Computer Game History | Computer Game Reviews | Amiga Game Reviews

Falcon: The F-16 Fighter Simulation

Falcon: The F-16 Fighter Simulation is a 16 bit combat flight simulator coded by Sphere Inc. for Macintosh and IBM PC MS-DOS in 1987. Revolutionary for its time, Falcon was ported by Rowan Software to Atari ST in 1988 and Amiga in 1989. After Falcon Sphere Inc. would go on to develop Falcon 3.0 for high-end PCs of the early 90s.

Falcon was conceived by Gilman Louie and Mark Johnson. The original Falcon was coded by Gilman Louie and Gary Poon for IBM PC and M68K Macintosh. M68K ST/Amiga versions of 1988/89 were drawn by Martin Kenwright (F29) and programmed by Russell Payne, Chris Orton and Colin Bell of Rowan Software. Mac Falcon displays in hires monochrome 640x400, PC Falcon in 4/16-color CGA/TGA 320x200 and ST/Amiga Falcon in 16-color 320x200. The ST/Amiga versions look the best because they draw from much broader palette ranges.

In Falcon, the player pilots General Dynamics' F-16A Fighting Falcon. Cool dogfights versus Soviet MiG-21s are the highlight of the simulation. The Falcon is primarily a dogfighter with air-to-ground bombing capability. During its time, the Falcon was one of the most maneuverable, expert-piloted and cost-efficient fighters in the U.S. Airforce.

Upon its release, Falcon was a ground-breaking flight sim in terms of simulation accuracy and realistic visuals. Advanced as it was, Falcon ran on an easily affordable 8 MHz 520 ST with 512K of RAM in 1988.

(Unless otherwise noted, all screenshots are from the Amiga version.)

While F/A-18 Interceptor was the first microcomputer flight sim to allow for switchable views external to the cockpit, Falcon allows for zooming, rotation and tracking of those views.

In order to employ the Black Box flight recorder feature that allows for instant-replays, the player must be running the game on a 1040 ST or Amiga with 1 MB RAM.

Falcon's graphics are 3D flat-shaded polygonal with 2D cockpit graphics and HUD overlay. The view is switchable between four in-cockpit views as well as satellite, tower and tracking views.

Cockpit views are not just about controls or eye-candy, but also facilitate airspace awareness (akin to the pilot tilting his head).

Cockpit layout is clear and spartan in presentation. Indeed, it is god-tier. And its 16 color palette employment would subsequently outshine some 256-color VGA flight sims that came out a few years later, though VGA flight sims would feature more complexity, higher poly-counts and smoother framerates. cf. Falcon 3.0.

Note the panels, gauges and indicators in the cockpit sideviews as well (above left and right). The panel on the left in the right sideview illuminates with 14 different caution indicator lights whereas the six gauges in the left sideview are for Yaw/Pitch, Fuel, Compass, Landing Gear and Air Speed.

In 1988, Falcon exhibited some of the finest microcomputer game production values in any genre, production values that would remain competitive in the flight sim genre for a few more years.

How to Take Off in Falcon

Release wheel breaks with W key
Hold throttle key down (+ Key) for 100% RPM
Ignite afterburners with / key (because it's cool)
Pull back gently at 150 knots and attain climb angle of 8-10°
Retract landing gear with the G key
Attain 400 knots
Hunt for MiGs

Falcon Missions

There are 12 missions in the base game of Falcon; a combo of air-to-air and air-to-ground. Missions include shooting down MiGs, bombing SAM sites, and bombing other enemy installations such as bridges, runways and comms.

In addition to a main campaign, two expansion mission disks were released (1989-90) each of which offered one dozen missions:

Volume I: Falcon Operation: Counterstrike
Volume II: Falcon Operation: Firefight

Each mission has a number, a waypoint, an objective and armament requirements.

Milk Run
Black Bandit
Rattlesnake Roundup
Double Trouble
Dragon's Tail
Dragon's Jaw
Hornet's Nest
Bear's Den
Venus Flytrap
Strike Palace
Double Dragon
Grand Slam
Rolling Thunder (Mission Disk I: Operation Counterstrike)
Water Sports
Truck Interdiction
Train Interdiction
Wild Weasel
Serpent's Jaw
Serpent's Tail
POL (petroleum, oils and lubricants) Mission
Wasp's Nest
Sledgehammer
Thunderbolt
Flaming Dart
Heavy Metal (Mission Disk II: Firefight)
Five Carder
Hind Hit
Lone Ranger
Truck Interdict
Aces High
Tank Park
Triple Trouble
Cobra's Head
Interceptor
Cobra's Tail
Home Base

Falcon Armament

M61A1 20mm Vulcan (six-barrel gatling gun-style cannon)
AIM-9J Sidewinder Missile
AIM-9L Sidewinder All-Aspect Missile
AGM-65B Maverick Missile
MK84 2000 LBS Low Drag Bomb
Durandal Anti-Runway Bomb
ALQ-131 ECM Pod
300 GAL Fuel Pod

Falcon Air Combat Maneuvers

Break
Dive Loop
Engage
Flip Yo-yo
Head On
High G Yo-yo
Immelmann Turn
Lag Pursuit
Low G Yo-yo
Rollaway
Scissors
Split S
Variable Scissors
Vertical Loop

Falcon Difficulty Levels

Lieutenant
Captain
Major
Lieutenant Colonel
Colonel

Falcon IBM PC Version (CGA) 1987

Falcon 4-color CGA version 320x200:

Falcon Tandy TGA 16-color version 320x200:

Falcon AT IBM PC EGA Version 1988

Requiring an i80286 processor and 512K of RAM, Falcon AT was released for MS-DOS in 1988 by Sphere Inc. You can see that Falcon AT's EGA graphics pale in comparison to the Amiga (and ST) versions; they are soulless. And the framerate was only better if you had a 386, but the controls were superior due to the analogue joystick.

cf. Falcon 3.0 1991.

Computer Game History

Search String