Fruit Ninja (Free) is one of those platform-defining games and it put long-time Australian developer Halfbrick on the map in a big way. It was just about as perfect a mobile game as you can get. Short gaming sessions, intuitive touchscreen slicing controls, and colorful visuals made Fruit Ninja an immediate and long-lasting success. However, after years atop the iTunes charts Fruit Ninja was struggling to keep people interested in the face of a constant deluge of new games.
One way Halfbrick tried to keep things fresh (and earn a little extra income from their dollar game) was by adding a premium currency in 2012 called Starfruit alongside new characters Gutsu and Truffles who were there to sell various types of power-ups. The idea of power-ups was kind of cool but it muddied up what was once such a simple and pure experience and, even worse, long-time players felt alienated by an IAP currency being added to their beloved game.
That changes today with Fruit Ninja’s newest update which removes the premium Starfruit currency and streamlines the whole experience closer to how it was back in the day. That doesn’t mean there’s zero IAP now, you can still buy a pack of power-ups for a buck or some specialty blades like the Chainsaw, but the in-game currency system is no more. Power-ups can also be earned by completing missions or watching a video ad. In addition, the level cap has now been raised to 100, and whatever Starfruit or Golden Apples you had in your inventory pre-update will be turned into experience and go towards leveling you up.
The cool thing about all this is that if you liked the way things were before, it sounds like everything is pretty much staying the way it was in Fruit Ninja Free (Free). In fact both games recognize my profile separately, which means I keep all that in-game currency I had before when playing the free version. Also, the free version still contains the 5th anniversary tournament and mini-games which were removed with this update in the paid version. I don’t know if that’ll be permanent or not, but effectively I feel like I have two quite different versions of Fruit Ninja now, which is pretty neat.
So if you were turned off by Fruit Ninja’s changes over the past few years, it’s worth checking out this latest update as it really feels like a return to form. Also be sure to check out Fruit Ninja Free even if you already own the paid version as it really feels like its own thing now.
