Easter Island 2

Overview Easter Island 2 slot

Easter Island 2 is the latest slot from Yggdrasil Gaming and the first thing that you will notice is that the Moai statues are back in their very own sequel and they are also on holiday. Sticking with the Pacific Ocean theme the statues have travelled from their hometown on Easter Island to a beach in California which is a well-known spot for posing, skating, flexing, and entertaining. This is the perfect location for the two goofy Moai statues to chill and relax as they give players re-spins, expanding reels and colossal blocks in this light-hearted slot that does not take anything too seriously.

You may think it is rather strange that the Moai statues are back in their very own sequel and that this time they are on holiday. Sticking to the Pacific Ocean, they have travelled from their hometown of Easter Island to Venice Beach, California, which is a spot that is famous for letting people be themselves. It is weird though that these two who already live by the sea choose to go to the beach to spend their time off. However, whatever their reasoning these two stones have sat on the sand beside the six-reel, four-row gaming area.

If you have played the original slot you will know that they are not passive bystanders, far from it! The duo are rather loud and make it their aim to get involved in most of the action that happens on the reels. As this slot expands all over, adding rows, popping big symbols and whatnot Easter Island too gives the development team a particularly good excuse to show off their superb animation talents.

Theme & Symbols

As stated above the slot takes place on a beautiful sandy beach as did the first slot in this series, but this slot is far more refined and has a more populated beach background. When it comes to the symbols there are nine regulars on hand to create winning combinations. The low paying symbols are the card suits clubs, diamonds, hearts, and spades with the higher paying symbols being created from 5 different critters. The other symbol comes in the form of the wild and this will only show up in the re-spins to substitute for other symbols to create winning combinations.

Game Play

It would be fair to say that the first Easter Island slot was not a huge hit however if you have played it you will notice that there is an extra reel included in this slot. Even though there is the extra space, the pay lines have dropped a little and are now 25, and when the rows expand you will see that there are less than before. The volatility has gone up a little and Easter Island too is not a high-performance vehicle. However, if it sounds tempting there is a wide range of bet stakes available starting from just 25p per spin to £300 per spin and this slot can be played on all devices.

The low volatility scene in the original Easter Island has gone up to a medium setting in this slot and this matches the rest of the game. The aim for players is to kick back and have a laugh rather than relying on immense sums of cash coming in. The win length count is important and the longer the combinations the better the features. It is this dynamic that contributes to a reduced hit frequency which stands at 16.3% and the return to player is 96%. You do need to be patient with this slot and dry spells will be worth it when the extra parts of the slot kick in.

Features

The features have been upgraded from the first slot however not much has changed. The symbol swap re-spins are still the central mechanic, and this is joined by colossal blocks and expanding reels.

Symbol Swap Re-spins will activate when you land any winning combination and award a re-spin. If the winning combination is made up of low paying symbols the winning symbol type will replace all the other low players on the reels for the re-spin. The same happens if you land a high winning symbol. Even if you land another win you will only ever get one re-spin from this feature.

If your win is made up of more than 3 symbols, the colossal symbol blocks are awarded as well as the symbol swap re-spin. If you land 4, 5, or six of a kind wins, the game will merge the reels and award you with a 2x2, 3x3, or 4x4, sized colossal block starting from your second reel and these colossal box blocks can be wild.

Finally, if your winning combination is made up of six of a kind the expanding reels are also activated. You will see that the game board will blow up to a 6x8 size before playing out the two features that are covered above and at this point you will have 55 pay lines active.

Conclusion

Easter Island 2 is a decent follow up to Easter Island which was an unusual concept. The Moai statues have appeared in slots before however they are not as personified as they are in this game. Regardless of your opinion on the game there is some excellent creative thinking, and the Yggdrasil Gaming design team have showed that they have the skill to pull this off by adding animations and sound and using some truly vivid colours. Some players may find this slot a little too wacky and to be fair it would have helped if there was an off switch for the two chattering statues!

On the other hand, the way everything has been squeezed into this slot could really appeal. This small theme gets a small math model, and the features are more sparkle than substance. This slot is aimed at players that prefer a light approach and they will enjoy the fun-loving attitude that can become infectious.

As well as the changes behind the scenes the two statues are a fair test and you will soon see whether you are going to enjoy this slot, as they laugh a lot although the wittering can really annoy you. They do provide humour and personality, but they can be rather annoying. If the thought of two innominate objects chattering away on every action of the game does not do it for you, then this slot will not be for you. On a positive note, the statues do add a social aspect of sorts, and provide you with some company while spinning for those big wins.

It is rather a shame that the glory is limited to 2,500x the stake, and this is not a terrible figure and it really suits the slot. If you were to weigh up the math model, mood, and maximum win, everything comes together to create a balanced slot. Easter Island 2 may not be high rollers dream but it is not hard to see casual players enjoying the constant goings on. Remember this is Venice beach and a place where no one cares what other people think.