Developer Pragmatic Play takes players on a spot of wildlife watching in the nature-themed slot Jungle Gorilla. There are no guesses as to who the lead character around here might be. The fearsome (in this case cheerfully grinning) gorilla has turned up in a fair number of slots by now.
Visually, there is little doubt that the developers have allowed themselves to be inspired by NetEnt's smash hit Jungle Spirit. Even the name, Jungle Gorilla, hearkens back to NetEnt’s classic slot. Coincidence? Maybe, maybe not. Only a few spins are all it takes for the two slots to quickly diverge though. Putting its trust into one solitary feature to keep players entertained, Jungle Gorilla is far more rudimentary.
Playable from 20 p/c to $/€100 per spin, Pragmatic Play has set Jungle Gorilla up using 5 reels and 3 rows, crossed by 20 fixed paylines. It’s an attractive game set deep in a lush rain forest full of ruins, animated butterflies, and falling leaves. The soundtrack is nice too, made up of a soothing African synth track overlaid by natural sounds of the jungle. You could almost use it for a relaxation/mediation practice to the clear the mind and draw in positive vibes from the universe if you’re into that sort of thing. It definitely wouldn’t be out of place in a crystal shop.
As usual from Pragmatic Play, and rather handy this too, volatility is clearly displayed, so players know exactly what they are signing up for. In the case of Jungle Gorilla, the 3/5 rating puts it in the medium spectrum of things whilst the default RTP is decent enough without being a standout on 96.57% - so no complaints there.
The paytable includes 10 regular pay symbols, a golden gorilla scatter, plus a wild. Pay symbols start with stone J-A icons draped in ivy, followed by chameleons, parrots, elephants, tigers, and gorillas. This is a game that relies heavily on multipliers, so payline values are modest. When it comes to premiums, a line of five ranges from 2x for the chameleons, up to 4.5x for the gorillas. There is a wild included in the package as well which substitutes for anything except the scatter. It also gets a boost from the game’s feature so let’s take a look at it.
It feels like we’ve been saying this a lot recently, but there aren’t a whole lot of features in Jungle Gorilla. In fact, there is only one which Pragmatic Play hasn’t even bothered to name. Let’s call it, the wild multiplier feature. Here's how it works:
Above each reel is a progressive multiplier that begins on x1. Whenever one of the golden gorilla scatter symbols lands, it flicks upwards, increasing its respective reel multiplier by +1. These multipliers don’t rise forever though; each one is capped at x5 – even if a ton of gorilla scatters appear before it is used.
Whenever a wild hits as part of a win, the respective reel multiplier is assigned to the symbol. If there is more than one wild multiplier on a win line, then their values are multiplied together rather than added. After the win is awarded, any used reel multipliers are reset back to x1. Moving to a new bet level starts the multipliers on x1, but any progress made will be saved when switching between the bet levels.
Playing Jungle Gorilla caused several older slots to flashback. Another NetEnt one, Gorilla Kingdom, also came to mind after a few spins. Of course, much of it due to the Harambe lookalike leading the action. Also, the scatters floating around Jungle Gorilla are reminiscent of Gorilla Kingdom’s bonus game. There, the two completely end in comparison though. Jungle Gorilla is the more basic slot which is no doubt Pragmatic Play’s point as it's been designed for those who like to fire and forget, sit back and watch the scatters fly.
The feature itself has merits, but is it missing something? Maybe a bonus round where the multipliers weren’t capped at x5? Sometimes you get an x5 on a reel that sits through a stack of spins, being battered by extra scatters that add nothing. Imagine if it could rack up an impressive multiplier while you waited, to be unleashed for a solid win.
There were positive moments when the odd 100 to 250x hit would appear out of nowhere. However, a lot of the time testing felt like a relentless downward slide into bankroll oblivion. ‘Be fickle, fortune’, said Juliet, and satisfying rewards can be found in Jungle Gorilla. Single line wins are capped at 500x while Pragmatic Play quotes overall potential of up to 2,800 times the stake. An ok figure when you consider what you have to work with.
If you are going to play Jungle Gorilla, then it might be best done so at a slow pace. That way you can savour the build-up of multipliers and the tingling anticipation of waiting for them to be used. On the other hand, if you’re the kind of player who wants to get on with things, or prefers more sophistication, then steer a wide berth around Jungle Gorilla.
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