Jack Hammer 2 slot hits the nail on the head

Jack Hammer 2 at Mr Green

The original Jack Hammer would probably make most casino lovers’ list of the 10 most famous slots ever made. With its comic book-like graphics, storylines involving underworld crime bosses and eponymous hero, it’s a real staple of the online casino. So, there were wild celebrations in the streets (ok, that might be pushing it a bit) when NetEnt decided to release this sequel. There’s a new nemesis in town for the brave hero to bring to justice with the evil Dr Wuten being replaced this time round by Don Crabby who, for no particularly good reason, has lobster claws for hands. It helps to explain why the full title of the game is Jack Hammer 2: Fishy Business and is also the reason why there will be some fish-related puns in our review of this game.

How to play Jack Hammer 2

Fighting crime is hard work but playing a slot about it, less so. All you need to do is decide how much you want to play for: each spin will cost you between £0.50 and £250, allowing both the recreational slot lover and the more deep-pocketed amongst players the chance to choose the stake that best suits their style. Or bank balance, if you want to be precise. Selecting the stake is just a case of clicking up and down on the Level (1-10) and Coin Value (0.01- 0.50) till reaching the desired amount.

As is the case with any NetEnt slot, you have the chance to cut to the chase by clicking on the Max Bet button, triggering the big £250 bet. You can also play a pre-determined number of spins in auto-play.

Jack Hammer 2 Features

It’s a 5x3 reel slot but look closely and you’ll see that there’s ‘something fishy’ going on each time you spin because the reels don’t spin the same way as they do on other slots. Rather, each icon/box moves separately from all the others rather than in sync with the other icons on the same reel. In practical terms, it doesn’t make any real difference to your chances. Rather, it’s just a quirk of the slot. There are always 99 active paylines (which can’t be altered), providing plenty of different ways to win.

If there was a prize for providing some of the funniest and most creative symbols, Jack Hammer 2 would be disappointed to not walk away with a podium finish, at worst. We know about Jack, his green suit and plastered nose but that’s nothing compared to Don Crabby himself. Aside from his claws which wouldn’t look out of place on a fancy seafood restaurant’s list of specials, there’s a big fat cigar in his mouth and a gold walking cane worthy of the most ruthless mafioso boss around. Jack Hammer is the ‘big fish’ in terms of payouts (five Jacks win you 500x your bet) with Don Crabby the next most valuable symbol. Then there’s Jack’s bleach-blonde love interest Pearl, Crabby’s ‘assistants’ called the Goons, an abandoned boat, a snapshot of Pearl being kidnapped in a speedboat and a couple of other lower-value symbols. The best of which is a machine gun case with a crab for company.

Jack Hammer 2 Wild symbol

The base game features a Wild symbol. It says ‘Wild’ in big, bold yellow letters and you simply can’t miss it. It’s very much in the typical Jack Hammer design and by that we mean that it looks very much like something out of a comic book.

As any seasoned slot player will have suspected by now, it substitutes for any symbol other than the Scatter.

Things work a bit differently during the free spins round. In addition to the regular Wild, there are also guest appearances from two separate Random Wilds during this bonus feature.
As the name suggests, they appear randomly and will substitute for all symbols except the regular Wild symbol and the Free Spins symbol.

For the record, one of them is Jack’s clenched fist and the other is Don Crabby’s now-famous claw. Clearly, the Random Wilds are very ‘hands-on’ during this round.

Jack Hammer 2 Bonus Features

There are two bonus features to speak of. Let’s see how they can help you ‘reel in’ those big wins.

Sticky Wilds
Jack Hammer was possibly the first slot to have this feature. No need to call the lawyers if it wasn’t, we just think it was. What happens here is that all the symbols making up a win (including any Wilds) will remain in place for a re-spin of all the other symbols. Any additional symbols that help secure an even bigger win will stay locked in place as well for yet another re-spin and the process continues for as long as new winning symbols keep showing up. This could continue until the whole screen is filled with the same symbol, or that symbol plus Wilds.

Free Spins
The Free Spin symbol that looks like an electrocuted eel, is no red herring. Rather, it’s what would in other slots be called the Scatter, having the job of activating the fee spins round.
In this game you need five of them to activate the free spins feature rather than the usual three but then again, they appear a lot more frequently than in other games. Eight symbols get you 20 free spins, seven give you 16, six get you 13 and five award you the minimum amount of 10 free spins. All wins in this round are doubled and you can win extra free spins by the usual method of getting additional Scatter symbols. During this bonus round, there are two Random Wild symbols in play which substitute for all symbols, except the regular Wild and Free Spins/Scatter symbols. The free spins work the same way as the base game, including having the Sticky Wins in action.

Mechanics of Jack Hammer 2

No Gangster-related story is complete without a dodgy accountant in there somewhere but we’ll have to wait and see if there’s one here. And speaking of numbers…

Max Win (£): 125,000

Max win (coins): 500

Max Bet (£): 250

Min Bet (£): 0.50

Return to player: 97.1%

Volatility: Medium.

Free Play available: Yes

If you want to take Jack Hammer, Don Crabby, lounge singer Pearl and all these other colourful characters around with you, you can. You can play the slot on the smartphone or tablet of your choice, as well as on desktop or on a laptop, of course.

Final conclusion

This is a high-quality slot that ticks the boxes of having a cool storyline, great symbols, being beautifully designed, boasting two good bonus features and an above-average RTP. Above all, the humorous element to it all, Don Crabby being a prime example, make it stand out from what else is out there.

Making sequels that bring something new to the table while not losing any of the appeal of the original is as hard as bringing an underworld boss to justice; but NetEnt have certainly pulled it off here.