Give your opponents the chop in arcade slice-em-up Fruit Ninja Fight

Fruit Ninja is right up there with Angry Birds as part of the first major wave of modern smartphone hits. And the core formula hasn’t changed over the years, despite a Kinect entry and a VR spin-off.

This week sees the launch of Fruit Ninja Fight on Android, and it makes for an interesting (but not unexpected) new direction for the franchise.

Instead of solitary play, the title has you hopping online to play one on one against players from around the world. And the gameplay is pretty straightforward for the most part, as you compete to slice more fruit than your opponent (while avoiding the red fruit).

The title also offers several powerups, such as enlarging your own fruit and creating a whirlwind to gather all your fruit in one area. And yes, lootboxes are a prominent feature here, doling out virtual currency and more powerups. Naturally, the aforementioned virtual currency can also be purchased with real-world cash.

Fruit Ninja Fight has so far soft-launched in Australia and New Zealand but developer Halfbrick reckons that a wider launch is “coming soon.” We’ll let you know when it pops up elsewhere.