Fruit Party 2 Slot Review
The original Fruit Party was such a hit with online fans that few would be surprised by the arrival of a sequel. When Fruit Party 2 was released, it was faced with the tough task of competing with the games found across every new slots casino on the web, so how well does it stand up? Does it satisfy in terms of RTP, volatility and payouts, and how does it compare to the original Fruit Party? Once you have read our Fruit Party 2 slot review, you will know all you need to know about this title.
Fruit Party 2 Theme
While the title of Fruit Party 2 may give the impression that it is themed around the aesthetic of traditional slot machines, all spinning reels and drawings of lemons, it turns out to be something more up-to-date. As with games found across many a new slots casino, Fruit Party 2 borrows its visual style from mobile puzzle games like Candy Crush. The background to the game screen shows a sunny, glowing-green field with colourful little houses, the sort of setting you might expect from a Super Nintendo game in the nineties. Once the game begins, the grid will be filled not only with various items of fruit (oranges, plums, apples, strawberries and grapes are all present and correct) but also stars and hearts, which make the game look a little like a bowl of Lucky Charms breakfast cereal.
The animation on the icons is nicely done, with the objects bouncing like jelly when they first appear and vanishing in puffs of smoke when you score, and the twinkly soundtrack fits the carefree tone, making you feel as though you have been transported right back to the Saturday morning cartoons of your childhood. As you play, the background will change from day to night and back again. If you have played the original Fruit Party, of course, then much of this will be familiar. The two games have essentially the same aesthetic, although as is to be expected, the sequel adds a new layer of polish. The background is more detailed, the grid design is less plain, the icon animations have a little more fluidity, the music is more upbeat: all small details that come together to make the game more appealing. All in all, the game’s theme maybe a little too sugary for some players, but those who enjoy their slot games to have a touch of cuteness and colour will appreciate how much effort Pragmatic Play put into emulating the flavour of family-friendly mobile puzzle games.
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How to play Fruit Party 2
Fruit Party 2 has a seven-by-seven grid, which might look somewhat overworked at first as even the best Megaways slots tend to use a smaller number of squares. However, the large size of the playing field turns out to fit in with the influence of mobile puzzle games. A quick glance over the main screen will reveal the following information surrounding the grid:
- Current credit
- Current bet sum
- Autoplay options
- Information option
- Box listing winning connections
- Update section
- Audio, menu and information icons
- “Buy free spins” box
To win points in the game, you will need to roll symbols in blocks of at least five. These can be connected horizontally or vertically, and do not have to be connected in a straight line: this means that it is possible to build clusters of more than seven icons. The game makes use of a “tumble” feature (again drawing upon puzzle games rather than traditional slot titles) which means that after you score a winning cluster, the symbols will disappear and a new set will tumble down to take their place, while the rest of the game field will remain unaffected. If you can choose, you can place the game into an autoplay mode, and by pressing the plus and minus buttons adjust how many automatic spins the game will go through before returning to manual control. This is a feature that comes with many of the best slots, of course, but it is welcome to see nonetheless.
Fruit Party 2 Symbols and Bonus Features
For the next section of our Fruit Party 2 slot review, we shall talk you through the different types of symbols that are used by the game. Despite the large grid and initially bewildering range of different icons on show, this turns out to be a fairly straightforward matter. The game makes use of nine symbols in all, and they can be divided into three categories.
Fruit, hearts and stars
With seven of the nine symbols, the only difference is the number of points that you will win by connecting them. The lowest-scoring symbol is the heart, which gets you a minimum of $2.00 if you connect five and a maximum of $200 if you connect fifteen or more (note that the “money” used as points does not correspond to the actual money you will win in the game). Next is the star, with a minimum of $2.50 and a maximum of $400. After this come the plumb (minimum $3.00, maximum $600), grapes (minimum $4.00, maximum $800) and apple (minimum $5.00, maximum $900). We then see a bigger leap with the second-highest icon, the orange, with its minimum of $7.50 and maximum of $1000. Finally, we come to the strawberry, which carries a minimum bonus of $5.00 and — for the lucky players who succeed in connecting fifteen strawberries or more — a maximum of $1,500.
Scatter symbol
The Scatter symbol is a shiny golden fruit. This rare symbol has its own worth in points, netting you $30 for three Scatters, $50 for four, $100 for five, $200 for six and $1000 for seven. On top of this, if you hit three or more Scatter symbols you will trigger a free spins feature. This will earn you anywhere from 10 free spins for three icons, to 25 free spins for seven symbols.
Wild Multiplier
The final icon that you can expect to run into is the Wild Multiplier. This will appear randomly with certain winning symbol clusters and resembles a purple W. It can stand in for any symbol except for the Scatter and carries a bonus multiplier. When it first appears, this will be a basic 2x multiplier; but if it appears again the multiplier will itself be multiplied, starting at 4x, moving to 8x and so on until it reaches 256x. If more than one Wild Multiplier turns up in the same cluster, their multiplication sums will be added together. If you have managed to enter a free spins round from combining Scatter symbols, then the Wilds can multiply your score by as much as 729x.
Fruit Party 2 Odds and Payouts
Because Fruit Party 2 is not a conventional slot game, the concept of hit frequency does not apply. However, payouts are handled in a typical manner, and you stand a chance of winning up to 5000x of your bet: this is a substantial sum indeed and will doubtless attract many players who are trying to choose between the best slots available online.
Fruit Party 2 RTP and Volatility
Fruit Party 2 has an RTP percentage of 96.53%. Compared to many of the best Megaways slots on the market today, this is roughly average, being neither particularly high nor particularly low — although it is only marginally higher than the original Fruit Party which had an RTP of 96.47%. The game’s volatility is high, offering clusters that are larger in size but smaller in frequency.
Who Made the Game?
Next, our Fruit Party 2 slot review shall put in a word for the people who made the game. This is one of many titles put out by Pragmatic Play, a prolific provider whose name will be familiar to anybody who frequents online casinos. Some of the better-known Pragmatic Play slots include Wolf Gold, John Hunter and the Tomb of the Scarab Queen,Starlight Princess, Book of Vikings and many many more!
Can Fruit Party 2 be Played on Mobile?
As noted earlier in our Fruit Party 2 slot review, this is a title that draws heavily upon mobile games such as Candy Crush. As a result, it is tailor-made for the small screen. Although the 7×7 grid is unusually large for a slot game, the layout is clean enough for the brightly coloured icons to be distinguishable from one another at a glance. Meanwhile, the jelly-like windows and background details are distinct enough in colour that they do not clash with the main areas of the game. The bar running along the bottom of the screen is a little small, but given the relative lack of essential information running upon it, this should not be a problem if you are playing on a mobile. The general feel is that Fruit Party 2 was designed with mobile users in mind, and it certainly succeeds in working as a game that can be played on a small scale.
Fruit Party 2 Review : Our Take
To conclude our Fruit Party 2 slot review, we can give the game a positive mark. Although it does not do a tremendous amount to distinguish itself from the original Fruit Party, this sequel does introduce a range of small tweaks and alterations which, taken together, make it just that little slicker and more enticing to play. The key mechanics that made the first game one of the best Pragmatic Play slots are still here, particularly the inspired blend of a slot game and mobile puzzler.