Fall Guys: Ultimate Knockout

If you're anything like me, you probably had no idea that Fall Guys: Ultimate Knockout was coming to a PlayStation 4 or PC near you until it actually happened. Offered for free in August's PS+ monthly giveaways (you can still jump on it until the end of the month!), I likely would have normally skipped this just by judging a book on its cover. 

In a gaming year dominated by The Last of Us Part II, new consoles, Modern Warfare and Warzone, and the upcoming Cyberpunk, it's easy to see why Fall Guys almost felt like a lightning rod moment...largely because it was. Quickly after its release, hilarious "fail" videos started emerging online of the adorable, chubby beans running around uber-colorful environments. It was a party game a la something like Mario Party mixed with the Battle Royale craze of tons of players eventually funneling down to a single winner. 

On paper, it's a genius idea. 

In practice, I've found that Fall Guys is one of the most supremely confusing games I've played in a while. No, not the gameplay itself...that's as straight forward as they come. But for the life of me, I cannot decide if I love it or hate it.

SeeSaw gets a lot of hate. I can see why,
but I actually like it

I should preface this review - as I do many reviews - with the asterisk that I'm almost positive this game will change and evolve over time. It's tailor made for longevity and the developers interacting with the community on feedback, ideas, and fixes. That's awesome and it's probably what gets me the most excited about this game. But (!), I can't judge a game based off what might happen or its potential outlook so this review focuses on the game as it stands now across the handful of hours I've put into it since its wild opening weekend a couple weeks back. 

Fall Guys is a cool concept. Almost everyone loves those party games where you can play dozens of minigames with your friends and they don't have to be hardcore gamers to succeed. A couple button presses here and there and some general analog stick usage and they'll be fine. It's a good way for the gaming community to expand its reach. Fall Guys is similar in that sense. There's movement, a jump button, a dive button, and some games require a "grab" button. Four things to manage in total. Then it designs all of its minigames off that starting point. Before going down that rabbit hole, know that Fall Guys' simplicity is one of its best assets. It's an easy game to pick up and get into and generally speaking, it's easy to know what you should be doing to win/survive each round. 

Tip Toe: can either be the round where you survive
without much problem or throw your controller through a wall

Where Fall Guys stumbles - and where the internet is torn in opinion, it would seem - is the balance between chaos and skill that comes with party games. All those moments in other party games where the "randomness" acts for or against you, are present here in many game modes. Some claim that's part of the fun. Others, like myself, think that some degree of chaos is fun, but too much can make a game not even worth your time. Fall Guys walks that line as if it were a tightrope balanced 1000 feet in the air (and it's where the developers will need to act/listen quickly if they don't want their game to be that "flash in a pan" gaming event). Take, for example, team-based games. Fall Guys is organized in a series of rounds that you must survive through to get to the final one where you have the chance to win. Within these 4-6 different rounds, there's often a team game snuck in where you're no longer an individual, but relying on a team to complete XYZ objective. I cannot tell you how many mind-bogglingly-frustrating times I have gotten eliminated from a series because of a team event. I'm not claiming that I'd have a bunch of crowns (Fall Guys' wins) to my name if that wasn't the case but I'd venture to say I get eliminated by a team event 80% of the time, potentially greater. Fall Guys makes it easy to jump back in when you're eliminated, but going through the same song and dance 3-4 times in a row would force me to quit almost immediately and transition to something more calming, like Ghost of Tsushima (review coming soon!). Some gamers would claim that's half the fun and that team-based games eliminate the skilled players so everyone has a chance. 

Egg Scramble. What else can I say other
than it's garbage? Straight up delete it!

I call bulls**t. I think team-based games would be worth while (and some are very fun) but only once the game's mechanics are perfected and non-contributors to teams are spread evenly based on statistics. Games like Egg Scramble, where your team must collect, hoard, and steal as many eggs as you can against 2 other teams are so broken that it's almost dumb luck to win. The grab mechanic is trash and jumping with eggs is frustratingly under-calculated. Recently, I played a round of Hoopsie Daisy where your team must jump through the most hoops in a given period against 2 other teams. Out of my team's total I supplied at least 40% of our points as a single contributor and yet we still lost. Why? Because I was paired with either people who didn't know what to do or who didn't have the smallest amount of talent to jump their bean through a hoop. Sound hilarious? It is, in a sense, but it's also the mark of a potential curse the game has where - if I get enough of these experiences - I'm just not going to play anymore. I understand that sounds childish (and it's not much of a threat), but when you consider I'm not the only one, it becomes a much larger issue. My anecdotes may be just that, but multiple individuals having the same anecdotes is indicative of a larger trend. 

