The Battle Royale genre has taken over the world of gaming recently. A genre that is defined for it’s “survival of the fittest” premise. From jumping out of a battle bus in Fortnite to calling in precision airstrikes in Call of Duty: Warzone, battle royale has taken the world by storm. While the objective is merely surviving amongst the 100 or so players dropped into an open world. Fall Guys does something entirely different for its battle royale approach. You will trade in your hardened battle gear of weapons and armor for a cute color pattern and adorable costumes. Exchange the hostile wasteland environment for a more colorful and wacky obstacle course filled with giant doors and seesaws. Fall Guys is one of those titles that is unique and adds innovation to the battle royale genre.
Fall Guys, while fun and addicting, does has some elements to it that may leave you frustrated at times. The game has a lot to offer while including playful ideas and innovations to keep the game fresh and enjoyable. Included are pros and cons to this wacky and ambitious title that keeps you engaged with its creative themes and lovable charm.
A Different Type Of Royale
While considered a battle royale game, Fall Guys is far from the traditional run and gun formula, more like all run and no gun at all. No storms are chasing you, no footsteps to listen to, or need to shoot anyone. There is nothing except having fun jumping and diving to get to the end of an elaborate obstacle course with up to sixty other participants. There over 20 plus events to participate in. The events are both engaging and awarding as you qualify through each round. The objective is simple but challenging. There are different event types you will have to go through to reach the elusive golden crown.
The primary event being a race that pits you against others to reach the finish line before elimination. There are other event types like survival, where you have to survive amongst opponents and avoid the dreaded slime. Some hunting events utilize the grab feature to snag tails away from players. Logic events rely on memorization and quick thinking to succeed. Each event type shakes up the formula and offers something new and challenging for players to tackle.
Let’s Talk Minigames
Race
Amongst the events mentioned above, there are a handful of minigames to represent each genre. Race events each offer some unique twist or theme for players to handle. In Dizzy Heights, you spin around circles to make it to the next platform while Door Dash is not a race of who can deliver food faster, but more of guessing which door is breakable to proceed through. In comparison, Tip Toe has a heavy reliance on guessing and luck to figure out which platform is the safest to walk on. It becomes more hectic because there is a lot of bunching up due to players being afraid of falling. However, some brave souls are willing to take the risk and potentially fall to their doom.
These lead to some pretty hilarious moment from being flown across the platforms to being knocked left and right like a wacky inflatable balloon. However, happy smiles and laughs can quickly turn into frowny faces and throwing your controller out the window due to Fall Guy’s wacky physics that may work in your favor or harm your progression. It’s easy to be in first place; only miss a jump and begin falling behind as a result. You may win one race easily but struggle in another. It’s all by chance and skill, as well as a bit of luck to advance.
Survival
The same can be said for survival events. Jump Club is quite simply a Fall Guy’s version of Wipeout, where you jump over a rotating beam. Its a relatively simple and easy minigame unless you play Jump Showdown, which shakes things up a bit by having platforms fall off as the game progresses. There is Block Party that feels like your dodging Tetris blocks as you move and jump over the incoming obstacles to survive. With survival, you also have to be aware of your opponents, which may grab you are trip you up.
Hunting
Hunting comes in the form of a “capture the tail” type of objective. It’s mostly played on a 4-way team tail tag or the final event stage, which could be a drag to play. While the team element could still eliminate you even if you have a tail, the last event Royal Fumble is strategic and a bit frustrating. Sometimes I would grab another person on accident or missing the tail entirely even when touching them. Vice-visa, opponents can sometimes snag my tail without even touching me. It’s critical in the final stage, and issues could occur like these that make you roll your eyes, especially as time is running out. Players can quickly get in your way, and the camera can be an issue at times as you are moving around the course.
Logic
Logic is one of the fun and frantic modes that is a nail bitter. Perfect Match is a simple game of matching the fruit on the screen with the platform you stay on to survive. This is quite easy even if you don’t pay attention because a group of players will gravitate towards the exact fruit.
Let’s Team Up Or Not?
(Ingame Image Source)
The biggest downfall for Fall Guys is the team objective events. Here, you must cooperate with random teammates to qualify. It’s a great concept, but weak in execution. While you could dominate in the solo events, the momentum is instantly gone when placed in a team event. It’s easy to lose these events even if you are trying your hardest to succeed. Some players may slack off or even troll, which would lead to the eventual elimination of everyone on that team.
I feel this is unfair to those who try to succeed only to fall short. I would often do well in the races and survival events by myself. Only to lose in a game of Egg Scramble because the other two teams were ganging up on my team, or no one bothered to defend the goals in Fall Ball. A great alternative would have been to have team play as it’s own separate game mode to avoid these issues.
Collectibles and Customization
Part of Fall Guy’s charm is its colorful and adorable characters. They almost seem like Pop! vinyl figures by how they look. Your character can be customized any way you like from the color palette, patterns, head, bottoms, and face. As well as some cool emotes. All these customization options can be earned through playing and leveling up to earn an in-game currency called Kudos and earning Crowns by winning. There you can shop for current daily items to deck out your character. There are also unlockable cosmetic items through 40 levels of the Season One award system. Microtransactions are also available as well if you want to go that route, offering expansion packs, costumes, and more currency.
Overall
Overall, Fall Guys is a fun experience to behold. It holds up a stand out in the battle royale genre. While it’s charming on the surface, it can be frustrating at times, especially when you have to rely on random teammates to succeed. Fall Guys has a simple control scheme that matches up perfectly with wacky and diverse obstacle courses. It makes you feel like a participant in a bizarre Japanese game show.
In contrast, some elements are great, such as the customization features, fun course designs, and the game’s overall appeal. It’s hindered by some questionable minigame choices that suck the momentum out of an otherwise strong indie title. Fall Guys has a ton of potential for more fun and innovative minigames to include in future updates. It has high replay value, even though getting that elusive golden crown is no walk in the park. However, the game keeps me hooked with its delightful themes and happy-go-lucky appeal.
I look forward to diving more into the colorful world of its adorable characters and wacky mayhem.
Fall Guys is available for Playstation 4 and Steam
Review Summary
Fall Guys is a fun experience to behold. It holds up a stand out in the battle royale genre. While it’s charming on the surface, it can be frustrating at times, especially when you have to rely on random teammates to succeed. Fall Guys is easy to play, yet hard to master the obstacles that may challenge you along the way. Its fun and creative look and anesthetic are appealing enough to play for the elusive golden crown.
