Falcon Age brings Cute Birbs to PSVR (Review)

It is pretty wild to me that virtual reality gaming has taken off in a practical way. Back in the 90s, I grew up watching Power Rangers, which led to seeing VR Troopers, a severely dated show that had that strange 90s visual representation of the internet. These days we have engaging virtual reality with a wide spectrum of options from the simple Google Cardboard to the advanced HTC Vive and beyond with custom-tailored peripherals making waves at experience-driven venues. At the end of the day though, the hardware is nothing without stellar software which is why I’ve put my faith in the PSVR and so far, it’s my favorite way to play VR games. After starting to see adorable gifs of animations of a red falcon on Twitter, I became fascinated by Falcon Age which eventually led to putting in for a review copy. While it isn’t a game that will change how we think about PSVR, Falcon Age is a stellar example of how we can craft extremely touching experiences through animation and player expression.

Surprisingly, I didn’t jump straight into VR when Oculus started making waves with lots of popular let’s play videos. I sat back to see how the market developed, mostly because I didn’t want to invest the money if it was temporary. Nowadays, I put three main platforms as core systems: Oculus Rift, HTC Vive, and PSVR. Upon the system’s announcement, I had a feeling that PSVR would be the one to stand out as it’s an add-on to a widely owned console and therefore cheaper for those already owning a PS4. It seemed slow to pick up, but now the PSVR is gaining momentum and with recent details being shared that the next PlayStation will be compatible with PSVR headsets (plus the focus of VR in the first State of Play video) it looks like it’s here to stay.

I have to preface my review of Falcon Age with the fact that I am new to the platform; I’ve only owned it for a few months and there are only a few games that I’ve played at any length. I did work at Game On, a diversity-focused video game store where we rented play spaces for consoles including a PSVR, so I am familiar with how a lot of titles work. We had about ten total in a wide variety of genres like Doom VFR, Moss, and lots of demo discs. At home though, I only have Rick and Morty: Virtual Rick-ality, Moss, Astro Bot Rescue Mission (which I haven’t played yet), and the starter demos. I am incredibly excited to start doing more PSVR gaming though as I’m quickly becoming obsessed with it.

Hardware-wise, I have two PS3 motion controllers that I got for cheap at the previously mentioned Game On. I also have the rectangular PS4 camera which just sits better on my display than the round one that came with the headset. Speaking of, I have the updated headset, which has some quality of life features that addressed some of the issues with the first model. Although, I’m still bummed that the cable is not detachable or replaceable. I’ve yet to get the PlayStation Aim controller, but it’s on my list of things to get for a few shooters.

For Falcon Age, I spent most of my time playing with two move controllers, which is where I think the game shines the most as a VR title. There is the option to use a DualShock 4, but it doesn’t feel as natural. For those without a PSVR headset, there are no worries. Players can play the game like a typical PS4 game, however, as a standard game Falcon Age loses the magic that it has in VR. Unless a player really, really wants to play regardless of not having a headset, I cannot recommend this title as a standard game.

As a PSVR game though, it’s an easy recommendation.

Falcon Age is a first-person adventure where players take the role of a girl trying to escape a burdened life of doing meaningless tasks for a corporation represented by robots. The game’s first section features a prison, speaking with a robotic overseer that questions her loyalty daily, gathering rocks and berries, and making unlikely friends with a nest of falcons on the barred windowsill.

The game takes place on a desert planet where the corporation has a tyrannical rule over the inhabitants. While this desert backdrop is fairly plain looking, it contrasts well with the crimson colors worn by the characters, as well as the titular falcon.

That falcon is how the player is able to escape the prison and lead a resistance to destroy the technological chokehold that the company has over the planet. In this world, falconry is a tradition and the main character’s stern aunt teaches her the old ways while directing her to missions. Once the game starts, the player steadily unlocks new moves and skills for the falcon, as well as a few tools to take down troublesome robots. While the moment-to-moment gameplay is simple, there are a lot of cosmetic items to play with and a few ways to tackle certain tasks. Mostly though, Falcon Age is all about taking down robots with an incredible bird of prey as a companion.

Falcon Age is all about the falcon. Clearly, there was a ton of work put into the animations of her and I found myself immediately emotionally attached. Players can fist bump, shake hands, dress up, or change the falcon’s appearance and it’s all adorable and fun. Best of all, the game starts with a baby falcon that quickly grows into a much larger, more fierce-looking bird but once this happens a hat is acquired that can change the falcon back into a baby at will. All of the equipable items like hats and armor also fit snuggly on the baby model for those that want a bit more cuteness in their adventure.

Aside from exploring the world with a falcon in one hand and a weaponized baton/whip in the other, there are some conversation trees to explore with the various characters. These conversations are fairly simple, but it does add that level of engagement rather than standing in place waiting for a character to finish speaking. I love the use of rotation on the move controllers which is how players select various options while speaking. Unfortunately, the voice acting is sparse as only particularly important lines are spoken. The main character is also silent, at least throughout what I have played.

Move controller rotation also comes in handy while traversing via teleportation. By adjusting the wrist while choosing a spot to pop over to, the player can easily adjust where they will end up looking. If standing still, the bottom two face buttons on the Move controller allow for left and right rotation which can be snap or smooth. For those that like to tweak their VR game to fit their needs, there are quite a few options available. I played mostly in the default settings and found it comfortable and rather intuitive.

There is also a simple crafting system that enables the player to create food items to temporarily buff the falcon. Hunting small creatures, gathering fruit, or farming is all used to get ingredients. Some of the more interesting items can be attained at shops or by combining other items to get benefits or just add some fun things to do with the falcon.

There are occasional tracking issues that I ran into. The baton that is the main weapon in Falcon Age has a whip function for stunning enemies or grabbing and flinging objects. Often doors are sealed with a lever that has to be whipped. Aiming and flicking to hit things works most of the time, but anytime the Move controller escapes the view of the camera it can immediately throw off the system. This is also true of many PSVR games that require this sort of hand movement, but I did find myself having to keep a mental note of where I was standing and facing at all times. I think that if there is going to be a controller upgrade for PSVR, there should be some consideration into more use of built-in gyroscopes to assist in tracking. It works for the most part but it is worth mentioning for those used to playing with the HTC Vive, which has superior tracking in most games. Hopefully, we’ll see Falcon Age ported to the other VR systems over time.

Overall, Falcon Age is far from perfect but its charming interactions with the falcon and the fairly easy-to-understand gameplay makes it an easy recommendation for PSVR owners. I really hope this game is further tweaked with updates and hopefully, we’ll see this idea explored further in a sequel.

Falcon Age, Moss, Astrobot: Rescue Mission, all show that there is lots of fun to be had in the virtual space conveniently at home.

For more information on Falcon Age, check out the website of Outer Loop Games. A digital copy of the game was provided for the purpose of review. Images captured through PS4 share functions.

SCORES

GAMEPLAY - 8/10

VISUALS - 8/10

SOUND - 6/10

CONTROLS - 7/10

REPLAY VALUE - 8/10

OVERALL - 7.4/10