If anyone remembers the battle royale craze that peaked a couple of years ago, this battle royale takes the guns and other violent elements out of battle royale games and instead introduces an entirely new approach to the battle royale genre. Fall Guys: Ultimate Knockout has captivated the gaming world by storm, namely because of its family-friendly and cartoon-like graphics. It takes inspiration from Japanese game show Takeshi’s Castle as well as American shows such as Most Extreme Elimination Challenge (MXC).
Players are jellybean-like figures that you can dress up by advancing in levels as well as through microtransactions. You earn Kudos for completing levels and can also earn crowns with real money. You can play either by yourself or with up to three other friends. The games are chosen at random which means you’ll have to think on the fly. There are four categories of mini-games: races, survival, team games, and the final, which combines racing and survival elements.
Some require teamwork and others are just free-for-all, so you have to think of a winning strategy with your teammates or how to come out on top. There are checkpoints throughout the map that allow you to restart if you fall off or another player decides to throw you off the map. You can also throw others off the map to assert your dominance. In the end, you need to grab the crown to win the game.
Race games require you to just reach the end while dodging obstacles. If you qualify, you move on to the next round; if not, the game is over and you can still watch the rest of the rounds. Survival games require you to stay alive as long as possible until a specific condition is met. One of my favorites is the Team Tail Tag game, which requires you to grab tails off of opposing players. The Team Tail Tag game is an example of a survival game. Another of my favorites is the Fall Ball mini-game, which resembles soccer and you have to score as much as possible on the other team. One of the craziest final games is Fall Mountain, where only one player can win. Mediatronic has planned future mini-games, maps, and levels, so there may be even more ways to grab the crown and be the Last Man Standing.
The game’s catchy soundtrack softens what can be a very frustrating game experience, especially if you are very competitive when it comes to gaming. Players are allowed to grab other players and throw them into obstacles or off the map entirely, which may be frustrating especially as you enter the final round and the incentive to do this is greatly increased. Overall, while I had hit server issues when first playing the game (thanks to the developers vastly underestimating the popularity of the game), I have found it fun to play and an interesting take on the battle royale genre.
Feel like having a fun yet competitive gaming experience? Fall Guys is probably the game for you. There is a chance it will come to other platforms like the Xbox One and Nintendo Switch, and may even be cross-platform in the future; as of this writing Mediatonic has confirmed cross-play which means you can take on anybody in Fall Guys. With the chaos comes excitement, so pick this game up today!
Developer: Mediatonic
Publisher: Devolver Digital
Platform(s): PC, PlayStation 4
Words by Jose Alvarez
Also published in Gadgets Magazine September 2020