PAX Aus 2019 - Hands on with Fall Guys: Ultimate Knockout
One of the games that I loved at E3 2019 was Fall Guys: Ultimate Knockout, with developers Media Tonic providing an amazing way to open the show, plus there was that amazing trailer. With it making an appearance at PAX Australia, I knew I had to play it again, and once again, I am very glad that I did.
If you are not yet aware of what Fall Guys is all about, it is basically you versus 99 jelly bean shaped people, in Mario Party mini-games that are blended with Takeshi’s Castle style antics, with the ultimate goal, being the first person to collect a crown at the top of a mountain. Initially I thought it was just one giant map and it was a free for all, but I am thankful for the breaks, as it makes the level of chaos increase more and more, as the body count grows higher and higher.
What I played at E3 was more or less what was on show here, though there were some new minigames included and of course there was a host of differences. The new games were welcome as they provided something new, but still managed to maintain that zaniness that the others imprinted on the first playthrough. One of the games is basically that Tetris body game, once again started in Japan, though as the Jelly guys are not the nimblest, you thankfully don’t have to match a shape, just make it to the hole in the wall. The catch is that you are not the only one going for the space and sometimes, the gap is not wide enough for the number of Fall Guys trying to get into it and speaking with one of the developers, they did mention it is entirely possible to have everyone fall off the platform in this game.
The other one was safe, compared to the other new addition, the game is all about collecting eggs from the middle of the map and working with the team you are assigned to, with the team with the lowest score eliminated. The catch is that your eggs are not safe, so you have to keep the other teams from stealing your eggs, giving you two things to do, of course at the show like PAX, it was possible to work with people near you, if you are on the same team, but who knows how that will play out in the final game.
When the final round came around, I lost, someone, somehow blazed up the mountain and claimed the crown, which was a surprise, but it was still just a mental as when I first played it. Speaking with the devs, they did admit that games in the office are just as crazy as one would expect and while the game still has no release date, they are making great strides in the development of it. When you think Devolver Digital, you normally thing bloody and hardcore action, so a game like this is honestly a shock, but it is one of those welcome ones and I hope they deliver more shocks as we lead up to release.
