As you’d expect given the theme, there’s a rather light-hearted look to the visuals in Banana Odyssey. Those visuals are very nicely done though. Set against a star-filled backdrop you’ll see A to J symbols alongside jars of astro nuts, a ray gun and the 2 astrochimps, Buck and Chip. These are the joint top payers. Land 3, 4 or 5 of them on a payline and you’ll receive an award of 1.2, 3 or 10 times your total stake.
The earth symbol is the wild. This replaces all the standard symbols. It’s also central to much of the best action on offer in Banana Odyssey. The earth wild can land on reels 2, 3 and 4 only. When it does, it expands to turn the whole of that reel wild – this is called the Expanding Wilds feature.
Furthermore, it will trigger the Respin feature - the stacked wild then locks in place and a respin is awarded. If another wild lands on another reel, then it too turns wild and another respin follows. The prefect scenario is to land a respin with all 3 of the middle reels totally wild.
Finally, there’s a Free Spins feature which is played when the free spins scatter lands on reel 2, 3 and 4 only. If you see 3 of them on the same spin, you’ll trigger the feature round. You’ll first receive a payout equal to your total stake before receiving 10 free spins. Once again, the wilds can appear on the middle 3 reels only. This time they don’t award a respin. Instead, the wild expands as normal but locks in position for any free spins you have left.
We liked Banana Odyssey more than we expected to. The cartoon visuals are neat and tidy and the respins, free spins and stacked wilds combine to very playable effect. Saying that, you can only win 400 times your stake per spin, respin or free spin.
The rather slapstick theme might not be to all tastes but the features make the medium variance Banana Odyssey worth a look. I would rather play other Microgaming titles that offer bigger potential wins – you cannot go wrong with Immortal Romance or Game of Thrones.