We primarily take a look at the story and gameplay. Because the way the games feel and how they behave is simply particularly exciting. The aim is to give you really personal impressions and real gaming experiences. This time you can expect a special on online slots with low volatility or slots with low variance. We cover Apollo God of the Sun from Greentube, Fruitinator from Merkur and Win Shooter from Gamomat.
Apollo God of the Sun
- Developer: Greentube (Novomatic)
- Release date: July 27, 2017
- Already available in Germany: Yes – including at StarGames
- International RTP: 96.02% (German RTP: approx. 90%)
- Volatility: Low to medium
- Bonus features: 2 reel sets, free spins, expanding symbols, scatter wins, (stacked) wilds, risk
- Rolls: 5 + 5
- Rows: 4 + 12
- Paylines: 100
- Minimum winning combination: 3 identical symbols
- Maximum winning combination: 5 identical symbols
- Minimum win multiplier: 0.10x stake
- Maximum win multiplier: 20x stake
- Maximum win: 2,000x
- Minimum bet: €0.20
- Maximum bet: €200 (International)
The Story: This is what Apollo God of the Sun is about
With Apollo God of the Sun, Greentube has created an almost epic slot. The main protagonist of the whole thing is none other than the Greek god of light Apollo. It has a lot in store for you on a special playing field consisting of two sets of reels with all sorts of features. The volatility is stated as low to medium.
Greentube themselves describe the game as follows: “The sun god Apollo is the star of this beautifully designed slot machine, which offers players two sets of reels for a breathtaking number of ways to win! Since Apollo is generous, he has also allowed players to further increase their chances of winning! And how? By giving them Expanding Wilds that carry over from reel set to reel set, and a Free Spins feature that boasts stacked wilds that will have players sweating!”
Sounds like a hot, profitable proposition – let’s see if it turns out to be true.
Apollo God of the Sun Gameplay: How does the slot feel?
First of all, let’s talk about the design of the playing field: At first, the two sets of reels seemed a bit strange to me, but I quickly realized that things are basically not that different here than with a classic 5×3 grid. Sure, there are more winning lines and symbol fields, which makes things more confusing, but the principle of operation is pretty traditional.
So winning combinations are counted from left to right on a total of 100 betways. The two playing fields pay out winnings independently of each other – paylines do not extend from one set to the other.
So, after a quick overview, I started shooting straight away. I was prepared for frequent hits – and that’s what I should get. The third spin is a hit, the fifth, the seventh, the eighth – that’s how fun it is. Although there were some longer breaks in winnings, the game generally lives up to its variance.
I kept noticing large symbols and quite a few wilds. Despite all the flow of the game, I first had to look at the paytable. Ok, so there are two traditional large icons that can cover an entire role, but do not have any special function: namely the horse and Apollo. If you manage a match of 5, you get the highest multiplier for the standard symbols, which is 5x.
Wilds appeared quite often on my first spins – so let’s take a look there too: If you manage to get 4 wilds on a reel of the first reel set, the reel becomes a stacked wild in the same place on the second set. Unfortunately, this feature was denied to me – and I also had little luck with the big symbols.
As always, I finally tried to get into the free spins, which start with at least 3 scatters (3 scatters give 8 spins, 4 give 12 spins and 5 or more give 20 spins). However, even after playing for a long time, I simply couldn’t manage to pull off such a scatter combination, so I ultimately gave up. Winnings came really often – but when it came to bonuses, I wasn’t particularly fond of the game.
Fruitinator
- Developer: Mercury
- Release date: January 7, 2012
- Already available in Germany: Yes – including at Löwenplay
- International RTP: 96.00% (German RTP: 94.33% at Löwenplay)
- Volatility: Low to medium
- Bonus features: Risk feature
- Roles: 5
- Rows: 3
- Paylines: 5
- Minimum winning combination: 2 identical symbols
- Maximum winning combination: 5 identical symbols
- Minimum win multiplier: 1x stake
- Maximum win multiplier: 500x stake
- Maximum win: 1,000x
- Minimum bet: €0.05
- Maximum bet: €100 (International)
The Story: This is what Fruitinator is all about
From Apollo God of the Sun to Fruitinator, we of course have completely different requirements in terms of equipment alone. This is a pretty classic fruit slot from Merkur, which – as is common with such machines – doesn’t offer much more than winnings in the base game with quite good multipliers. However, the machine is a well-known and – for fans of such games (who can even purchase special merchandising for the title from Merkur) – absolutely recommended low-variance game.
