Fall Guys: Ultimate Knockout PS4 Review

If you haven’t heard of Fall Guys: Ultimate Knockout by now, you have obviously been living on another planet under a very large rock, and possibly in another galaxy. In a short time, this twist on the popular Battle Royale genre has swiftly proven to have mass appeal to a very large audience, and when it comes to the PS4 version, adding it as a PlayStation Plus game was obviously part of this appeal. As I write this, I have just heard that it’s now officially the most downloaded PS4 game ever on PlayStation Plus, which is quite the feat. Placing it on PlayStation Plus was a good decision in order to reel players in, although I think Fall Guys has the potential to remain popular for a very, very long time. 

Fall Guys’ universal appeal is most likely due to both its simplicity as well as just how fun it is to play. I think its lighthearted silliness is also something that would have drawn people to it, as there’s a ridiculousness to it that definitely attracts curiosity. Whatever the reason, Fall Guys is a phenomenon that has got millions of people playing, watching and talking about it. 

Firstly, let’s talk the look of the game. This itself is ridiculous, but is also family friendly with its customisable bean characters, and colourful, quirky visuals. Because of its unpredictable nature of what might happen next in each and every round, it’s also a game that is just as fun to watch as it is to play, and it’s also a game that has tons of personality. 

When it comes to how it plays, Fall Guys sort of reminds me of Gladiators, although it is often compared to the likes of Takeshi’s Castle. It has up to 60 players going up against each other through up to five rounds, with players being eliminated at the end of each round, and these madcap rounds are largely fun, silly, and chaotic. 

Fall Guys has 25 different events, with events being randomly selected in each session. Obviously, I’m not going to mention all 25 games in this review, but I’ll mention a few of the standout ones. Some good examples include Door Dash, which is a race to the finishing line and has you smashing through lines of doors, although the problem is that some of these doors are fake and just have you crashing into and bumping off them as opposed to through them, which means it’s also important to be observant to see if others have managed to get through a door, allowing you to follow them through. See Saw is another race game, which has giant seesaws to contend with, with the potential of lots of players spilling off them, forcing a respawn. There’s also obstacle courses such as Whirlygig, which presents you with spinning obstacles to avoid, and with the amount of players that get whipped around the place in this event, this is definitely one of the most chaotic ones. Roll Out meanwhile has you staying on a rolling platform as long as possible, and if you fall you are eliminated from the game. 

Above are just a few examples, but Fall Guys also has some team games. This includes Team Tail Tag, which has you fighting opposing teams to take control of tails, and then run around to avoid other players, with the lowest scoring team when the round time reaches zero being eliminated. Egg Scramble has you and your team mates carrying eggs to your own coloured zone in order to score points, while Fall Ball is basically a version of football, although with two giant footballs in play instead of one. Finally, Hoopsie Daisy has you and your team mates attempting to jump and dive through rings, scoring you points when you do so. 

As you can imagine with all of the above mentioned rounds, there’s mountains of fun to be had in these games, and the unpredictable physics of all the beans interacting with each other just adds to the chaotic silliness as well as the entertainment value. In all of the 25 available events, I can only really think of one real dud, that being Perfect Match. This round is basically a memory test, which has players having to be on a particular fruit square each time the clock counts down, although lazy players can just simply stick with the crowd of beans. It’s the round where the least players are often eliminated, and it just pales in comparison to every other round in the game. 

As for other flaws, the jumping seems slightly unresponsive on occasion, meaning it feels a little unfair when you plummet off a platform at times. Also, the developer is seemingly always listening to their community, and have made improvements in various areas, although perhaps solo and team based games should be split up into separate playlists, as it can also feel a little unfair if you get eliminated due to the failings of your team as opposed to your own gameplay. There are also server issues from time to time, which slow down an otherwise fast paced game. 

The above are small issues in this ever evolving racing and platforming hybrid though, and it’s exciting to see what types of events and features will be added to the game over time. The chaotic unpredictability and the always fun nature of the game means that I can see this being one that many will be playing for a long time. Just make sure to always keep a look out for those obstacles.