Island Saver Review

Introduction to island saver
Island saver is a first-person shooter but not in the normal sense. You do fight enemies with your gun but it is not the main goal in this game.
The main goal is to save the islands that have been polluted by the litterbugs. These nasty creatures have polluted the islands in extreme ways with plastic, glass, metal cans, and more.
On your journey to save the islands, you will meet many friends who will help you. You can use your gun to suck up water and clean the goop off the trees. You can recycle the other trash by sucking the plastic up and put it in the recycling bin. Later on, you can do the same with metal cans and glass. When you have cleaned enough goop and trash in the area, animals will appear. It is your task to help the animals get food and simultaneously clean the whole area. On the magical islands, you are saving you don’t have to worry about buying groceries for the animals. Even meat grows on the trees on the islands. Every time the animal eats they grow a little. When they are full you can suck doubloons out of them. The animals are called bankimals but in the story part of the review, I will just call them animals. When you have cleaned the whole area, the animals will come to aid you and create a way for you to reach the next area on the island.
This game is fun for all ages; island savers can teach your child to handle money and recycle. If you are an adult this game is too cute not to play.

Spoilers!

The story

Sandy Island
You start your adventure by going to Sandy island, full of beautiful beaches and lovely beach animals. Many litterbugs have been here and the island has become very dirty.
When you arrive at the sandy island you learn how bad the damage is. You will have a guide in the form of a parrot called Kiwi he helps you along the way.
After cleaning the first area of the sandy island the crabs will help you by creating a bridge. You can now reach a new area that you need to clean. In the progress of cleaning new animals will appear. These snails are very happy.
You find a bank where you can deposit doubloons. You need to enter a pin code that you need to remember throughout the whole game to access your doubloons. After clearing the second area you should have collected enough doubloons to pay for access to the new area.
While cleaning the third area, new animals come back out of hiding. The anteaters and red pandas are very happy that you started cleaning their area. There will also be a couple more crabs here!
In this third area, you will learn about taxes. When you collect ten doubloons the tax robot will come and take one of these doubloons. From now on every time you collect ten or more doubloons the tax robot will come to collect one of the doubloons.
While cleaning the third area the litterbugs will appear for the first time! You will need to fight them with water before they explode and make the area dirty again. When you are done cleaning the third area, you can continue your journey to a fourth area. You need to pay to access this new area.

One of the apex animals lives here. The apex animals need to be fed in a different way. First, you need to buy a seed in the online Pigby store. The seed will be delivered with a delivery bot. Next, you will learn that you need to water the plant before it grows the favorite meal of the apex animal. From now on you can buy seeds when you need to plant a seed. This is not only for the apex animals but also to complete multiple areas.
After both plants have been fully grown the rhino will return. You will need to shoot the food into his mouth to gain his trust. After befriending the rhino, you will be able to ride on him. Now you can reach the other areas on the sandy island that still need cleaning.
There are also secret areas that you can now access with the rhino’s help. When you get to the new area you immediately notice how dirty the area is, start cleaning! There will be more crabs here that need saving. There will also be new animals to save in this fifth area, like the turtle and the chameleon. From now on in most new areas there will be litterbugs to halt your progress. When you have cleaned everything in the fifth area the turtles will aid you in getting to the silver key. The lock can actually talk! After going through the gate you see that this area is bigger than the areas you have been to before. In this area, you can save the hippo, capybara, and more chameleons. In this area, you will learn a new way to earn doubloons. Pigby has set up a fruit stall. You can collect excess food that the animals don’t need and deposit the food into the machine next to Pigby. For every food that you insert you will get one doubloon.