The developer says the following about his creation: “Now things get fruity: In this Merkur game you collect plums, oranges, lemons and cherries. You can pick even greater successes with the bells and the fiery sevens from the reels. Fruitinator is a classic slot game without features.” But there is a bonus, namely the well-known risk.
Fruitinator Gameplay: How does the slot feel?
Although I like clear slots, Fruitinator was always a bit too simple for me. In my opinion, free spins are allowed. Nevertheless, I was looking forward to my first test. So, started the game and brought some Spielo flair to the PC. There is no music and the sounds during the spins are absolutely basic.
Just set 1 euro and off we went: after 8 spins the first win of 8x occurred. After that, in the twelfth round there was a big win of (attention again passable) 12x and two spins further there was even a mega win of a whopping 40x. I actually didn’t expect that. With the increasing credit came the fun – despite the very simple structures.
After a short lull, the cash register started to sound regularly again: here 9x, there 12x. In general, however, the frequency was noticeably lower than with the previously described Apollo God of the Sun. However, this “deficit” was compensated quite well by some legendary wins of more than 80x.
I practically never got around to gambling. In principle, however, I’m not a big risk gambler. I’ve had some bad experiences with Merkur in particular, or somehow always no luck.
As a brief interim conclusion, I can say that Fruitinator gave me a surprising amount of fun and really good profits. This is a great slot for “autoplay on and cash in”.
Win Shooter
- Developer: Gamomat
- Release date: May 26, 2020
- Already available in Germany: Yes – including at Lapalingo
- International RTP: 96.06% (German RTP: approx. 90%)
- Volatility: Low
- Bonus features: risk feature, bonus game
- Roles: 3
- Rows: 3
- Paylines: 5
- Minimum winning combination: 3 identical symbols
- Maximum winning combination: 3 identical symbols
- Minimum win multiplier: 4x stake
- Maximum win multiplier: 200x stake
- Maximum win: 500x
- Minimum bet: €0.05
- Maximum bet: €100 (International)
The Story: This is what Win Shoter is about
Win Shooter is part of Gamomat’s “Classic Slot” series. Accordingly, there is a very traditional playing field with a 3×3 grid, as is also known from one-armed bandits. On the right is the reel set and on the left is a list of the winning possibilities.
Thematically, the game takes place in the Wild West. Gamomat says: “Get ready for the duel, fill the chamber and land a precise shot. Incredible winnings are waiting for you on the target.” With the necessary luck, the “incredible winnings” can result in a 500x multiplier. With the maximum bet you can collect a whopping 50,000 euros (but unfortunately not with the German maximum bet of 1 euro).
The gameplay of Win Shooter: How does the slot feel?
Then off to the duel: The sound – similar to Fruitinator – is “full arcade”. After the typical Gamomat intro with title announcement and a short jingle, you only hear typical slot machine sounds during spins and a fairly generic beat when you win. But that’s just how it is with slots like this.
Once again I was hoping for quick profits. However, the game didn’t really want to pay off. In the first 20 rounds I was actually only able to land a single hit. I took another quick look at Gamomat to see the variance – and yes, the game is listed there as “low”. Although I was able to record one or two returns of 10x or 12x, the experience wasn’t particularly satisfying.
I didn’t see anything about the bonus function: 3 scatters, i.e. the cartridges, are supposed to trigger an additional win. What this exactly means is not explained in the detailed description of the slot. However, I assumed that this meant winning the “Top Win”, which is at the top of the list of winning possibilities on the left-hand side. By the way, you also have the chance to gamble in this game. But once again I passed.
Conclusion
We have three quite different slots here – from Apollo God of the Sun with its numerous but still clear features to the classic Win Shooter slot, there is a strong difference in terms of features. I won most often with Apollo God of the Sun. But Fruitinator was a little more lucrative. In Win Shooter it was more of a loss. Basically, Apollo God of the Sun fits my preferences best. Nevertheless, I had at least as much fun in Fruitinator.
Be the first to comment