REVIEW - The Falconeer Is Gorgeous But Uneven
Kick up the speed.
By Jonathan Garrett
17/11/20
Reviewed on Xbox Series X.
Review copy provided by Wired Productions.
The Falconeer plugs a gap long since unfulfilled, evoking a good old fashioned Panzer Dragoon style experience that is quite the visual charmer. As a showpiece for next gen hardware, it’s a well optimised, easy breezy take on aerial combat, but poorly structured narrative content and an unshakeable lack of momentum mark it down in crucial areas.
Despite some well thought out and clever mechanics (recharging your energy by flying into a lightning storm is particularly inspired), I couldn’t help but wish the moment to moment traversal was given an injection of pace. Although you can slightly offset this issue with modifications unlocked as you progress, the act of flying isn’t nearly as exhilarating as it should be.
However, if you’re looking for a more deliberate pace, The Falconeer is a generally relaxed experience that makes it easy to absorb the various graphical flourishes. The lighting design is superb, and with options for 120fps and wide screen monitor support, it deserves commendation for delivering such a concise and feature rich visual palette.
Although the music is fairly unremarkable, the voice acting is strong (and a lesson to titles like Sea of Thieves on how important it is to get this sort of thing right). That being said, the out of the gate bombardment of story context and lore is muddled and overwhelming, delivered in long stretches of exposition filled dialogue. It doesn’t hit the mark, and suffers from taking a “tell” rather than “show” approach.
Combat also lacks nuance, with weaponry void of heft and fights devolving quickly into mad circular affairs thanks to an over reliance on lock-on controls. The constant pinging from one objective marker to the next doesn’t help, and repetition quickly seeps in. Again, as a slower paced exploration title, The Falconeer has redeeming qualities. But as an overall package, there are simply too many elements that don’t work.
Your mileage here will vary, but if it’s a fast paced aerial combat adventure you’re after, The Falconeer isn’t firing on all cylinders.
He’s losing his rag!
WORTH IT?
At the bottom of every game review, we ask the question: Worth it? And the answer is either “Yeah!” or “Nah”, followed by a comment that sums up how we feel. In order to provide more information, we also have “And” or “But”, which follows up our rating with further clarification, additional context for a game we love, or perhaps a redeeming quality for a game we didn’t like.
NAH.
The Falconeer is a treat for the eyes, but the pacing and combat feels off.
BUT
The visuals really are quite beautiful, and a good way to show off new console hardware.
TARPS?
At the bottom of some of our articles, you’ll see a series of absurd looking images (with equally stupid, in joke laden names). These are the TARP badges, which represent our ‘Totally Accurate Rating Platform’. They allow us to identify specific things, recognise positive or negative aspects of a games design, and generally indulge our consistent silliness with some visual tomfoolery.