Also a large issue is Fall Guys inability to have controlled randomness. There are 25 total minigames and for the last week or so before this review I'd firmly claim that I've seen probably the same 12-14 over and over and over again. Part of that is likely because of my early eliminations by team games, but even still some of the team games I haven't seen for the better part of a week. This issue causes Fall Guys to not only get frustrating, but boring, very quickly. As humorous as it is to see Whirlygig, after the 4th or 5th time in a night, it feels like going through the motions. And all for what? So I can get to a team game and lose? Now you can start to see why quitting (fine, call it rage quitting) is so very easy. This issue in particular sucks because I feel like I've not even experienced the full game. I know I've played through each game at least once but that's the point - some have been only once. 

Hex-a-gone has been the base of some rage for me, but is probably
the most strategic one there is. One of my favorites

I know that I'm being critical of Fall Guys, probably more than I should, but, it's because there's something really special here. It's just partially broken in a handful of ways. There's lots of wonderful elements, many of which are responsible for making this the new gaming phenomenon seemingly overnight. The bean characters are hilarious and cute, ripe for an endless supply of costumes that ought to be in constant demand. Once we start getting licensed ones like Marvel or Star Wars, I can only imagine how funny some of them will be. Captain America Fall Guy, anyone? Or perhaps Baby Yoda? Additionally, outside of a few server issues on my first day, I've found Fall Guys to be reliable and without much lag. Others may have had different experiences but given that the development team didn't know it would take off as much as it did, the technical support is solid. Then you just have the general design and burst of color that comes with this game. It's one of those that you play and the music, design, colors, and environment come together and make it feel like it has the makings of a classic - or that it's some series that has perfected its aesthetic over the years. Having 60 beans all funnel and bump into each other on a bright neon green and blue platform as a bright pink rod spins trying to knock you off into the abyss not only creates plenty of laughs, but it feels genuinely fun. 

At the end of the day, I'll keep dropping into Fall Guys to play a couple rounds. I'll do so because the potential for something truly great is so close here and from what I've seen so far, the developers are highly engaged with the community. As it stands right now, there's a little too much chaos, too many team games, and not enough variety in the minigames to make this something I can praise from the mountaintops. I imagine some (or many) would disagree with me - and perhaps it's just my "luck of the draw"? Either way I see Fall Guys as almost pure potential energy at the moment. Take too long to fix some glaring issues and it'll fall right off the map once the fall's big games start to hit. Address things quickly and keep creating new material and we could be looking at a new game-changing entry in the gaming community. 

CONS

• Party games need chaos and skill. I find Fall Guys to have too much of the former
• Team games are mostly trash and should be re-thought from the ground up. They should not be the reason I get eliminated 80% of the time, especially if I'm contributing
• Broken mechanics whenever the "grab" button is needed. It's sticky, laggy, and shockingly awful in a game that otherwise has pretty well designed mechanics
• Whatever algorithm decides matches is off. There are 25 events, yet I'm playing the same 12, regardless of how deep in the round I go
• I'd like there to be far more customization at the get-go. It's fun to level up for costumes and colors, but it can take a while to do that and otherwise, there's not many design options for your bean
• Lack of "vs AI" option so you can practice specific rounds

PROS

• Is addicting in the most sneaky of ways. It allows you to hop back in quickly once eliminated and keeps enticing you to play in search of getting that rare crown
• Most of the survival or race (i.e. non team-based) rounds are a blast
• Can be hilarious. The cute, chubby bean characters are a riot
• Endlessly colorful with great aesthetic design and catchy up-beat music
• Simple and easy to pick up, but with room to master
• Given my rage at times, I have to remember I got this FREE from PS+. Hard to complain knowing that
• Has endless potential. Imagine a Fall Guys a year from now where the community has voted on the top rounds to keep or throw away every season. What we're left with is 50+ awesome, fun, balanced mini-games that the community [mostly] loves. Fingers crossed that this is the direction the developers want to go with it

Rath's Review Score | 7.5/10