Fall Guys: Ultimate Knockout

(Available for PlayStation 4 and PC)
(PC version used for review)

Fall Guys is an online battle royal game which mimics the contests of Japanese gameshow Takeshi’s Castle andhas generated quite a buzz online with many influencers and reviewers streaming the game. obviously I couldn’t ignore it since it would be a talking point but can a game worth £!5 be able to take attention away from players on systems that largely house a wide range of Online games which are both to free with microtransactions like Fortnite or require a subscription like Overwatch. The question I asked was would this be game I would largely play online multiplayer for on regular basis like I do with Splatoon 2 and Overwatch. Well after owning the game for a weekend and doing several matches I can say that this is going to be an really good game to repetivly play online that will create a community. you play 5 rounds of mini games against 59 other players and will occasionally team up though most games are every person for themselves with several players being eliminated each round. the minigames are randomly generated though most are races to the finish whilst avoiding obstacles though there are games of tag and various ball games

Pros

• Gameplay: it’s very addictive and I found myself playing way more matches than I expected to play and it was a really competitive game. it helps that each mini game is short and most don’t last more than 3 minutes so they go at a good brisk pace and the variety of minigames make repeat goes worth it.
• Art style: I like the art style of the game which really stands out and gives it an distinct image
• controls: while I wasn’t a fan of keyboard and mouse controls, when I plugged in a controller they worked really well and suited the game. trust me if you get eliminated it’s not the controls fault
• servers work well: apparently it was struggling with demand in the first weekend but I never had trouble getting in a game and it was always really quick and easy

Mixed

• the camera: was good most of time but was a bit finnicky in others

Cons

• DLC is way too expensive for what you get: you can get some cosmetic passes but if you do you’re pay £8 each for a few hats and skins and I’ve seen these types of packs for half the price
• Soundtrack is a distractingly similar to Splatoon: this is a minor critsism but there are quite a few songs that make me really think they ripped of Splatoon
• Pretty predatory microtransactions: the level of microtransactions for cosmetics would’ve felt predatory if this was a free game but the fact it’s a £15 games aimed at a younger audience is even worse. You don’t even get much good stuff for it the cosmetics that are in the DLC packs are way better and good luck earning the money through in game achievements they pay out so minimally you would have to play a ridiculous amount to afford anything.
• Games repeat a little too often: there’s a total of 24 minigames but over quite few hours of gameplay I didn’t see all the games an think I only played about half at most. I think the servers need to be more randomized than they actually are. I played see saw and tail tag way more than I expected to and was surprised at the sheer number of minigames when I looked online

Overall thoughts

Fall Guys is a pretty repetitive but addictive game with good controls and games that really got me to enjoy an online battle royal which is no easy feat. However the lack of reward left me with not as much reason to compete, by contrast Splatoon 2 is also very repetitive but the in game rewards make competing and experimenting with different combinations really worth doing. this is a game that is clearly going to get a lot of free updates so this one will only get better as time goes on but the microtransactions also left me with a bad tatse. Don’t get me wrong I had fun and I think people should give it a go when they have a chance though go in with tempered expectations I don’t think this is the next really take over the world with it’s popularity game like Fortnite or Apex but I wouldn’t mind being proved wrong about it.

Score: 7/10

It’s digital only and would say your enjoyment will depend on how much you enjoy wackier online multiplayer games as opposed to competitive ones. Also save your money with microtransactions and dlc it’s really not worth.