When the whole area is cleared, the hippos will come to your aid and create a path to a second silver key.  You are now able to reach a new area. In this new area, you can save the warthogs, tree frogs, and crocodiles. Luckily the steaks grow on the trees so the crocodiles won’t eat you. When you have cleared the area the crocodiles will make a shortcut for you back to the third area. Remember paying those taxes? With every tax that the tax robot collected, you can gather a tax coin from the tax coin bank. You will need the tax coins to build a bridge to the next area. After you start with the cleaning of the area, the parrot will ask you for a trade. You need to collect the fruits the parrot wants to trade the seeds you need for this area. After the trade has been completed you can plant the seeds for the new animals. The new animals will come to the area when the plant has fully grown. The monkeys can be fed like normal creatures but the gorilla needs to be fed by shooting bananas into his mouth. This is to gain his trust and befriend the gorilla. After befriending the gorilla you can ride on his shoulder. There are still some crabs and snails lost. With the gorilla’s help, you can now reach the golden key that is hidden on the island. After you have collected the golden key you can reach the last area.
When you start with the cleaning of the last area another litterbug will appear. This is a mega litterbug! After this boss fights and cleaning up the mess that the mega litterbug has made, you can help the last crabs and snails. The crabs will create another path that leads to the exit of Sandy Island. You can now access Icecap Island. Throughout Sandy Island, there are 20 eggs to collect. You need to collect these eggs for the parrot. This is necessary to get a 100% completion of the sandy island.

Icecap Island
You have now reached the icecap island. You quickly learn that shooting at the red cubes with water makes ice bridges. As you enter the cold area your weapon starts to freeze. You will need an upgrade for your weapon to prevent it from freezing.
You have no money so you need to get a loan from the bank. After arranging a loan with the bank a loan shark comes towards you. Don’t trust the loan shark! He tells you: I am much cheaper, I don’t need rent. If you do trust him you will pay dearly for it. After getting the loan from the bank you can buy the upgrade for your weapon and start cleaning the first area. The new animals will come out of their shelter. The arctic crab, bison, and rockhopper penguins. One of the bison’s will help you get to the next area. You still need to pay the loan back to the bank.

When reaching the next area you will see it is split into two segments, there is no way to get to the other side yet. You will need to plant ice cream plants, nothing is impossible here.
Soon more crabs will join you shortly followed by two penguins; one comes all the way from a different country. He won’t have doubloons but he has Yen; these are not usable in this game. You are in luck! There is a money exchanger on the other side but that area is still unreachable. After cleaning all of the areas a walrus will show up. After he is fed, his friend will make a bouncy bridge for you. You can now go to the other side of this area and use the exchanger (this is explained in the gameplay section). While you are cleaning this area more penguins and crabs will appear. You can now continue to the next area with more crabs and penguins! Luckily there will also be new animals to befriend. The fox appears and likes to eat the meat from one of the growing plants. You need to make fertilizer for some of the plants to grow. When you have cleaned enough of the area and all the plants have grown, the mighty polar bear will return. After befriending him you can ride on the polar bear. The polar bear can use his sharp claws to climb ice ledges.

With the polar bear, you can reach the other side of the island, strangely enough, this is a desert. From now on you will need to use the build robot for certain recycle bins, buildings, water wells, and more. When you start cleaning the first area in the desert new animals will appear. Scorpions and armadillos will come out of hiding. When the area is cleaned the armadillos transform into toasters for you. Now you can reach the key and continue to the next area. This next large area has much dirt all over the place. Once you start cleaning this area the animals will come back quickly. Kangaroos that eat boomerangs, their food grows on trees too. Giraffes and camels will come back out of hiding. Once this area is cleaned the giraffes help you up the plateau. Now you can reach the area where you can build the bridge to continue. There are still three animals left to rescue. After paying money to enter the next area you find a jumping section, after crossing it you find the last area to clean on Icecap Island. Two ostriches come back when you have cleaned enough. You will need to work with the building robot and gather seeds before the elephant will show up. The elephant is fed by shooting food in his mouth before you will become friends. The elephant can break through walls. When you use both apex animals the polar bear and the elephant, you can reach the golden key. With the golden key, you can reach the exit and go to Eruption Island.

Eruption Island
You start on Eruption Island in a dirty area. This area will learn you that cramping trash together is not the way to clean. You need to shoot the piled up trash to break it apart so that you can recycle it. On Eruption Island a lot of the facilities have been destroyed by lava. You will need to use your building robot a lot more compared to Icecap Island. After cleaning the first area the animals will start to appear.
You will find new species foxes. There are also grizzly bears and badgers. The grizzly bears will help you to the next area but you need to pay money to continue. Take a loan at the bank and continue. There is an exchanger here for the animals that come from different countries. When cleaning this area the forest snails appear. For the squirrels to appear in this area, you will need to plant acorn bushes. After cleaning everything here the squirrels will help you cross the river. Bounce over the mushrooms and continue to the next area. You will need to barter with the parrot for lettuce seeds. Bartering for seeds will come back multiple times on Eruption Island. When the plants have been watered and the area is cleaned, the giant tortoises will appear.

