Fall Guys Ultimate Knockout is a zany combination of action platforming mixed with battle royale mechanics for either the PS4 or PC. Developed by UK independent developer Mediatonic, not know for any previous games, Fall Guys draws its inspiration from action gameshows such as wipeout or ninja warrior. (Also may other popular european and japanese game shows). Fall Guys was released in August of 2020 to much success.
Fall Guys pits 60 players into a giant battle royale match, where the last person standing is the winner. The overall concept of the game draws from previous battle royals such as PUBG and Fortnite, but does the gameplay in a much different way. The core concept of Fall Guys is action platforming and traversing through wild obstacle course while outlasting the competition. The game is broken up into rounds where the goal is to simply finish before your opponents. Each round will only have a certain number of players who qualify which makes the game also feel fun, frantic, and tense at times. There are mostly obstacle course races which in my opinion are the funnest part of Fall Guys, but also thrown in occasionally is a puzzle or team based round. Both the puzzle and team rounds are less fun as it is very annoying getting stuck on a bad team. The mechanics in some of these rounds are very frustrating as opposed to just getting through a regular obstacle course. There are mechanics or rounds such as a Rocket league esque soccer match, a team based egg hoarding mode, and a puzzle picture matching round that are simply frustrating and not nearly as fun as the normal racing rounds. That is pretty much the core of Fall Guys progressing through random rounds and getting as far as you can get before you are disqualified. There is definitely enough variation and variety between all of the different rounds to keep the game fresh.
Fall Guys also has a number of customization options that are unlocked both by leveling up and spending the two forms of in game currency. The first currency is crowns, which players will get while leveling up occasionally or every time they win a competition. The second form of currency is Kudos, which can be purchased through micro transactions, but you will also obtain plenty of kudos while just playing matches. The currency can be spent in the store to purchase new outfits, player cards, colors ect. I found the store to be a little weird in the fact that the items that are up for purchase get rotated out every day or so, allowing for a short window to purchase things. I would much rather prefer there be a full catalog to purchase from. There are seasons in Fall Guys as well and the max rank for a season is rank 40. After that level is reached items are no longer earned other than the Kudos currency. Also of note is that Fall Guys partners with other franchises that have brought costumes to the game such as sonic the hedgehog, halo, and doom inspired costumes.
The graphics and audio are nothing special. The more I played I actually played the game on mute with my own music playing as there is only one generic music track. The sound effects in the game such as the little squeaks and noises of the characters are pretty funny and amusing. The overall graphical style is pretty good with lot of bright pastel based colors, and the little bean characters are well designed. From a technical standpoint Fall Guys is not a feat at all, but with a game like this that is not expected!
When I first saw Fall Guys I said wow I really need to try this game it just looks so crazy and fun. Fall Guys mostly lived up to those expectations and I did sink nearly 20 hours into the game before it started to get a little stale. This seems perfectly fine as Fall Guys is only a $20 downloadable game and not a full fledged purchase. As an overall value I do suggest Fall Guys. It is a very fun game, I just wouldn’t expect to be playing it all the time or it does get pretty boring. Fall Guys was met with much success at release and months later is still a very popular and generally liked game with a very active community.
7/10