Battle Royale games have been around for a little while at this point, but a new guy has entered the ring for the title. Maybe we should say new bean. Fall Guys: Ultimate Knockout from Mediatonic and Devolver Digital, combines the physics of the American Ninja Warrior, Extreme Wipeout with silly characters and many different levels. This game brings a new feeling to the battle royale genre and has a brighter feeling too.
Getting in to the game was a bit challenging at first. On PC, managing the keys was terrible. Holding ‘W’ and ‘Ctrl’ to jump was almost impossible. So I swapped out for a controller and hit the settings to get the keys the way I needed in order to play. After going through the mostly standard first platform level to qualify, I was hooked.
Everyone gets a simple screen to change the outfit of their jelly-bean like character, change settings, your audio and more. I haven’t learned how to change my name yet though because the option simply isn’t there. When I got over this part and rolled with it, the music took over. The music in Fall Guys is amazing. The beat keeps you going even as you face the stress of all of the levels.
The first challenge qualifies around 33 to 43 of 60 players. Then the numbers dwindle from there until you are anywhere from a group of 8 to even 4. These numbers vary depending on server issues, if people disconnect and when people die in a challenge. For those that make it to the last round, you get the title of being awesome but you level your character for new outfits through Kudos Coins. You can buy these but they are for cosmetic changes, not speed ups or anything that might give you an edge.
Levels change every round you go, it’s unlikely you will get the same pattern of levels every time you play. Once, I battled two other teams for eggs, and that was mass chaos. Another time I was on a single platform trying not to get knocked off by other players and a huge moving bar that only gives enough space to jump over. These are not always the easiest challenges. Sometimes the determining challenge of victor is simply stealing someone’s tail after 2 minutes of running around. Not all of the levels are single player, a few are team based as well. So work together and maybe get someone that can play defense too.
Since the game is so new and so fun, the servers couldn’t handle everyone wanting to play at first. The company has announced that they are working their hardest to get all of this fixed so that people won’t be disconnected randomly. Other than that hiccup, the game is great to look at, has great music and is challenging yet fun. Fall Guys: Ultimate Knockout keeps the game interesting with their physics based games and team challenges. Definitely worth checking out!
10/10
Available on: PC and PS4