You will need to use your tax tokens to create a bridge. There will be a large clearing that contains a lot of trash. When you start cleaning the tapirs come out of their shelter followed by the snails.  When you have planted all of the seeds a tiger will appear! You will need to feed him by shooting food into his mouth. Lucky for you his favorite food, ham, grows on the trees. After befriending the tiger you can ride on him to swim through the river to continue the journey and access secret areas. In the next area, you will find a stargate. This stargate will lead to the home of the litterbugs. You will get the mission to repower the stargate so that the litterbugs are able to go home. Luckily you won’t need a zero point module. You will need to collect ten normal batteries. To get these batteries you need to back up a few areas, all the way back to where the giant tortoises are.

Here you can climb up and now reach a new area. You see a giant ball of trash that you can’t destroy yet. After cleaning the area, fire scorpions and alpacas show up. After building all of the facilities with the building robot you can plant the seeds. The mountain goat will show up. He needs to be fed by shooting food into his mouth. After befriending the mountain goat you can destroy the giant trash ball with his horns. You will need tax tokens and the building robot to reach the next area. You will find a huge area with giant trash balls all over the place. After cleaning the area, the last animals will come out of their shelter. The iguanas and wolfs come out first. Shortly after that the moose’s also show up. After cleaning the whole area, the wolfs will help you reach the last area. There is no more trash left on Eruption Island but you are not finished yet. You need to use tax tokens and the building robot to reach the batteries. Being left out in the open for so long the batteries have been drained from their energy. You need to find the ten glowing statues that are scattered across Eruption Island. To charge the batteries you have to shoot one into the mouth of the statue, each statue can charge one battery. When this final task is completed you need to head back to the stargate. After using the charged batteries to turn on the stargate, the litterbugs you have been defeating throughout all the Islands, will return home. Before the litterbugs leave you will get the golden key. You can look into the stargate and see their home; you cannot visit the place since it stinks so much. You can now reach the exit and complete the journey unless you are in for one more adventure…

Dinosaur Island (DLC)
You have signed up for one more adventure and a grand adventure it will be! We will come face to face with dinosaurs. But the dinosaurs are not your biggest threat on Dinosaur Island. You will have debts to pay and litterbugs to defeat.
Doctor Newton has asked for your help in paying his debts. He cannot invent anymore since his electricity and WI-FI have been cut off. This is what happens if you don’t pay your bills. You can start by cleaning the first area, to gather doubloons for paying off Doctor Newton’s first debt.
Lovely hamburgers grow on the bushes here, after the bushes have been cleaned the compy’s will show up. The compy’s repay you with money that you can use to pay off Doctor Newton’s debt. Once you have cleaned the whole area you can continue your exploration of Dinosaur Island.
In the next area, you will find a velociraptor that has swallowed plastic. You need to save him, after you have saved him he will look for food. The plant needs to be cleaned before the food can grow. After cleaning the plants more velociraptors will show up. You will need to clean the area more before a giant T-Rex shows up.

The T-Rex is an apex animal and needs to be fed by shooting meat into his mouth. After you and the T-Rex have become friends you will need a saddle to ride him. Doctor Newton can invent the saddle for you, but there is one problem. He has the blueprints stored on the internet but he needs to pay off his debt before he gets the WI-FI back. After paying off Doctor Newton’s second debt, he will give you the saddle for free. Hooray!  With the saddle, you can ride the majestic T-Rex. The T-Rex can use a mighty roar to break the amber scattered over Dinosaur Island. With the T-Rex’s ability, you can reach the next area. Once you start cleaning here two new dinosaur species will show up. The triceratops and the ankylosaurus are here to look for food. After cleaning the area, the triceratops will help you reach the silver key. Now you can return to Doctor Newton’s lab and open the gate to a new area. You will reach a frozen lake that is also filled with trash. When you start cleaning the stegosaurus will show up, he is glad that you are cleaning the lake. The pachy’s will come back too. You will need to clean everything in this area and plant all of the seeds before the brachiosaurus will come back. When the brachiosaurus has filled his belly, he will help you reach a higher area near the lake. You find a small area that needs cleaning up and repairing. Shortly after beginning to clean this area, the smilodon will show up. The mammoth will come back out of its shelter too. Once the area is cleared the mammoth will help you cross the river.

