Candy Rush Wilds 2

Candy Rush Wilds 2 Review

It’s rare to see the legendary Microgaming, a pioneer in the iGaming industry, release a new slot game these days. For that reason, we pay extra attention whenever something new comes along from the old veteran. Candy Rush Wilds 2 follows relatively closely in the footsteps of its predecessor, Candy Rush Wilds, but with more sweets added to the backdrop and a more intricate candy machine framing the 6x6 grid.

You start by choosing your bet level between €0.1 and €50 per spin, which should cater to most types of players. You win by landing 5 to 15+ matching symbols in a cluster anywhere on the grid, and 15+ wins award between 3x and 500x your stake. On the lower end, a 5-symbol cluster win awards between 0.1x to 1x your stake. Wild symbols substitute for pay symbols to help you out in all stages, and winning symbols are removed and collected.

Candy Rush Wilds 2 Slot - Reels Screen

The Candy Meter collects the winning symbols, awarding up to 3 different modifiers as you progress up the meter. These modifiers include symbol removal and added wilds, further fuelling your cascading winning streak to potentially trigger the bonus round. This happens when you fill the Candy Meter by collecting enough winning symbols, awarding a random amount of free spins between 10 and 15.

You can choose between 3 different spin speeds in Candy Rush Wilds 2 slot, and this is a medium to high volatility release from Microgaming. You can expect frequent lengthy cascades with plenty of modifier action in the base game, but the progressive multiplier meter in the bonus round is less forgiving and does reset between cascading sequences. While the RTP is undisclosed, the max win is 5,000x your stake.

Candy Rush Wilds 2 Features

You can look forward to cascading cluster pays action in Candy Rush Wilds 2 Microgaming, but not quite in the way you may be used to. The Candy Meter modifiers will help you fill it, triggering the bonus round. Let’s now explore how it all works!

Cluster Pays Win Mechanic

In this game, Cluster Pays does not only refer to wins being formed by clusters of matching symbols anywhere on the grid. It’s also the name of this game’s unique version of the common Cascading Wins mechanic.

Winning symbols are removed as usual, but new symbols will be pulled in either from the top or bottom of the grid. The direction is indicated by the arrows that show up on the empty positions. This direction of the arrows seems to be random each time, but nothing is mentioned about this in the paytable of the game.

Wild Symbols

The swirling lolli Wild Symbol substitutes for any pay symbol to help complete or improve cluster wins. Wild symbols do not land organically in Candy Rush Wilds 2, but can be added from one of the Candy Meter modifiers we’ll take a closer look at below.

Candy Meter

Winning symbols are collected in the Candy Meter seen on the left-hand side. The aim is to fill the meter all the way to the top, which triggers the bonus round. There are 3 candy icons on the way that each trigger a unique modifier as follows:

• Rocket Candy - removes a random bunch of symbols.
• Swirling Lolli - adds wild symbols to random positions.
• Firework Candy - removes random symbol rows with no wilds.

Candy Rush Wilds 2 Free Spins

Filling the Candy Meter triggers the Bonus Round in Candy Rush Wilds 2, awarding 10 to 15 free spins randomly. The Candy Meter is then replaced by a Multiplier Trail with multipliers ranging from x1 to x10. The multiplier increases progressively per consecutive cascading win, with only the final multiplier being applied to your total win.

If you manage to land 7 consecutive cascading wins, which fills the meter, the multiplier trail is upgraded with multipliers ranging from x2 to x15. If you do this a second time, you get the best possible multiplier range of x3 to x20. Each multiplier trail upgrade also awards +2 extra free spins, meaning +4 extra spins in total are the most you can get in this feature.

Candy Rush Wilds 2 Bonus Buy (not UK)

Eligible players can purchase the bonus round for 50x the stake, awarding 10 to 15 free spins randomly. Alternatively, you can pay 80x your stake to get between 16 and 20 free spins. Both options take you directly into the bonus round with no triggering spin.

Theme & Graphics

The candy landscape backdrop from the original game has been replaced by a table full of sweets in Candy Rush Wilds 2, with the candy machine now featuring a semi-transparent glass cover over the two inactive top and bottom rows. The 6x6 grid is filled with a colorful mix of sweets moving down the assembly line as winning symbols are collected in the Candy Meter. A simple, repetitive tune sets a lighthearted atmosphere as escalating sound effects accompany the accumulating wins.

Pros and Cons of Candy Rush Wilds 2

Our Verdict

While the original game offered cleaner visuals without too many distractions, Candy Rush Wilds 2 takes a while longer to settle into in that regard. The table filled with all sorts of delicious candy can make your mouth water, while the intricacies of the candy machine take some getting used to as well. All in all, I prefer the visual presentation of this follow-up, although I have to admit that the candy theme is generally not among my favorites.

I found the soundtrack to be a bit annoying after a while and was even more annoyed by the fact that you must sacrifice the sound effects to avoid hearing that repetitive tune. This may be a minor detail, but Microgaming is a veteran provider that should know better by now. Also, having 3 different spin speed options to choose from is great, but in Candy Rush Wilds 2, the difference between the 3 options isn’t massive. Still, the game flows more smoothly with the turbo maxed out.

There is a huge drop from wins of 15 matching symbols and below, with the top-tier symbol awarding 500x for 15+ and 50x for 12+ in a cluster. Again, not a big deal as such. However, when playing this game you will notice that landing plenty of consecutive wins seldom leads to substantial payouts. The good news is that you get tons of base game modifier action, and filling the Candy Meter didn’t seem all that challenging during my test session.

However, filling the Multiplier Meter during the bonus round turned out to be a lot harder than expected. I seldom got above an x2 multiplier to boost my wins, and upgrading the multiplier meter is probably a fairly rare event given the larger win that precedes it. I also missed the modifier action and the lengthy cascades during the bonus round, making the supposed highlight feel like an anti-climax most of the time. While the 5,000x max win is certainly achievable, the low-priced bonus buy options reveal the average returns you can expect.