The Falconeer
Talon stories of good vs eagle in the world of THE FALCONEER.
Despite all the dialogue and narration, I walked away from this game with the most important question of all unanswered; are they tiny people, or huge birds? I like riding on the back of a falcon as much as the next person, but give me a sense of perspective! This didn’t bother me during play, as I was too busy gawping at the graphics and shooting down enemies; but it sat at the back of my mind throughout the adventure.
The Falconeer takes place in a unique world that sits somewhere outside our own, a world that slowly drew me in as I progressed through the story. A huge expanse of water littered with islands controlled by warring factions, the tale that this place tells is interesting enough to prevent you from skipping through the NPC chatter that precedes each mission.
As a falconeer, you’ll dive to increase speed and flap in place to reduce it, stretching your falcon’s wings out to turn when necessary. The accompanying squawks, flaps, and screeches work in tandem with the wonderful animation to give a convincing sense of being in control of a bird. Or at least, a small/normal sized person on top of one.
While the shooting would feel at home in a WWII dogfighting game, it feels perfectly natural here. Although activities broadly fall into one of three categories (attack, defense, delivery), I never found myself getting bored of them. The Falconeer is a joy to control no matter what you’re doing, and not just because you’re rather amusingly given a barrel roll evasion move.
Now, I ordinarily hate escort missions, and there are several of those here. Yet accompanying a ship on its slow but steady journey doesn’t bother me in the slightest. Nothing going on for a while? Who cares? Have you seen those graphics? This is a gorgeous game, and I’ll relish any opportunity to soak up its vistas while enjoying the simple fun of flying my falcon. Once combat makes its inevitable appearance, it’s a pleasing aerial dance between me and, usually, just a few enemies before we continue on our way.
WING WING, HELLO?
However, there are no checkpoints, and this is a big issue for these missions. If I die partway through, I need to start all over again. I then find myself circling the ship in agitation, impatiently awaiting a fight that I know is coming while the ship merrily chugs along at what is now a frustratingly slow pace.
One small but noticeable issue is the cash awarded for completing story or side missions (needed for items such as weapon and falcon upgrades), which often isn’t proportionate to the effort involved. An optional quest that takes just a few minutes might pay as much as a lengthy story mission, which doesn’t make any sense. And while you’re given clear direction for story missions, you’re left to fend for yourself when it comes to exploring the open world outside of them, with nothing but the names of locations ever marked on your map.
Difficulty throughout the story is all over the place, with no smooth gradient. Significant difficulty spikes are rare, but very annoying when they hit, to the point where I eventually kicked the difficulty down to Easy to soften (but not negate) their effect. Also, having an ally for most story missions is a nice touch, and they always pull their weight—but they won’t always follow instructions (limited to ‘hit this target’ or ‘get this enemy off my back’).
Despite these criticisms—and the absence of the option to automatically target a chasing enemy—the game mostly shines. It says a lot that although optional missions are hollow instructions along the lines of ‘go here’ or ‘kill that’, I still dived into them for the extra cash. Any excuse to go back out into this intriguing world, I’ll take.
The lack of direction outside of the story is as much a blessing as it is a curse, leaving long-term appeal up for debate. Even so, this is a flight you should take if you get the chance.
The Falconeer is a joy to control no matter what you’re doing