Agent Jane Blonde Returns (Stormcraft Studios): Review

Jane Blonde hails from an era when Microgaming was still a major name in slot development, which feels like a lifetime ago now. First launched in 2005 and still found at plenty of Microgaming casinos, Agent Jane Blonde has proven it can endure. Even with its oddly old-fashioned visuals, it’s more entertaining than much of what Microgaming and its partners have been putting out recently. 14 years later, Microgaming chose to bring the heroine back to life, with partner studio Stormcraft tasked with creating the follow-up.

Built with 5-reels and 15-paylines, Agent Jane Blonde Returns supports stakes from 0.05 to 400€ per spin on desktop and mobile alike. If you’re expecting a feature-packed experience, you’ll likely be let down. There’s a Respin feature that turns scatter symbols into sticky wilds, and that’s essentially the whole package.

After a visual refresh, Jane looks fantastic and has clearly aged gracefully, so on the graphics front it’s a noticeable step up. The plot remains rooted in espionage, manoeuvring and double-dealing, and the retro vibe fits the James Bond-inspired theme nicely. Behind the reels sits a nighttime city skyline, with neon lighting up the sky above—undeniably impressive artwork.

A look at the paytable doesn’t uncover anything especially surprising. Instead of standard royals, you’ll find watches, laptop computers, cars, money and passports and handbags, while the higher-value symbols are Jane herself in various looks—diving gear, stealth mode, undercover and fashionably dressed. Jane also serves as the wild symbol, doing the usual job of substituting for all symbols except the scatter.

Agent Jane Blonde Returns (Stormcraft Studios): Features

As noted earlier, this is a fairly stripped-back slot and it doesn’t come with a standard free spins round. Instead, you’re given a Respin feature. When 2 scatter symbols land at the same time on the reels, the Respin feature activates.

The scatter symbols then change into wilds and lock in place while the reels spin again. If new wilds appear on the following spins, you receive extra respins. This continues until a spin lands with no additional wilds on the reels.

Agent Jane Blonde Returns (Stormcraft Studios): Conclusion

The original Agent Jane Blonde sits among the classic slots that were genuinely ground-breaking when Microgaming first released them. The sequel, though, does its legacy no favours, and long-time players will be left scratching their heads at how Jane has been reduced to this. It’s even stranger considering how much money Microgaming poured into promoting the game at the London iGaming conference back in February.

Agent Jane Blonde Returns comes with a dreadful 300 times your stake max win potential per single spin, which is hard to believe. The game badly needs multipliers, stronger symbol values, or even a turd flying across the screen in true South Park fashion just to make it feel more worthwhile.

It also raises the question of whether Microgaming even reviews what its partner studios release—studios that may understand game design, yet seem to have a limited grasp of what gamblers actually want. The visuals are absolutely first-class and among the best work Stormcraft Studios has produced, which only makes it more disappointing that the maths model is so unbelievably ridiculous.