The Falconeer, developed by just Tomas Sala, is an impressive feat in itself, and certainly deserves a place in history.
The project’s ambition delivers a product for which, given its unique style, the sky (with all puns intended) is the limit.
The genre is hard to pin down, but let’s say it fits well as an aerial combat simulation.
That is not to say the style has no precedent; after all, since Starfox, Panzer Dragoon and the flying sections of Zelda: Skyward Sword, mechanics like those presented here have been explored, but the complete treatment and depth of all the mechanics in a fantasy medieval setting is what brings the charm to the title.
Gameplay on PC can vary quite a lot depending on the device used: the game is obviously optimized for flight simulator equipment and will also work decently with controllers, but it is definitely not a game recommended for playing with mouse and keyboard.
I began my journey in the game with my old, loyal Xbox 360 controller and the strangeness of the commands at the start is inevitable and, I must point out, the game will not give you many chances for error while you get used to how everything works, and some texts in the interface are not consistent in where they appear, which does not help with the overall confusion.
Another tricky point is that the game has no checkpoints during missions, not even in its tutorial, which means that, at times, learning a mechanic can result in having to restart the mission from scratch and seeing this character on your screen a few times…
But, with a bit of patience in the early moments, the falcon’s weight disappears, and your character seems to be obeying your commands and following your aim.
The setting is also a high point of the game; the medieval fantasy theme with knights and mercenaries riding giant falcons and carrying out aerial missions among island cities on the high seas is certainly a very rich scenario. The game’s voice acting (in English) gives the characters, who have different accents and slang, even more personality, and even the least important of the NPCs will exchange a few lines with your character.
The world built for Falconeer gives an elegant look in a style of its own to the there-and-back missions, and brings an interesting variety when it comes to combat.
It seems, after all, to be an excellent start to a memorable franchise.
The game was tested on PC with an Xbox 360 controller.
Max Xavier
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