Thank you Banana Bird Studios for providing us with a review code!

Sometimes as we grow older, we may lose that sense of magic due to a multitude of reasons. Luckily, there still exist people who try and keep that sense of wonder. Let us join developer Banana Bird Studios on a trip to a magical place called Beasts of Maravilla Island.

Marina Montez finds herself on Maravilla Island because she received a note and journal from her grandfather that the magic of the island is waning. Her grandfather also seems to be missing, so not only is she there to find out how to restore the magic, but also find out the fate of Grandpa Montez. She arrives on the island with only her wits, her camera, and the journal from her grandfather.

The main objective of BoMI is to take pictures of all the strange and fantastical creatures that inhabit the island.  There are gembugs, bugs that look like diamonds and other gems. Funny monkeys that even have the ability to fly. Banana birds, just like the studio name! There are dozens of creatures and plants to find across three areas and each area looks very distinct from one another. The usage of colors and lighting are done very well despite the simple graphical texture of the models. I like the designs of all the animals and plants because they feel like they all could exist in the real world. The areas are very impressive to look at and have a good sense of scale. 

Marina walks around the linear island in a 3D space, being able to move back and forth between areas. She moves along at a steady pace, with her camera in hand. Her camera has many options such as zooming in and out, elevation options and a selfie feature. Every creature that can be recorded in the journal can have twenty pictures saved. The first picture taken is put as the default in the journal, but you can swap it out with any photos taken at any time. The camera features control nicely, with a gamepad feeling slightly more natural than the keyboard and mouse. Ironically enough, the camera used to control the character feels kinda slugglish. A Band-Aid fix exists with holding a button while moving the camera to move faster, but at that point, it should have just been an adjustable options setting.

Some of the context-sensitive moments are a little wonky, such as when Marina needs to hop across lily pads or climb a beanstalk. It requires a bit too much precision or the controls are too sensitive. For example, walking past a beanstalk can have her latch on to it when she isn’t even close or that Marina needs to be angled a certain way to hop on a pad. I think for a better feel, it should be more of a button press within a specific area instead of it mostly being automatic.

BoMI manages to have voice acting in it, although only in certain parts. Marina and her grandfather have voices in the beginning and ending narrative, and Marina has moments where she says one or two words during certain dialogue. The various animals also make sounds too, with a soothing soundtrack to accompany them. The sound and music direction overall manages to be pretty solid.

Although I didn’t come across any bugs or glitches, there are moments in which a certain filter is displayed when the field-of-view camera clips into scenery. There are these small squares that appear on the screen. It may not affect everyone, but it did give me a slight headache due to how jarring the visuals are and how often it happened.

When traveling through Maravilla Island, there are some puzzles such as getting certain plants to grow to open up a little path, or having the main objective of interacting with the special animal of the area do specific tasks such as singing or playing. The moments do a nice job in showing off the intricacies of the island, but they can be very handholdy at times, as Marina more or less spells out the solution for most of them. That aspect did leave me somewhat disappointed, but I can be partially forgiving if the target audience are young children.

In spite of the flaws, I enjoyed my time with Beasts of Maravilla Island because I was a little saddened that it was over so quickly. I wanted to experience more of the crazy animals and environment, but it might be a good thing that it was only an hour and a half long as the simple nature could have gotten repetitive if it was longer. In terms of moral warnings, the only noticeable one is that Marina and her grandfather keep talking about how the island is magic, and there are at least a few animals such as the island spirit deer-like creature you see multiple times throughout that can attest to that. The appeal of taking pictures may not be an activity for everyone, but if a short, sweet, and relaxing time exploring an island taking many pictures of fantasy nature sounds appealing, BoMI is an afternoon or evening well spent.