Now you need to pay off the third debt off Doctor Newton to the Venus debt trap. Once the Venus debt trap has been paid, you will get the battery back for a robot that collects taxes. Now you can spend your tax coins to reach a new area on Dinosaur Island. There is even more trash here! Does it ever end? After you start to clean the area and rebuild, the spinosaurus will show up looking for tuna steaks. Not long after this, the Therizinosaurus will come looking for berries. After cleaning the whole area the Therizinosaurus family will help you open the door. In the next area, the pteranodon needs help after he has swallowed plastic. When you have rescued him, the pteranodon will fly around. You will need to shoot fish into the pteranodon’s mouth to befriend him. When you have befriended the pteranodon you can continue cleaning the area for the last five dinosaurs to appear. The dodos come out of their shelter. They are going to try and find their favorite food. Once the whole area has been cleaned, you can use the pteranodon to reach a new island but before you can do that you will need to get a saddle. Doctor Newton can make a pteranodon saddle but you need to pay off one more debt to the Venus debt trap.

You need to take 75 coins to the Venus debt trap and get the item requested by Doctor Newton. You give the item to Doctor Newton and he returns the favor by giving you a pteranodon saddle. Now you can ride the pteranodon.
You can now fly to the last place that you need to clean! No animals live here but when the area is cleaned, you can use tax tokens to make a bridge. Now the T-Rex can cross the bridges to open the amber. You find the golden key and reach the exit.
When you are approaching the exit, the last mega litterbug appears and eats the exit beacon. You can repair the exit beacon by collecting all of the pieces scattered on Dinosaur Island. You will need to fly the pteranodon through a course to find all the exit beacon pieces. When you have found all the pieces, you can rebuild the exit beacon. Your journey as an Island saver has ended. Who knows maybe one day the litterbugs will come back

The gameplay
Island saver is a first-person shooter game but not in the classic way of defeating demons and aliens. You will use water to clean the goop off trees and suck up plastic with your trash blaster.
There are secret areas to discover on each island including the DLC, Dinosaur Island. On the first three Islands, you will need to collect 20 secret eggs. On Dinosaur Island these are 20 secret fossils.
The bank animals carry doubloons for you to store in the bank. You will need these to pay for items in the online store in the game, for example: to purchase seeds. The goal is to clean all the areas on each Island and save all the bank animals
Every island has its own biome, from beaches to icy lands. The steam achievements can all be completed by clearing the game it is not hard to get a platinum status. You also have in-game achievements that can be completed by simply playing the game.
There are around five achievements in the game that you don’t receive for just playing the game. You need to perform a special action to get the achievements, one of them is throwing poop at a litterbug. The three islands form the main story and they do not expect you to own the DLC. The DLC is a standalone story. I recommend for you purchase the DLC if you liked the game or have a love of dinosaurs.
You will have a bankipedia that lists all the bank animals you have saved and that you need to save. They are the bank animals with a question mark. My favorite bank animal is the velociraptor from the DLC.

