Fall Guys Review: A Battle Royale For A New Age
Fall Guys Review: A Battle Royale For A New Age
"Fall Guys is a family-friendly battle royale and a contender for Game of the Year."
-
Addicting gameplay
-
Familyfriendly
-
Good balance between luck and skill
-
Well structured microtransactions
It's hard to imagine that someone wouldn't fall in love with Fall Guys, a new battle royale that overcomes its shortcomings by offering a unique experience in the genre. The colorful world, charming character designs and rich cosmetics will bring much-needed joy to every gamer.
Unfortunately, the game has some growing issues too, as its immense popularity collided with the fact that its developer, Mediatonic, only has 13 employees. The team has worked tirelessly to iron out bugs, some of which have made certain game types unplayable for a select few players. That said, some of the minor quirks add to the game's charm, and by that I mean, I keep coming back even if I don't think I have a chance to win.
The first family-friendly battle royale
Provided by Devolver Digital
Fall Guys takes inspiration from a variety of sources, but its biggest influences are Wipeout-style TV game shows. Each game or “show” to which the game relates consists of several rounds. Each round is designed to shrink the group of 60 players until there is only one left. While many Battle Royale confrontations can last up to half an hour, depending on the skill of a player, a show in Fall Guys only lasts between 10 and 15 minutes, resulting in an addicting “just one” experience.
I keep coming back even when I don't think I have a chance to win.
The titular Fall guys are the anthropomorphic brightly colored beans that are at the heart of the game. Players can unlock cosmetics through an experienced “Battle Pass” as well as kudos, a game currency that can also be bought with real money and used to purchase additional patterns, colors and costumes for your fall man. There are tons of customization options to choose from so that every character in the game is unique and distinguishable.
Some cosmetics require a premium currency called crowns, although you can't buy it with real money. Crowns are either made available through a select few levels on the Season's Battle Pass, or they are awarded for every show you win. In almost every other battle royale, winning just gets you boastful rights and a points boost. There's more incentive here to win at Fall Guys, making every win even sweeter and every loss more bitter. Overall, Fall Guys has one of the best monetization schemes I've seen in a game so far, and it doesn't feel like Mediatonic and publisher Devolver Digital are keeping you on your toes for better cosmetics.
All of these elements make for the first family-friendly battle royale. To the best of my knowledge, it's the first game in the genre where players don't have to shoot each other to win. Many titles are aimed at an older audience, like PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds and Call of Duty: Warzone, and some are aimed at younger players like Fortnite, but none offer the all-age experience that Fall Guys offers.
Far more hits than failures
Provided by Devolver Digital
Making the game even more accessible to a wider player base is the simplicity of its controls. Aside from moving your character, all you have to worry about is jumping, diving, and grasping. There's no burden to manage or meta-gameplay like building in Fortnite or buying gear in Warzone to deal with. Most cards require all three skills to be used. On the surface, this seems to result in very flat gameplay. The more you play, the more you will find certain strategies and ways to use certain moves that may not have been apparent at first glance.
Fall Guys has one of the best monetization schemes I've seen in a game so far.
For example, in Fall Ball, one of my personal favorites, two teams compete in a Rocket League-style game that tries to hit footballs into the opposing team's goal. At first glance, the only strategy seems to be to jump and dive to hit the ball. However, players began to develop defensive maneuvers by reaching out to opponents to prevent them from reaching the ball at crucial moments. Moves like these show that there is a learning curve in mastering the mechanics of Fall Guys and that there is plenty of room for your skills to grow.
Most of the games are a ton of fun, and personally there are only one or two that I moan about when they show up on the rotation. There are individual and team rounds, each with different goals. Some games will ask you to run to the finish while avoiding obstacles or trying not to be eliminated. Others will ask you to meet certain criteria before a timer expires. There's a lot of variety, which means that each show takes a completely different course.
The team has promised additional levels and cosmetics with each season and has added a new round since the start. However, it would be nice if the games that are out there could be easily customized to create a unique experience. The See Saw level, in which tumble boys race across huge platforms on which the players have to balance, could have a rotation of the placements for the platforms. Instead, it's the same layout for the level at every store. Adjustments like this can make 25 cards feel like hundreds.
