Fruit Machine Simulator

Copyright : Codemasters | Reviewed by : Malc Jennings

Codemasters branching out into new games after the Dizzy series, this time they bring the arcade thrills and spills of the Fruit Machine into your bedroom - with only one downside, you don?t get any money out of this one.

There isn?t really a story for this game other than you have been shoved in front of one of the meanest fruit machines in the arcade and have been challenged to beat the high-scores already in memory and get a little extra pocket money...although you?ll spend a lot more than you get back and that?s a promise.

After the amazing Fruit Machine game that was given free with many of the Amstrad systems by Amsoft (part of Amstrad Consumer Electronics) can Fruit Machine Simulator beat it or is it just the same game with smarter graphics? read on to find out.

Graphics

I am sure that if you actually owned an Amstrad CPC at some time in your life you will have played the Amsoft Fruit Machine game that was given away free, well this Codemasters game isn?t much better and was coded at a much later date.

The graphics have obviously been given a new arcadey look with lots of flashing lights around the screen instead of just popping up when something interesting happened. You can visually see how much money you and the other player (if in 2 player mode) are wininng which is something that is new to this kind of game on the Amstrad. The fruits on the reals have been drawn better and the way in which they rotate is also visually stunning in comparison to the Amsoft version.

Sound

The sound is a bit of a let down, okay you get the occasional bit of sampled speach such as "Codemasters" and "Cash Bash" but that isn?t going to entertain you for long. The reals make a sound when they spin (something that again was missing from Amsofts version) but the sounds when you win something or have a chance of winning something just don?t seem to be as catchy and feel good as the Amsoft version.

Gameplay

Gameplay is just the same as all of the Fruit Machine games you can get simply press space to spin the reals and watch for any further instructions on the game screen. In my opinion however the Codemasters version isn?t as addictive as the original Amsoft Fruit Machine and I?m sure you think the same when you compare them.