. The number of spins is based on how may Love Meters are present. You'll receive the following.
- 10 free spins for 3 symbols
- 15 free spins for 4 symbols
- 20 free spins for 5 symbols
When the free spins start, the background becomes a retro yellow and the music changes as well. You can also look forward to wins being multiplied by 3x, and free spins can be retriggered at any point during the bonus round.
While it's nice that you at least get some form of bonus in Doctor Love, it took us plenty of spins just to trigger the free spins once. Low frequency on triggering the bonus round seems to be common in many Amaya slots.
Gamble Feature
We didn't find a gamble feature in the version of Doctor Love that we were playing. But it must be available at certain online casinos because the info section discusses the gamble feature, mentioning that it's applicable in some cases.
The info screen describes the gamble feature as being the typical card game setup, where you choose the color, red or black, to double your pay out.
In an interesting twist, you can also choose the card suit to quadruple your original win. This is of course far more risky, but it's a great way to boost smaller payouts.
If you get on a win streak with the gamble feature, keep in mind that you can only win five straight times before you have to stop.
Comparison to Doctor Love on Vacation
Five years after the launch of their first successful Doctor Love game, Amaya decided to give fans more of this love toting medic through Doctor Love on Vacation in 2014.
It's kind of unfair to compare a slot from 2009 to a more modern version. Even still, we're far more impressed with the graphics in Doctor Love on Vacation.
The background, a beautiful beach with palm trees, sand, water, and volcanoes, is far more colorful and cheery. The symbols also have a 3D element to them, which is another reason why Doctor Love on Vacation is more appealing.
As for the theme, it looks like the charming medic has landed the lovely nurse because she's come along on vacation with him. You'll also see a number of standard beach symbols like a beach ball, chair, and nurse in a hula skirt, plane, suitcase, and a sun burnt man.
The sun burnt man is probably the most entertaining symbol because you can see his tank top tan line, and he has an egg frying on his head.
One more element to like about Doctor Love on Vacation when compared to its predecessor is that the return to player is 95.4%.
If there's one major downside to the vacation version, it's that no improvement has been made to the bonus round. In fact, it's worse because you only receive 4, 8, or 12 free spins when 3 to 5 surfboard scatter symbols hit the reels.
As mentioned before, the original version at least offered 10, 15, or 20 free spins. The only thing we can think of is that you hit free games with a higher frequency in Doctor Love on Vacation.
Regardless, the bonus round seems like an element that should have been improved upon in a more detailed slot like this one.
From an overall perspective, though, we like this vacation slot better than Doctor Love. And if you've ever played Betsoft's Tipsy Tourist, this game has the same type of feel to it.
If we had to rate Doctor Love in comparison to all other slots, it would rank a little above average. This game's best quality is the theme, which, aside from the vacation sequel, doesn't seem to be present in any other online casino games.
The animations are also pretty good, and the symbol illustrations do a good job of making this a fun, lighthearted slot.
On a negative note, Doctor Love doesn't offer enough special features and bonuses to separate it from the large number of other 5 reel slots. A second screen bonus round would do a lot for this game, especially since its graphics aren't so inspiring.
But if you're looking for a couple new games to try, we think that the theme in both Doctor Love and the vacation sequel make them worth at least trying.