Frutakia 2

Genre: Match-3 Puzzle

Players: 1

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Review:

Frutakia 2 is a match-3 Puzzle game that uses a slot machine as a motif, with players moving each column of symbols up or down to make matches.

In theory, this could make for a nice, simple puzzle game. In practice, there are a number of problems here. Firstly, all of the symbols on a column are random, meaning that players have no way of knowing what they’ll be spinning to if they spin a column. Players can pull the arm of the machine to get an entirely new randomized group of symbols, but again… random. This results in the player quickly feeling like they have very little control over the gameplay here.

The other issue here is the controls. Frankly, they suck. When using a controller, the game won’t recognize the D-Pad, forcing players to use the left stick, which can easily register the wrong directions as you use it here. And in handheld mode, while the game does make use of the touchscreen, it’s poorly-implemented, with players not dragging to move the columns nor tapping, but flicking the columns to move them.

The presentation here is at least clean-looking, but the sound is terrible. Pulling the slot machine arm makes a sound like the Jetsons’ flying car for some reason, and much of the rest of the noise of this game sounds like generic effects someone downloaded off of a free website. There’s no attempt in the game’s sound to play off of its casino theme.

Ultimately, Frutakia 2 takes a decent idea for a puzzle game and fails to implement it in a way that’s fun or even very functional. The gameplay is far too random, the controls are a choice between multiple bad options, and while the game looks okay, the sound is a poor fit for the game.

tl;dr – Frutakia 2 is a match-3 Puzzle game that has players moving columns of symbols on a slot machine to make matches. Unfortunately, the gameplay is so random that players will feel like they have little control over what happens, the control options here are all flawed, and the game’s sound effects don’t fit the game’s theme. This game isn’t worth bothering with.

Grade: D-

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