Falsion - The Famicom Disk System's BestHello users of vizzed and welcome to my latest review. Today, I'll be doing something that up until now, I had never done before. I'll be reviewing a game for the Japanese exclusive system, the Famicom Disk System (or FDS for short), and that game is Falsion. It was made by Konami, the same company behind classics like the Castlevania and Contra series. Unlike some of their more famous titles, Falsion is a space shooter. For some reason, I've made a lot of reviews for those kinds of games over the past year. How does this game compare to some of the other space shooters I've reviewed? I'll tell you by making this review.
Graphics: 10/10 Out of the FDS games I've played, Falsion has what I consider to be one of, if not the most visually appealing game on the Famicom Disk System. Whether you're battling enemies over an ocean with a gorgeous 8 bit sunrise in the background, or you're flying through a giant asteroid field, you'll be left wondering how Konami managed to make an 80's space shooter look so amazing. Not only are the backgrounds in this game beautiful, but your ship (aka the Falsion) and the enemies are very detailed, and look better than most enemies from NES games. The bosses in particular are some of the most intimidating looking enemies I've seen in games from the 80's. Overall, Falsion's visuals are definitely worthy of a 10.
Sound: 10/10 Like the visuals, Falsion's soundtrack is miles better than any other FDS game out there. Not only is this soundtrack the best the system has to offer, but I also consider Falsion's music to be some of the best I've ever heard in a Konami game. The level 3 and 1 themes in particular happen to be my 2 favorite songs from any game on the Famicom Disk System. Even though those 2 themes are my favorites from the game, there isn't a single theme in the game that I don't like. In fact, the entire Falsion soundtrack is among Konami's very best. It's right up there with the Castlevania's and the Contra's of the gaming world. Because Falsion's soundtrack is so brilliant, I'm giving the sound a 10.
Addictiveness: 9/10 Like a lot of other space shooters at the time, Falsion provides extremely addicting gameplay that will make you want to keep on playing after you've beaten the game. The gameplay reminds me a lot of Space Harrier and Star Fox, with your ship being viewed in a 3rd person perspective, and enemy ships coming towards the screen. You can shoot them down with beams or with homing missiles. You only have a limited amount of missiles, so making sure you don't run out of missiles before you need them most is a must if you want to complete each level. With the Space Harrier and Star Fox styled gameplay combined with the amazing soundtrack, you won't want to stop playing Falsion. Overall, I'm giving the addictiveness a 9.
Story: N/A Falsion's story involes you having to destroy an army of Aliens that are attacking human colonies on each planet in the Milky Way. Eventually you must take on the Gigantos, the mothership and leader of the alien invasion in order to save the human race. There isn't enough here for me to give the story category a fair score, so I'm leaving this category blank.
Depth: 4/10 The one area where I feel Falsion falters is depth. More specifically, a lack of levels and game modes. There are only a total of 6 levels in Falsion, which is very disappointing because a lot of other space shooter games I've played contain much more levels than Falsion does. In addition, there's a couple of game modes. There's 3 Dimension Play, which requires you to buy the Famicom 3D System in order to see the 3D effects. The other mode is normal play, which is self explanatory. Overall, the severe lack of levels are what caused me to give the depth score a 4.
Difficulty: 9/10 For the most part, Falsion is one of the tougher space shooters I've played. The first two levels of the game are pretty challenging, the first level has plenty of enemies to take out and asteroids to dodge. The 2nd level can also be challenging, but it doesn't have the asteroids to dodge like the first level. Level 3 is where things start to get insane, with a seemingly endless amount of enemies entering the screen. Along with having to take all those enemies out, you also have to dodge a bunch of blue orbs that come flying towards you. Every level from 3 onward will put your piloting and shooting skills to the ultimate test. If you want to play a game that provides a massive challenge, then Falsion is the game for you. Because the first 2 levels aren't anywhere near as tough as the others, I'm giving the difficulty a 9 instead of 10.
Overall Score: 9.3/10 Out of all the Famicom Disk System games I've played, none have been quite as enjoyable to me as Falsion. It has visuals that put most games on the NES to shame, an incredible soundtrack that shows what the FDS was truly capable of soundwise, and highly entertaining space shooting action that's just as great as games like Space Harrier and Star Fox. Unfortunately, there aren't very many levels in the game, so once you've overcome the game's high difficulty, there isn't much for you to do. Even with the lack of levels, Falsion is easily the best Famicom Disk System exclusive you'll find, and it makes me wonder why the game was never ported over to the NES. I highly recommend anyone who's into space shooters to give this game a try. Overall, Falsion is worthy of a 9.3 out of 10 in my eyes. I hope you liked this review, and if I've got you interested in this epic space shooter, then please try this hidden gem out. I guarantee you won't be disappointed.
Graphics
10 Sound
10 Addictive
9 Depth
4 Difficulty
9
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