The Falconeer Review
Developer – Tomas Sala Publisher – Wired Productions Platforms – Xbox Series S/X, PC The Falconeer is an odd bird. The Crimson Skies inspiration is readily apparent as soon as you enter a mission and begin dogfighting. The other half of the game is an open world of exploration and flight that could have easily been it’s own quiet, meditative experience. Falconeer throws you in the deep end right away with a huge world full of interesting factions, characters and politics. A mostly ocean covered world, you explore on your Warbird and partake in various missions and engage battle with sky pirates and the like. Each pilot and warbird of your choosing has a pretty in depth backstory, and the lore of this title is something you can clearly tell a lot of love was put into. In the actual gameplay, much of that storytelling is a bit lost, as it can feel like you are jumping from dogfight to dogfight, with very little motivation weaving them all together. The relationship with the warbird is also a bit of a let down. In Panzer Dragoon, the relationship between pilot and creature is a core part of the experience, but a game called the Falconeer is strangely missing that experience. You can mutate the bird with different effects to change passive bonus’s, and that’s really about it. Further more some of those mutagens seem… a bit harsh to inflict on your companion. Despite the lackluster in game story and how stuff the pilot/warbird relationship feels, the actual flying experience is superb. Huge breathtaking vista’s with dynamic weather, lighting and winds make the simple experience of flying around a joyous occasion. Even better, the open world and it’s minutia are also secretly training you for the intense combat scenarios. It’s subtle, but the more time spent exploring for secrets and sidequests truly make you a better pilot when it comes time for the often chaotic massive dogfights. The sound design is also married to the visuals and provides a unique soundscape to take in. Climbing high and dive bombing while skimming the ocean is a visual and audio splendor. The work of Tomas Sala is truly insane, as Falconeer is the latest in the one developer game miracles we’ve come across over the last decade. The Falconeer is fun ride, and a great title to showcase the new Xbox Series S/X with. The great flight and combat scenarios overcome a lackluster story to create a memorable experience.
Dirt 5 Review
Developer – Codemasters Cheshire Publisher – Codemasters Platforms – PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series S/X, PC Another generation, another Dirt, it could be so easy to grow weary and exhausted by the sheer amount of Dirt titles that have hit the shelves in the past 10 years. After four of the arcade and fun loving Dirt games, we had a return to purity with the Dirt rally series. Stripped down and fundamentally a more serious approach to off roading. Dirt titles always get the typical improvements and upgrades you expect from a sequel. Better graphics, more cars, some refinements to existing systems and more along those lines. Codemasters must have felt a certain kind of way about that pattern, because Dirt 5 really takes the old franchise to new levels. Now to really talk about what they changed about Dirt 5 let’s talk about what they have kept. The absolutely stunning visuals have returned. This time the PC and next gen versions version performs incredibly right out of the gate. I have yet to encounter any technical issues with 5. On the Xbox Series X, the game is rocking steady at a locked frame-rate. The same great physics system returns. The feel of every single car is handled to perfection. The tuning allows you to control how much simulation vs arcade feel you want to go for. The assists all return and haven’t changed much from previous iterations. Now that we have got that out of the way, let’s talk about whats new. Previous Dirt games, despite their excellence always had a couple things truly keeping them from perfection, the career progression, and the online integration. The problem with that format was the progression didn’t feel satisfying. Gathering enough money, and expanding felt inevitable, but never fun in the moment. The way the game never really forced you to try different vehicles or play-styles would eventually make progressing through the festival races more of chore, than a fun task. They always had a ton of content, just never a clear direction for said content. Cross country races, sprint races and gymkhana would all co-exist with no clear motivation for wanting to pursue any of these different styles outside of your own desire to perform that activity at a given time. On it’s own, the old method wasn’t broken, or even bad by any means. By Dirt 3 though, that formula was feeling stale, and it was something nagging at me and it ultimately kept me from caring much about any career events I unlocked. All of these different gameplay elements and racing styles all combine to complete change how you can play, progress, and interact with the content they have. Dirt 5’s excellent driving systems and physics make each event, car and activity rewarding and exciting. As I look back on my time with the game, the online doesn’t do nearly as much as the rest and is easily the glaring problem Dirt 5 has. Online only has two options to choose from, with no custom lobbies or even mode selection. It feels completely barebones, and even Mario Kart has a more robust online offering. It’s odd because local split screen play offers a ton of options. Four players, co-op campaign mode, even created courses can be done together. It’s truly and if you are done with the single player offerings the online won’t offer any incentive to stick around. Dirt 5 is a great launch title, and the on track racing experience is sublime. It’s too bad a completely lackluster online takes a lot of the shine out of the whole experience.
