Fall Guys is a knockout party game

Video games don’t have to be complicated, dark, gritty or violent to be fun.

Fall Guys: Ultimate Knockout. Source: Supplied.

Video games don’t have to be complicated, dark, gritty or violent to be fun. Quite the opposite in fact, which might be why this game has made quite a colourful splash in the gaming scene following its launch last week.

Fall Guys: Ultimate Knockout is developed by Mediatonic and published by Devolver Digital for PC and PlayStation 4.

The lift pitch is simple: It’s a multiplayer-player online obstacle course drawing inspiration from TV shows like It’s a Knockout and Total Wipeout.

You guide your character – a jelly bean-like competitor – through a range of delightful, brightly coloured obstacle courses and games, with the object of surviving multiple rounds and being crowned the victor.

Fall Guys: Ultimate Knockout. Source: Supplied.

Each “Show” starts with 60 competitors and is made up of several rounds, where a number of competitors are eliminated – and the winner gets to claim the crown (which can be used to claim new outfits) and enjoy the satisfaction of being a winner.

The obstacles and games are a lot of fun, and there’s plenty of variety. One round you might be trying to balance on a beam and avoid swinging lollipop-shaped pendulums, while in another you and your teammates are working together to get a oversized football in the other’ teams goal, and in another round you have to stay ahead of an ever-rising pool of slime.

The game is unadulterated, unpretentious silly fun and it’s an absolute delight to play. Even when you spectacularly fail and get hit by a propeller blade and thrown into a different part of the course, or lose your balance and fall into a pit of slime, it’s hard not to laugh about it.

The game clearly isn’t taking itself seriously, either, with plenty of wacky customisable costumes, outfits and colour schemes on the field during each round.

The rounds are fairly quick and there isn’t much waiting between “shows” so even when you do get eliminated, you can get back into things pretty quickly.

There’s no violence, no blood, no gore, no swearing – you can’t communicate with the other players in-game, unless you and some friends have set up a private chat server to talk among yourselves – and it’s the good kind of family-friendly fun that doesn’t feel patronising, either.

The music matches the bright, upbeat graphics and adds to the experience, too. It’s a really well put together package that doesn’t overcomplicate itself.

Despite the simple premise and controls, the game is surprisingly challenging and there’s some physics at play too – a mistimed leap that gets caught by a rotating beam can throw a Fall Guy back into the competitors behind them, bowling them over like skittles and wreaking havoc.

In a strange kind of way Fall Guys is a game where the other players are part of the randomness – for example, there is a level where you must make your way across tilting seesaw platforms and whether or not you succeed often depends on how other players are causing the platforms to tilt; and that’s not to mention players deliberately knocking you out of the way so they can get ahead too.

Fall Guys: Ultimate Knockout. Source: Supplied.

It’s all good clean fun, however, and the game has become a runaway success since its launch, to the point where the servers have overloaded on occasion.

It’s such a simple, fun, enjoyable and wholesome game there isn’t much to criticise, except some of the camera angles can be a bit difficult and make it see what you’re doing in a tight spot, and when everyone is crowded into one area it can be a bit chaotic and hard to work out what’s happening.

Surprisingly, there doesn’t appear to be a couch co-op mode at present either, which is surprising given the game’s obvious party/family appeal.

Overall, Fall Guys: Ultimate Knockout is a fantastic and enjoyable party game that’s easy to pick up and play, to drop in an out of, and doesn’t ask much of you beyond that you have a good time while you play it – and I was certainly happy to oblige.