Fruit Blast

Game Review

This is a cluster match game that takes place on a 5x5 grid. If you are familiar with similar style games, then you’ll instantly know how things work. All you need to do is find clusters of 3 or more matching symbols to start the winning process.

The action unfolds on a grid that sits in front of a colourful tiki bar, and the graphics are simple, bright and festive. The game has a variable RTP with a maximum RTP of 96.12%. There are various bonus games and levels, plus a jackpot of 1000x that can be won.

Ready to get into the island-style groove… then here’s what you can expect!

Game Features

Basic Game Play

The basics of the game are simple. When you see a cluster of 3 more matching symbols that are adjacent to each other, both horizontally or vertically, you simply need to select one of the symbols in the cluster and it will blast them away and new symbols will fill in from above. On the left of the grid are fruit meters. Each time you blast a cluster of fruits, it starts filling the respective meter. You keep repeating the process till there are no more possible matches. Each time a meter is filled it awards a prize for that symbol. There are also special symbols, being the Bonus and Jackpot, but more about that shortly.

The more you progress, the more you win and the more you level-up which unlocks more levels each manned by a different bartender. As you complete tasks you will receive achievements and earn progress stars. After level 1, there are 8 different bartenders (levels), each with its own unique bonus feature which is triggered by blasting a cluster of bonus symbols.

Bartender Bonus Features

Hawaiian Shake (Level 1) - The bartender for this level is Aloha. The fruits are put into a blender and a cash prize is awarded.

Dance Nights (Level 2) – The bartender is Pat and you receive 5 free games with a guaranteed win in each game. All wins accumulate and are added at the end of the bonus. No progression stars are awarded during the bonus games and there are no jackpot or bonus symbols.

Pick & Win (Level 3) – The bartender is Koko. In this bonus game, you are presented with 6 coins and you need to flip them over to reveal cash prizes until one of them reveals “collect”.

Goth a Fruit (Level 4) – The bartender is Cassandra. Here you need to choose one of five tiles on a grid to reveal a cash prize and to open the next grid. You keep repeating the process until a tile shows “collect”. As you progress, the prizes get bigger and the grids become more advanced. There are a total of 5 grids.

Happy Hour (Level 5) – The bartender is Coach Max and you get a shake “on the house”, which basically means one of your fruit meters will be filled for you. You don’t receive any progress stars or achievements during this bonus.

Side Dish (Level 6) – The bartender is Maitre’ D and here you will get a free game with a guaranteed win and a 10x multiplier. During this bonus, there are no bonus or jackpot symbols active and no progress stars or achievements are awarded.

Double Shake (Level 7) – The bartender is Mary. In this bonus game, you need to flip one of four coins to reveal a base cash prize. Then, you get to flip 2 coins which will either double your base prize or will result in a “collect” and the round ends. If you get the double, you get to go again and can double up a maximum of 3 times.

Pick & Win II (Level 8) – The bartender is Echo. In this bonus game, you are presented with 12 coins. As you flip each one over, it reveals a cash prize. You keep turning coins over till a multiplier is revealed, at which point, all the cash prizes are summed and then multiplied by the multiplier.

Experience

It only took us a few rounds to grasp the concept and we were off. The first few rounds produced some clusters buts not enough to fill any of the meters fully. Then, after a few more rounds, a cluster of bonus symbols landed and triggered the ‘Hawaiian Shake’. We had big hopes for a decent payout but it produced a measly 2.00 payout. Then it was back to the main game, where once again not much happened. After a few more rounds, it looked like things were about to get exciting. In a single round, the various meters started filling up, but then the dreaded “No More Moves” came up and we only got paid out for one of the fruit meters, which essentially returned our initial bet amount. Shortly thereafter, we got the bonus symbols cluster and another round of ‘Hawaiian Shake’, which once again disappointed with its poor payout.

Review Summary

This game is a bitter and sweet experience! On the one hand, it is great to play something different and fresh from the regular spinning reels. The concepts are there and in general, the gameplay is fun. On the other hand, the graphics and animations are outdated. If you are going to use concepts from an iconic game where the images and colours are crisp and vivid, then the developer should have given this game a little more pizzazz. The game can be a little misleading and frustrating at times, especially when you blast cluster after cluster and watch the various fruit meters filling, and then no win. Overall, we enjoyed playing the game but it is certainly not the best game out there.

Pros	Cons
Good concept and different from the norm	Graphics are very average
Ability to progress and level-up	Poor payouts
Easy to play

If you enjoy this game, you should also try:

Other similar games in the same genre