Boat Bonanza Colossal Catch

Boat Bonanza Colossal Catch Review

The original Boat Bonanza wasn’t a massive success, and the developer is angling with a somewhat different, yet more familiar, bait this time. Boat Bonanza Colossal Catch comes with the same fairground pier in the sunset backdrop, but the two fishing boats are closer to shore in this game. The retro style visuals are still charming enough, in a Fishin’ Frenzy kind of way, but this follow-up is closer to the Big Bass Bonanza series than to the first game.

Granted, the base game is still all about catching fish prizes via the 2 boats, and sometimes all prizes in view when the Colossal Catch feature triggers. The bonus round is very different, however, and it now comes with a Multiplier Upgrade & Extra Spins trail. The multiplier can go as high as x25, and the 3,000x potential is a bit lower than in the original game. The volatility is dialed down a few notches as well though, which makes Boat Bonanza Colossal Catch Slot a more forgiving fishing expedition overall.

Boat Bonanza Colossal Catch Slot Features

The premium symbols, consisting of anchors, spear guns, worm cans, and seagulls, award between 50 and 200 x your stake for 5 of a kind wins. The royal symbols all pay 10x your stake for the same, and there are no Wild symbols in Boat Bonanza Colossal Catch. There are some other special symbols, however, and we’ll take a look at them below.

The fish prize symbols, known as ‘Catch symbols’ in this game, come with values between 1x and 50x your stake. The fish symbols can also form regular line wins, and they pay 40x your stake for 5 of a kind wins. You’ll see 2 fishing boats above the grid, and they move to a new random reel per spin. Only brightly lit fishing boats are active, however, and active boats collect all Catch symbol prizes on the reel below. This is known as the Catch feature.

The 2 fishing boats can end up above the same reel, and when this happens you trigger the Colossal Catch feature. The fishing net is then cast wide enough to cover the whole grid, which means that all Catch symbol prizes in view are collected.

You need 3+ boat scatters in view to trigger the Boat Bonanza Colossal Catch Slot Bonus Round, and this gives you 10 free spins. Triggering the feature with 4 or 5 scatters award an upfront payout of 20x or 100x your stake, respectively. The 2 boats are always active in the bonus round, and they can also collect a Swordfish symbol during the FS round.

This is how you progress along the Colossal Catch Multiplier Upgrade Meter, and each swordfish adds +1 to the bar. It works as follows:

• You get an x2 multiplier and +8 extra spins from 3 collected swordfish symbols.
• You get an x5 multiplier and +6 extra spins from 6 collected swordfish symbols.
• You get an x10 multiplier and +4 extra spins from 9 collected swordfish symbols.
• You get an x25 multiplier and +2 extra spins from 12 collected swordfish symbols.

You can thus win up to 20 extra free spins, but keep in mind that the Colossal Catch Multiplier will only boost the Catch symbol prize wins you get from the Colossal Catch feature.

The 200 Spins Boat Bonanza Colossal Catch Slot Experience

You get to see the Catch feature in the base game a few times, before we trigger the bonus round at 1:05 into the 4:23-minute highlights video. You then get to see the colossal catch feature in action, and you can see for yourself what kind of a catch we got away with in total by hitting the play button below.

Review Summary

Well, at least the visuals have been somewhat upgraded for this follow-up release, but other than that we have to admit that we are a tad disappointed. The original Boat Bonanza was a breath of fresh air since it didn’t try to imitate the Big Bass Bonanza range (except for the somewhat similar title, of course). Boat Bonanza Colossal Catch not only comes with a weaker math model, but the developer has also fallen for the temptation to implement a BBB-style bonus round multiplier upgrade system.

The Colossal Catch mirrors the Mega Catch feature from the original game, so changing the name of it seems pointless. It’s annoying when you finally cast the wide net, only to end up with 1 or 2 lousy fish prizes worth 2x each, but larger catches are, of course, possible as well. It’s also a bit of a downer that the FS multiplier only applies during the Colossal Catch feature, and we prefer the increasing multiplier boats in the original game to be honest. Sequels should improve upon the original, and ideally be the obvious choice, but that’s hardly the case with Boat Bonanza Colossal Catch, unfortunately.