Xbox one the falconeer plus#

On the other hand, while the combat may not be super engaging, and the story is a bad egg, the gorgeous world of The Falconeer on Xbox is a triumph. It is unfortunate that the primary content feels excessively repetitive. Yet, that relaxing zen feeling made the switch to clunky combat even more jarring. Several of my flights were some of the most serene experiences I have had with a game since Abzu in 2016. All of it is bolstered by the fantastic musical score, and some lovingly detailed animation. Discovering beautiful, new locations, careening through clouds, gliding over gentle waves, and shooting through air currents is an amazing experience. Exploring the map at my own leisure was a total delight. I found myself mistakenly plunging into the briny sea on multiple occasions when all I wanted to do was slow down.Īll of this may sound dour, especially for a dogfighting game, but let me tell you about the most magical part of The Falconeer: flying. Those repetitive fights were even more upsetting due to the fact that the “brake” and “dive” commands are bound to the same button.

Xbox one the falconeer plus#

I found myself growing annoyed anytime I heard the exceptional battle music kick in, because it meant I would have to fly around in circles for ten plus minutes before I could go back to what I was doing. Your weapon is an ancient relic that makes an annoying noise when it’s shot, and when those shots land they do so with as much gusto as a yawning mouse. It isn’t awful by any means, but it fails to deliver particularly exciting gameplay. This would be fine if the act of dogfighting was actually enjoyable. Sometimes you’ll make a delivery, sometimes you’ll do some dogfighting, and sometimes you’ll acquire something to deliver before and/or after dogfighting. Within the first hour of the game, you’ve seen every combat encounter you could expect to have. Segwaying into the second reason for the story’s pointlessness, is that the combat doesn’t evolve.

It offers the new perspective of a different faction, but what is the point when the story is total nonsense? That means you could start chapter four with an incredibly strong falcon, and play the same campaign you played in chapter one. However, you can start playing any of the chapters as soon as you fire up the game, and the starting bird for each chapter is greater than the last. Of course you won’t start the game amazingly strong, and there are plenty of mutagens you can purchase to make your bird better, or you could get an entirely new one. Their stats aren’t the best, but that’s to be expected. What this chapter system also doesn’t fix, is the fact that chapter one starts you with your choice of two pretty dingy falcons. A fine idea, sure, but it doesn’t fix the random dialogue thrown at you with each mission. Each of the four chapters have you relive the same events through the perspectives of different factions. I say that the story didn’t matter for two main reasons: the game’s chapters and combat. Eventually, I got tired of trying to keep track of what was happening since it didn’t matter, and the voice acting was so laughably bad. Every conversation feels like you walked in as things were wrapping up. Pieces of story information are delivered through fully-voiced characters that somehow explain both too much and too little. There is no clear story or chain of events to speak of.

The main campaign, if it can be called that, is a mess. Unfortunately, as far as the story is concerned, the world itself is the only thing The Falconeer has going for it. Really, the world of The Falconeer is visually stunning and delightfully original. All of this combined with ancient temples and the mysterious, magical canyon known as the Maw makes each portion of the map look as if it has been around for hundreds if not thousands of years. In order to survive the treacherous seascape, people have built buildings, towns, and garrisons on rocky crags and spires that are trying to climb into the sky. You and your falcon spend all of your time flying above the beautiful Ursee – an enormous, churning ocean that covers the entire planet. The world-building of this game is incredibly thoughtful. After a short introduction to the controls, the world is yours to explore, and what a world it is. As a Falconeer, you take control of an enormous falcon.