Regardless, the game types are fun and haven't exhausted their reception except for Perfect Match. It shows players in a 4 × 4 grid and shows sporadic images of fruit on a handful of the tiles before revealing which fruit players players must stand on before the remaining tiles disappear after a handful of seconds. The game completely ruins the momentum of the show and is easy to go through as you can usually just follow the herd up to the correct tiles. I've been in Perfect Match games where no participants were eliminated. It is hands down the worst type of game.
Provided by Devolver Digital
Backend problems
The real problems with Fall Guys, however, lie in the backend. For the first week, the game was littered with server issues due to its popularity. This meant that many players were unable to connect and the servers for the game were routinely shut down for maintenance. Even if you got into a game, sometimes the rounds would not be playable.
The game Tip Toe, which asks you to use a large grid of tiles to get to the finish line – some for sure, others collapse if you step on it – had a groundbreaking bug for me in the first two weeks of its release. If I moved too fast, I would slide as if the tiles were covered in oil and would constantly fall off the board. Despite my best efforts, I never won a single game of Tip Toe before resolving the issue.
Many of these issues have been fixed and the servers are far more stable than when they were started. However, they are not 100% present, which means that occasionally you may not be able to connect. Last night the connectivity was so bad it was almost like we were playing again on start day. In addition, some massive bugs were not eliminated. In the PC version, players found a way to change the game through their Steam name. Players can see the names of the participants at any time and certain monikers that contain certain words are displayed in giant letters, obscuring the game. So when you play on the PC your name is Fall Guy and it follows four random numbers.
This is especially frustrating if you're playing at a party that up to four players can jump from on a show. When a player is eliminated, he is showing them gameplay of a random Fall Guy, not necessarily one in your party. When everyone is just "Fall Guy ____" it is awkward to switch the camera to the desired person's point of view. Hopefully both this issue and the automatic switch to a party member's perspective will be fixed in the next update, although with such a small team at MediaTonic it is understandable that these issues have not yet been resolved.
However, it is evidence of the game that despite these blatant issues, it is still an experience I have no hesitation in recommending. It has become one of my favorite games of the year.
The zeitgeist around the game adds to the fun
Provided by Devolver Digital
One element outside of the game itself that improves it is its popularity. The game was released in a similar way to Rocket League in that it is free for PlayStation Plus subscribers for a while. There is evidence that more than 10 million people play the game on PlayStation 4. In addition, both the regular and the collector's edition of the PC version have been at the top of the Steam sales charts since launch. It is one of the most, if not often, most watched games on Twitch right now, with hundreds of thousands of viewers.
It is proof of the game that despite glaring issues, it is still an experience I have no hesitation in recommending.
Everyone on my social media is talking about the game and sharing clips of incredible wins or devastating losses. The Fall Guys Twitter account killed him with his posts and is currently auctioning in-game cosmetics to the highest bidder for charity.
The zeitgeist surrounding the game is abundant and it is a joy to be a part of what cannot normally be said about most games. It means you shouldn't wait to play, although the game seems to have many legs for the months and years to come.
Our opinion
Fall Guys is the game of the moment and one of the best titles to be released in 2020.
Is there a better alternative?
There are certainly plenty of other battle royale games out there, none of which are as accessible to such a large number of players as Fall Guys. Super Mario Party is another fun mini-game collection that has the advantage of being on the Switch but is a lackluster experience compared to almost any other type.
How long it will take?
The nice thing about Fall Guys is: how long should it take? I sat down for a game or two or played several hours at a time. The game is still just as much fun, if not more, than my first few rounds. Given the new cosmetics and levels, as well as the growing community surrounding the game, I can confidently say that Fall Guys will stay here.
Should you buy it?
Yes. The nice thing is that if you have PS Plus that you need to play on PS4 anyway, the game will be free until the end of August. The $ 40 price tag on Steam will bring you hours of fun, and the DLC packs that are optional come with some great cosmetics. Do not miss this game.
Editor's recommendations