Sometimes, small games that come from humble beginnings can make it big. Just look at Limbo, Super Meat Boy and Minecraft — all of which has grown to become some of the most popular games around (ahem… Minecraft).
And we’re expecting the new title to do a similar thing — Fall Guys: Ultimate Knockout is the newest party-mode title available on a bunch of platforms that takes the well-known Takeshi’s Castle gameshow and Total Wipeout and turns it into something you need to experience to understand. The best part? PS Plus subscribers are able to download it for free until the end of August. You reckon it could be the next Rocket League?
The game gives each player a thumb-like character and dumps them into a random selection of obstacle courses dressed in a Mr Blobby suit. The trick? You’re fighting for survival against 59 other thumbs.
Each ‘Show’ starts with 60 contestants but a bunch are eliminated at the end of each round, until the final few face off for a chance to be crowned champion. How far you get in each one determines how much Kudos you earn, which can be exchanged for outfits to make your Fall Guy stand out from the crowd.
Fall right in
Well, 2 million sales on Steam in its first week? Clearly Fall Guys has been a major hit since launch. But even more tellingly, it only takes a matter of minutes to get hooked.
With a total of 25 minigames, the game keeps you on your toes. Just climb a hill without getting caught by a rising tide of slime, make your way from A to B across a grid of randomly disintegrating tiles, stay on top of a revolving platform as various obstacles approach – easy right? Well, not if you’re competing with another crowd of thumbs with the same objective.
One false move can send you back to the start or eliminate you completely, potentially snatching defeat from the jaws of victory.
And the downsides?
Fall Guys’ massive popularity has meant some people have struggled to join games recently, and PC players have reported a few cheats using third-party software that allows them to hack their way through some of the obstacles. Which isn’t ideal.
Another thing: Some of the minigames are also team-based, but with no way to communicate with your teammates. This could make it harder to actually work together and devise proper strategy, but from our experience, this game doesn’t rely on strategy as much as chaotic fun. Once you’ve grabbed your own tail in Tail Tag, for example, there’s not much you can do to help out anyone else, so if your team is eliminated it can feel a little futile.
Another issue we encountered in SA, is that server lag can mean a terrible loss for you or your team. In the aforementioned Tail Tag game is the worst by far, sometimes rendering it impossible to grab a tail when you’re up in the other thumb’s space. This gives people down-under a real disadvantage.
Just get it
Fall Guys costs just R130 on Steam, but R320 on PS4, although if you’re a PS Plus member, as long as you get it added to your library before the end of the month it’s yours to keep while your subscription is still active.
