Hook ‘Em Up Frenzy

Hook 'Em Up Frenzy: Slot Overview

Bait 'em, hook 'em, gut 'em, or do whatever 'ems may be associated with angling in iSoftBet's fishing-themed online slot Hook 'Em Up Frenzy. The fishing slot movement has gone way past a shock by this point to become an utterly commonplace occurrence. Every other studio and its dogfish feels like it has one in the cupboard these days, and here's a new one to whet the whistle of armchair anglers. The word new is used somewhat lightly, though, as iSoftBet has cloned one of its previous slots, Euphoria, to provide the non-skin side of things in Hook 'Em Up Frenzy. So, from the far reaches of the galaxy to the bottom of a bayou, feel free to join us and see how the transition from cosmos to cod has fared.

Whilst Euphoria was something of an etheric game, Hook 'Em Up Frenzy sits at the opposite end of the spectrum from a thematic perspective. Its epic banjo and fiddle track hit first, like a serving of extra spicy Frito pie, and when combined with the murky, swampy setting, Hook 'Em Up Frenzy could not feel more down to earth. Interestingly, Hook 'Em Up Frenzy does not have the money symbol collect action, which is typically associated with a lot of these sorts of games. However, its good wholesome vibes do an excellent job of getting you in the mood for metaphorically pulling a couple of steelheads out of the river, frying them up, and enjoying them on a porch somewhere with a mountain view.

Behind the waving weeds of this underwater realm sits a semi-transparent 5-reel, 3-row game panel with 243 ways to win. This occurs when identical pay symbols hit, left to right, on consecutive reels starting from the leftmost reel. The statistics in Euphoria appear to be the same ones produced in Hook 'Em Up Frenzy. This means a highly volatile math mode producing an RTP of 95.99%, rising to 96.97% when buying free spins. Available on all devices, bets can be set from 30 p/c to £/€30 per spin.

Moving attention to the pay symbols, we find J-A royals making up the lower pays, then snails, floats, tackle boxes, seagulls, and fish as the higher paying group. Landing a five-of-a-kind winning way awards a payout of 0.3-0.4x for the card symbols and 0.5-4x the bet for the premium symbols. Two wild symbols appear in Hook 'Em Up Frenzy. One is the boat wild, the other the Wild Bass. Both are able to substitute for any regular pay symbol to help complete winning ways, but the Wild Bass also activates multipliers, covered next.

Hook 'Em Up Frenzy: Slot Features

Multipliers are Hook 'Em Up Frenzy's key weapon and show up during Go Fishin' Spins and free spins; the latter can be triggered naturally or bought in some instances.

Go Fishin' Spins

Go Fishin' Spins can trigger randomly on any main game spin. When it is active, up to 3 Wild Bass symbols can land. Any Wild Bass symbol in view activates a multiplier on its respective reel of x2 or x3. These multipliers are multiplied together to form the win multiplier (up to x27), which is applied to any winning way on the current spin.

Free Spins

Landing 3 bonus symbols on reels 1, 3, and 5 triggers 8 free spins. In free spins, the multipliers above reels are persistent until the feature ends. Landing the first Wild Bass on a reel adds an x2 multiplier to it; landing the second one makes it an x3 which is as high as it can go. Multipliers multiply each other up to a maximum of x243. Should Wild Bass symbols land on all five reels, an additional 5 free spins are awarded. On a final note, where available, players may buy access to the bonus round for the cost of 100x the bet.

Hook 'Em Up Frenzy: Slot Verdict

When pondering iSoftBet, the mind often wanders to Hold&Win or Megaways games, but the studio has also displayed a repeated interest in the aquatic side of life. The team has waded through games like Crabbin' Crazy, Ocean Hunter, and Fishin' for Gold to varying degrees of success and has now added another piscine-related number called Hook 'Em Up Frenzy to the pile. As noted, Hook 'Em Up Frenzy is a bit different to a lot of fishing games as it shuns any sort of collection system in favour of a multiplicative multiplier one.

Using this system means it's harder to pretend to be hauling in fish, which some armchair anglers might find a bummer. iSoftBet has chainsawed any potential ties with Fishin' Frenzy, the granddaddy of the genre, which may be as attractive to some as it is off-putting for others. In its place, the studio has simply rehashed one of its previous games, so what appears in place of a collect action isn't exactly a hotbed of innovation. But, like its forebear, the multiplier mechanic can be exhilarating when it's firing and, if it's the same as Euphoria, good for wins potentially as high as 20,000x the bet. Although the max win claim is a bit questionable and should be taken with a grain of salt, in the realm of fishing-themed slots that's a massive number, putting it in the same sort of ballpark as competitors like Golden Catch or 4 Fantastic Fish while providing a different gaming experience.

In the end, the transition from space slot to fishing slot is about as seamless as you could ask for, and the features have just as much ability to pop. The laid-back Southern-style setting has been deftly executed, so if fishing's your thing, then the same level of entertainment available in Euphoria can potentially be found in Hook 'Em Up Frenzy, too.