Fall Guys: Ultimate Knockout Review (PC, PS4)

When PUBG helped skyrocket the battle royale genre, just about every video game company wanted a piece of the pie releasing their own fps battle royale games. Falls Guys does something unique though, it's made by a smaller studio and it takes the popular multiplayer genre, adds a bit of charm to it, and makes it arguably one of the most original battle royale games that shockingly has nothing to do with weaponry.

Imagine if America Ninja Warrior or Wipeout became a battle royale video game, alright got that image in your head, now imagine all the characters are short chibi characters that look like smoothed out Naru from Ori and the Blind Forest. That's Fall Guys and it's a delightful time.

Upon starting a game, you're thrown into a queue of 60 people that over time, will slowly decrease down to the last person standing through a series of mini-games. The first few games typically act as obstacle courses, running down the map and trying to be around the first 40 people to cross the finish line while dodging all the obstacles coming at you.

It a race to the finish line, dodging obstacles, other players, and the derpy movement of your character. In terms of your toolset, all you can really do is run, dive jump, or grab people. It's a simple move set that makes picking up and playing, a much more approachable experience to anyone diving into their 10th battle royale this year or their first.

It's a straight forward game, with simple controls but ever-changing mini-games that make every experience a blast. Early games have you working alone, trying to simply qualify to get to the next round. I tried playing both with mouse and keyboard and an Xbox controller, without a doubt the controller feels like a much better and accurate experience.

Especially when you start to fight the rest of the players. After every round, the players left decreases for the next round. These next few games are much more competitive and interesting mini-games. These maps occasionally cater to more team-based gameplay like dividing the remaining players into a game of soccer or a game of collecting objects.

That sense of coordination with these derpy looking characters and their movement is easily some of the most frustrating but hilarious fun I've had in a multiplayer game. Something I noticed too was that this gameplay loop while fun can come off shallow after a long period of time.

There's a handful of games to play each round, but after playing for both of the beta weekends for long periods of time, I start the notice the constant rotation of games and do feel a longing for new types of games. In short bursts, I don't feel it that much and so I think currently this game caters more towards playing in short bursts than long periods of time.

Fall Guys has such a vibrant color pallet to it that I think lends to its charming aesthetic. These fall guys are adorable and customizable with the accessories you unlock from playing multiple rounds. Their derpy movement, while hilariously frustrating at times, is so darn cute.

In comparison to more realistic battle royale games like PUBG and Call of Duty, the cute nature of it all helps make it feel a bit more forgiving or charming enough to go back for another round after your 20th loss for the night. At least when I lose here it's pretty funny and cute.

I've lost count the amount of times I've said just one more, let's run it back. Fall Guys has a pretty solid soundtrack that feels like it'd come out off a Splatoon game. The tracks are peppy, bangers and absolute get the adrenaline and dopamine running.

I found myself constantly humming the music in the background as I fell off the hexagon map for the 20th time that night. Along with the music is the adorable little sounds of the fall guys. They almost sound like Pikmin but come off way more adorable.

Hearing them squeak as I got knocked off the stage certainly made the possible frustration go away. Fall Guys is the next must-play battle royale game that demonstrates what is possible when you take the battle royale genre beyond guns. It's adorable, fun to play, and a hilariously good time alone or with friends.