Falco Xonix

Spaceships in video games are usually equipped with all sorts of weapons and defensive shields, even those that are supposedly just transporting cargo or passengers. Granted, it seems like life is very dangerous in space, given the fact that pirates and aliens lurk around every neutron star. On the other hand, space combat is the only reason games like that exist.

Falco Xonix is an arcade shooter in which you get to fight for survival and avoid certain death at the hands of evil alien monsters. In essence, this is a shooter with a few survival elements, although your primary goal throughout most of the levels is to collect the circles and meet your completion quota, which is achievable by simply moving around the map.

On the other hand, other levels force you to fight, given the fact that you need to perform a certain number of kills in order to move onto the next stage. In order to do so, you have to use your ship’s rockets and aim with precision, because you have a very limited number of rockets at your disposal. More appear along the way, but that is not the case.

Speaking of which, the game fails to spawn rockets every now and again, which is bad news when your survival depends on it. Sometimes you are unable to pass the stage because of this, and there is no restart button to try again. It can be very frustrating, but then again this is an indie production that is bound to have some bugs and inconveniences.

The graphics are nothing to write home about either, although they do not matter too much in a game such as this one. You mostly see black, the gray tiles you have to pick up, and the occasional monster. It gets repetitive in a rush, but the thrill of staying alive can distract your mind most of the time, so it’s not a very big problem.

All things considered, Falco Xonix could have achieved more with the elements at its disposal, but the execution leaves room for a lot of improvement. Thus, the gameplay gets repetitive after a few minutes, and the bugs can get on your nerves faster than that.