When most gamers hear survival battle royale, they expect to see guns and swords, accompanied by gory slashing and shootings. So, when a game comes with cute looking pinkish minions, it is easy to wave it off as anything but an impressive online role-playing battle royale video game. Up until now, no other game has been able to deviate from the traditional battle royale conception, not to talk of combining a battle royale game with a TV game show-themed video game the way this game had done it. This makes Fall Guys: Ultimate Knockout not only a pioneer among its peers but a fun game as well.

Developed by London based developers, Mediatonic, and published by Devolver Digital, Fall Guys: Ultimate Knockout was released on the 4th of August, 2020. Fall Guys: Ultimate Knockout is a family-friendly survival battle royale video game where the characters are in brightly colored mascot costumes and are pitched against 59 other players in a chaotic battle for survival. The game gives off the feeling of watching a television game show. It draws its inspiration from popular television game shows such as Wipeout, Takeshi’s Castle, It’s Knockout, Wipeout, and Ninja Warrior. Just like in these game shows, players are eliminated until you’re left with only one survivor.

Don’t think that because Fall Guys have a playful game show vibe to it, it means that the game would be a walkover. Do not let the bright colors, lively music, childish minions fool you; Fall Guys offers fun and frustration in equal doses. You will soon discover how difficult it can be to dodge the orange balls in your way, outrun other players to the finish line before you get eliminated. The game makes it easy to get so caught up in it; you may be screaming at your screen in frustration and laughing at your failure at the same time. It’s all fun and games until you are desperate for a win!

First-Class Gameplay In A Bright New World

The game starts with 60 players, dressed in cartooned jellybeans costumes, trying to make it to the finish line in a three-dimensional playing ground. With only three moves: diving, grabbling/climbing, and jumping, you are to scramble across the playground while trying to avoid obstacles or prevent falling into a bucket of slime or just eliminated. The goal is to survive each level, seeing half of the players would be eliminated before the second round. The rounds are selected randomly from a list of over 24 minigames, which last about 15minutes each. The first player to cross the finish line in the final round emerges as the last player standing. 

As earlier mentioned, the game boasts different levels with different types of games and challenges. While some are solo games, others may require a level of teamwork. As of the third season, the game had about 36 levels divided into Races, Survival, Team, and Final.

In the Race, you try to maneuver your way through obstacles and make it to the finish line. Some of the minigames here are Hit parade, gate Crash, Knight Fever, and my personal favorite being the Tip Toe, or is it the Freaky Peak, where you dodge snowballs in your Race to the top of the snowy mountains. The Survival mode is much like the Race levels, the only difference being that you have to make sure you are not eliminated before the time elapses. 

My favorite minigame in this level is the Jump Club; I particularly love shoving other players off the platform. In the team matches, you play as a team with other players, and the goal is to garner more points for your team before the time elapses. The games vary, ranging from Tags to Fall Ball( which feels like a modified game of handball). The final round is usually the toughest, but you can be sure that victory here would see you crowned the winner over 59 other players. The entire game rounds take about 15 to 20 minutes, the effect of it being that you are quickly sucked back into the grind.

Customize Characters And Game Points

Another great feature of this game is that you get to customize your character. Like most battle games with customizable humanistic characters, Fall Guys allows you to select your jellybean minion’s features. You get to select the color, patterns, among other= things. There are also additional costume parts that can be purchased using the in-game currency, Kudos. Thankfully, these items are purely cosmetic at best. This does not go to mean that there are no microtransactions in the game. Kudos can be gotten at the end of each level, or they can be bought, the least pack being the $5 for 12,500 Kudos. Or you could window shop until you have enough Kudos to buy the costume you want.

I’m not too fond of it when I see microtransactions in a retail game. Even though the amount may be small, I see no need to buy customs packs with actual money if I am going to pay for the game in the first place. But then this trend is fast becoming popular, especially amongst battle royale games.

Still, in the spirit of talking about the game’s downsides, I have to admit that the game has very few downsides. Apart from the initial server issues experienced at the launch of the game, this largely due to the over 1.7million people trying to log on one the first day. The game runs pretty smoothly. Although, I would have loved to have a much larger lobby where you can enter the same game with your friends, instead of the limit of 4 player parties put by the developers.

Our Verdict

In general, Fall Guys is an amazing family-friendly battle royale game. Everything is designed to be fun and appealing to all ages. Although it could get tiring after a while, a few hours a day of Fall Guys would be enough. Amid the chaos and rumble to fit into tiny gaps, avoid obstacles, score points, Race to the finish line, the game requires a level of strategy and patience. Now available on mobile, you can enjoy the Day-Glo-style cartoon world of Fall Guys on the go.