Monkey Frenzy: Slot Overview
British zoologist Desmond Morris wrote that ‘the city is not a concrete jungle, it is a human zoo’, which might seem a bit harsh for the regular people who actually live in cities, but big conurbations may, at times, feel a bit animalistic, a bit savage. Hacksaw Gaming partner Trusty Gaming touches on these themes in its online slot Monkey Frenzy. In this game, humans have been shipped out of the city, and monkeys are in, where ‘some will do whatever it takes for a bunch of… bananas.’ Players are free to imagine what the human equivalent of ‘bananas’ might represent in this instance as they attempt to land expanding wild symbols during free spins, and, well, that’s about the extent of the features.
Downtown somewhere, could be LA, is where Trusty Gaming has situated Monkey Frenzy. A couple of classic cars line the street, garbage blows in the breeze, and you can almost imagine the aromas wafting from the wheelie bins. The monkeys in Monkey Frenzy might have a slight criminal slant, or at least a grabbing bananas at all cost slant, but they seem like gangsters of the fun-lovin’, laid-back kind. A funky soundtrack adds to the mood, and of the three Trusty Gaming slots available at the time of review, Monkey Frenzy was the most sensorially interesting so far.
Floating in the middle of the street, all chromed and flanked by a couple of speakers, is Monkey Frenzy’s 5×3 reelset, which evaluates winning combinations from the leftmost reel onwards across 17 paylines. Two RTP configurations are available, a 96.21% and a 94.31% version, while the math model’s volatility for both is medium. As for betting options, a lone bonus buy accompanies a stake selection of 10 c to $/€100 per spin.
On the lower side of the pay table are knuckle dusters, cars, speakers, bats, and hockey masks, awarding 1 to 2 times the bet when a 5-of-a-kind winning combination lands. On the higher end of the hierarchy are 4 monkey characters, awarding 10 to 50 times the bet for 5 OAK. Wilds hit on all reels and substitute for any regular paying symbol. A bet line of 5 wilds is worth 300x.
Monkey Frenzy: Slot Features
There might be a few bananas and monkeys flying about the place, but Monkey Frenzy is not overloaded with features. What it’s got is a free spins round triggered when 3 or more Banana scatters land. Landing 3, 4, or 5 Banana scatters awards 10, 15, or 20 free spins as well as a payout of 1x, 3x, or 10x the bet, respectively.
During free spins, Big Boss Wilds expand to cover the entire reel when they are part of a winning combination. Also, landing 3 or more Banana scatters during the feature awards a further +5 free spins.
Bonus Buy
A single solitary option resides in Monkey Frenzy’s bonus buy section, which is a free spins trigger costing 100 times the bet.
Monkey Frenzy: Slot Verdict
Despite aligning themselves with one of the heavyweights of the online slot biz, Trusty Gaming is yet to come close to achieving the same heights as its more established partner. Or, for that matter, producing games consistently on the same level as other Hacksaw Gaming partners, Backseat Gaming and Bullshark Games. The track record before now has been two unimpressive slots, Sticky Candyland and Lucky Multifruit, offering tired theme choices and sparse, unexciting features. For Monkey Frenzy, the studio has at least broken away from the candy and fruit cliches to make something less generic. Sure, monkeys have swung off a set of reels on more than one occasion in the past, but Monkey Frenzy is at least a stab at doing something more original.
Shame then that Monkey Frenzy’s gameplay is about on par with what the studio’s two previous slots delivered. The base game has no extras, modifiers, or features, which might have added variety to the plain white toast action of spinning reels till enough Banana scatters hit to trigger the bonus round. Landing winning lines made up of wild symbols or higher value premiums is about the main highlight in that phase of play. Wild symbols provide the biggest source of titillation during free spins as well since they’re able to expand to better the chances of linking matching symbols into winning lines. They were actually quite effective at doing so at times, and the game is good for wins of up to a cap of 5,000x the bet.
As before, Monkey Frenzy definitely felt lacking in the features department. The base game, in particular, could have benefited from a modifier or two to brighten up the experience, and the bonus round is a basic expanding wild symbol and that’s it job. But, of the three Trusty Gaming slots reviewed to date, Monkey Frenzy was probably the most mentally stimulating, and it feels like the studio has taken a step in a positive direction.
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