‘Fall Guys: Ultimate Knockout’: The Trouble with Team Games

Indie game Fall Guys: Ultimate Knockout– from developers Mediatonic– is setting the gaming world on fire at the moment, recently becoming the most downloaded PlayStation Plus game ever, gaining millions of players from across the world and having one of the largest indie game release of all time. Not bad for an indie game. However, the game is not without its issues (what game isn’t after all?). One of the biggest complaints of Fall Guys is the team games. When I first heard about these team games, I thought it was a great way to change up the dynamic of the usual battle royale format. I still believe this, but there are certainly some bugs to be had when it comes to the team game element of Fall Guys.

One of the main issues with team games is the yellow team. Apologies. That was a terrible joke. Although we all know that yellow team are the worst. One of the actual main issues is who you get lumped together with in your team.  I don’t mean to be rude here but I am going to have to say it. If you get thrown into a team with a bunch of incompetent idiots then no matter how well you are doing, your hope for the crown goes out the window. Of course, you have to see things from every perspective when it comes to your teammates. That moron who just scored an own goal in “Fall Ball” may just be an uncoordinated child or a brand new player. I myself have been the moron scoring own goals or incompetently failing to jump through any rings in “Hoopsie Daisy”. But this does come as a bit of a skill level issue. Everyone makes mistakes and so even if there was a system to group players into teams by skill or level, there is no certainty in victory. Fall Guys is a bit of fun at the end of the day so this isn’t a problem that makes the game unplayable. It does, however, sometimes make me want to imbed my controller into the skull of my fellow teammates. In the nicest way possible of course.  

The other problem I have with team games are some of the actual games themselves. Games like the aforementioned “Hoopsie Daisy” and “Jinxed” aren’t too bad but any of the team events that involve manoeuvring large balls (no laughing please) or grabbing other players tails are incredibly frustrating. The ball games are the worst in my opinion as the ball physics are a bit unpredictable so trying to get control of it can be near impossible. When everyone scrambles for the ball, the madness is less hilarious and more infuriating as players tumble over one another in a futile effort to gain some control. The “Egg Scramble” game is also super annoying for so many reasons. Players must race to get eggs into their teams nest, but there will be players who make the game as painful as possible. Some are solely going into the other team’s nests to steal eggs whilst others will just grab at you to stop you from being able to pick up an egg. I understand that this is probably the point: to win the game and get the most eggs by any means necessary. But it comes off as frustrating more than challenging.

The brilliant Twitter account for Fall Guys announced a patch at the end of last week with some team game issues considered. However, it will be interesting to see if Mediatonic go about making somewhat more significant changes to the frustrating nature of team games.