You start Island Savers with a tutorial where you learn how to use the trash blaster. You also learn that you can suck up the water and shoot it at goop.
When cleaning an area the enemies will appear in the form of litterbugs. You will need to shoot water at the litterbugs to defeat them. There are boss litterbugs called mega bugs. You need to shoot a lot more water at the mega bugs to defeat them.
When you suck up plastic you need to recycle it by putting the plastic in the corresponding recycling bin. There are three main kinds of trash on the islands. You have plastic, metal, and glass. They all need to be delivered into the matching recycle bin.
Many activities on the islands will earn you doubloons, including cleaning trash. When you have inserted ten of any kind into the trash bin you will be awarded a doubloon.
Cleaning the goop of a tree or decoration will also give you a doubloon. The best way to gain doubloons is by saving the bank animals. When they have eaten enough of their favorite food, you need to suck with your trash blaster at the bank animal to vacuum out the stored doubloons. You can feed the bank animals by sucking up their favorite food and shoot the food near them with the trash blaster. They will automatically go towards the food if it is the food they like to eat. Doubloons can be stored in the bank. You need to set up a pin code to be able to activate the other banks throughout the Islands. Later on, it is possible that you gain other currencies that need to be exchanged to doubloons. Some of the bank animals come from different countries and don’t carry doubloons, they can carry various currencies to. Once you have a foreign currency, you need to head to the exchanger. The exchanger will show you the current trading rates. It is wise to wait until your collected currency is worth three doubloons and then exchange the currency to doubloons.
Two times in the game you get offered a loan, don’t trust the loan shark! He will scam you! You do need a loan to continue the game.
If you need some extra doubloons, every island has a Pigby stall where you can sell excess fruits or meats to gather extra doubloons.

When you get ten doubloons or more at once it means you need to pay taxes. This results in every ten doubloons collected one of the doubloons will go to the tax robot. These will become tax coins. Tax coins can be used to build bridges or build certain items with the building robot. When a trash bin is full you will need to feed it a tax token, the trash bin will fly away and come back empty. Doubloons won’t carry over from one Island to the next Island. When playing the game and a set amount of time has passed you will gain interest in your current doubloons that are stored in the bank.

Planting seeds is very important in Island Savers. It is not only needed to make the area beautiful again but when the seeds are fully grown the bank animals that like the fruit of the tree come back into the area.
If the seeding patch is broken, you can use the building robot to fix it. Don’t forget to water the seed to grow it. Seeds can be bought in the online store of the game you need doubloons to buy the seeds.
After buying the seeds the delivery robot will bring the seeds to you. Other items available in the shop are upgrades, the upgrades become available on Icecap Island. For example one of the upgrades is an extra inventory slot. You can also buy items for fun like hats and paintballs to color the bank animals.
The bank animals will often help you reach new areas to continue exploring the Island.
On Dinosaur Island the upgrade option is not available. Instead, you can buy saddles here to ride some of the dinosaurs. If you have purchased the upgrades before heading to Dinosaur Island you will still be able to use the upgrades.
The apex animals are scared of you and need to be fed while you also need to keep your distance otherwise they will run away or attack you. Once you have befriended the apex animals you can use their special skills to reach new areas or secrets.
For example: the rhino can break large stone walls to reveal secrets or explore the Island further.
What I really love in Island Saver is that once you have cleared an area and have saved the bank animal, you can see the bank animals interacting with each other and the environment.

On Dinosaur Island you can ride certain bank animals next to the two apex dinosaurs. The apex dinosaurs are the T-Rex and pteranodon. This means you can fly on a dinosaur. I did not expect this in Island Savers. It was a very fun surprise!
I am also surprised I was able to ride my favorite bank animal, the velociraptor. The riding on the dinosaurs makes the game feel more real. You have saved them and in return, you can ride them to help the other dinosaurs in need.
Please note that you cannot use the trash blaster when you are riding an apex animal or one of the rideable dinosaurs.

Summary
Island Savers is free to play and this really surprised me. Especially for the amount of content that you are able to play in Island savers. The DLC is only €3.99 and gives the game a new island, Dinosaur Island.

Pros
– Island Saver has a good story. The bank animals are very cute and so are their animations
– This game has controller support.
-cleaning an area might sound boring but it is fun to do (maybe because it isn’t real life).
– The gameplay works very well.
– The bank animals helping you really made me feel like I was a part of the game and not just observing.
– The trash blaster is a very fun idea.
– This game is fun for all ages.
– I love dinosaurs.
– This game is free, what are you waiting for and download Island Savers.

Cons
– I did not understand the keyboard controls.
– You die when you fall in the water.

I will give Island Saver a…drumroll…

7,7

This game is free to download in steam.
Thank you for reading this review about Island Savers.

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