Ostrich Island

Flightless as they might be, ostriches should not be underestimated, especially since they are rather big and they can run pretty fast. Moreover, their legs are very strong and they can certainly do a lot of damage to anything that poses a threat. However, the game at hand portrays them more like adventure seekers and even gives you the chance to play as one of them as you explore a treasure-filled tropical island.

Intuitively named Ostrich Island, the game is basically a third-person adventure game with basic controls and a rather simple end goal: to collect every shiny object you can find on a tropical island and navigate the environment to the best of your abilities. Whether it's over-sized eggs or lost treasure that drifted ashore along with the wreckage of a pirate ship, everything you stumble upon can provide you with precious points to increase your overall highscore.

That is actually the entire goal of the game, since once you reach a certain point on the map, the game ends and it calculates the amount of points gathered along the way, while comparing it to all the other highscores shared by people from all over the world. Hence, there is no background story or characters, just a nameless ostrich roaming around a deserted island.

Beside walking or running, you can also perform a few other actions to spice up the gameplay, such as jumping over obstacles when they block your way. Sticking your head in the sand can be useful as well, since certain objects can be found beneath the surface and there is no other way to get them out. Finally, the ostrich can use his powerful legs to kick things from time to time, which comes in handy when you need to open locked chests or you want to put down the annoying palm trees blocking your way.

Although a decent amount of work went into the level design itself, the map is actually very small and disappointing, with very little room to explore. The graphics are pretty nice, on the other hand, except for the animation that governs the ostrich's body. The bird seems to hover and glide most of the time, rather than walk and actually touch the ground with every step.

Ostrich Island maybe just an experimental demo for now, showing some of the ideas at work and a bit of gameplay, but it is certainly not enough to provide you with any meaningful experience. Hence, a lot more work is required for this project to catch the eye of the public, especially when it comes to content and level design.