Fall Guys: Ultimate Knockout

Fall Guys: Ultimate Knockout is a platforming battle royale game developed by Mediatonic. Up to 60 players control jellybean-like creatures to compete against each other in a series of challenges like obstacle courses or tag.

Why It's Qualified

 * 1) The idea of an online multiplayer game centered around a game show-like universe sounds like an interesting concept. Even for battle royale standards.
 * 2) The graphics in the game have a cartoonish, colorful, and cute look that is pleasing to the eyes of those who play it. It's almost equivalent to candy.
 * 3) There are many different rounds you can participate in during the gameplay. Each of the games is different from one another. Many of the rounds are related to different varieties of competition consisting of race, survival, hunt, logic, and team. Turns out that they are fun to play on due to the challenge. The best part about the main game is how it's randomized meaning that it keeps the fun challenge of a typical game show.
 * 4) There are cosmetics based on licensed media like Half-Life, Godzilla, Team Fortress 2, Sonic the Hedgehog, DOOM, Ratchet & Clank, Cuphead, Among Us, Untitled Goose Game, Ninja (Richard Tyler Blevins), MrBeast, Tron, NieR: Automata, Disney's The Jungle Book, etc.
 * 5) Kudos are obtained by simply doing well in rounds, being used in rewards during seasons, external promotions, and buying them with real money. The cost of buying Kudos isn't so bad. They can range from $4.99 with the largest amount being $49.99. The game makes the Kudos be given out very frequently.
 * 6) * Another currency is Tokens. They are used to complete challenges in time-limited Live Events. You can use these to get certain exclusive rewards. For instance, you can get rewards based on Ratchet & Clank with your tokens if you have enough.
 * 7) * Season 4 introduced Crown Shards. To earn them, complete daily challenges or win an episode of Squads Show, Squads Duos, or Squads Trios. Earning 60 will give you at least 1 crown.
 * 8) * Speaking of Crowns, they are another currency to buy items from the in-game shop. The only way to get them is by winning shows, receive them as a reward for leveling up during a Season, external promotions (Prime Gaming), and surveys. Depending on the difficulty, some shows might reward you more or less than one Crown for winning.
 * 9) Normally, the game hosts new seasons every 2 months. When a new season comes, a new theme and additional content every season (like new rounds). You got themes related to stuff including the medieval era or the future.
 * 10) The game supports cross-platform compatibility for all versions. It was a huge priority for the game according to Mediatonic.
 * 11) Simple yet fun gameplay. All you have to do is participate in various challenges like a game show. Not to mention that the controls are easy to understand.
 * 12) Funky soundtrack. The OST in this game is so exciting to listen to that you just want to use these tunes to play at an epic birthday party or so.
 * 13) The character designs for the Fall Guys are wholesome. What else is there to say given their schematic nature.
 * 14) Because of its wacky nature, the game can be hilarious to play due to the physics and nature. From having to control your character to even failing somehow.
 * 15) A huge variety of customization for this game. You can design your very own fall guy however you want from a huge assortment of costumes, patterns, colors, emotes, and what have you. Banners and Nicknames can also be used for customization.
 * 16) If you get eliminated, you have the option to watch the remaining of the game as if it was an actual game show. Losing isn't all that bad, right?
 * 17) Around September 2020 the game prevents cheaters from being part of the game meaning that it has an anti-cheat system.
 * 18) The leveling-up system the game has is called Fame. Each time you earn Fame, your Season level will increase. To get fame, do well in rounds, or complete daily challenges. Depending on the level of fame you have, you can get stuff like Kudos. If you reach the maximum season level, Challenges that reward you with Fame can give you Crown Shards instead.
 * 19) * Another leveling system is the Crown Rank. winning more and more crowns would unlock rewards along with an exclusive unlock path. Introduced in season 3.
 * 20) The Crown Shards were not the only ones introduced, we got Challenges that were added in the game. Completing challenges will give you either Crown Shards or Fame. As of 4.5, the challenges that require winning a specific show were removed so you don't have to worry about losing.
 * 21) As of Season 2, the game now has a Show Selector. Players have the option to choose with the Main Show a different special weekly playlist where only specific rounds can be played. You got two different ones which are the standard Main Show or the alternative Squads Shows. As of October of 2020, some special playlists are for a limited time only.
 * 22) Players with a Prime Gaming account can let players get exclusive in-game content. To get the in-game content drops, the subscribers need to link their Amazon Prime account to Fall Guys.
 * 23) Exclusive to PC, custom lobbies have been implemented for this game. For streamers, viewers can join their custom show by clicking CTRL twice in the show selector. Since 4.5, the hosting functionality was granted to every player.
 * 24) Squads Show was introduced in Season 4 where it places players into teams of four. At first, it was temporary but became permanent in April of 2021. Sometimes it can be replaced with another 4-player squad show.
 * 25) Useful camera. The players can make the camera useful since players are able to control it.
 * 26) It's free as of June of 2022

Bad Qualities

 * 1) The ragdoll physics can sometimes be frustrating depending on your actions. Due to the physics of both the levels and the Fall Guy can be exasperating. The physics can be stressful to some players depending on the map.
 * 2) No offline modes in Fall Guys. Not to mention how there's not even a practice area.
 * 3) The noises the Fall Guys make can be a little annoying since it's repetitive. Sure, the noises are cute but still.
 * 4) Some glitches can occur in certain parts of the game like one that can eliminate an entire lobby of players as well as glitches that mess with the physics. Glitches are patched though.
 * 5) Requires internet connection since it's an online multiplayer game. Your game would go bonkers if the internet isn't doing well.
 * 6) Microtransactions. At least it's cosmetics only.
 * 7) Some cosmetics are too rare to get nowadays like the Crash Test Dummy skin, the Big Bad skin, the Prickles skin, or the Twitch Rivals skin.
 * 8) The Fame meter will reset once a new season starts.
 * 9) Squads mode can be unfair on some occasions, especially when you don't have many team members you can end up getting knocked out.
 * 10) The Switch and Xbox versions were supposed to be released in the summer of 2021 except that they were postponed to June 21 2022 probably due to the acquisition of Epic Games.
 * 11) The seasons are getting longer and longer: 133 days for season 5 and 203 days for season 6 which currently ends on June 21 2022 which will have lasted 336 days, i.e. almost 1 whole year in just 2 seasons.  This makes it more frustrating due to the lack of content currently. To make matters worse, content updates are very rare.  Only 5 updates only since the start of Season 5 which started on July 20.

Reception
The game has gotten praise for its chaotic concept of a battle royale game. Metacritic had the game under Generally Favourable reviews, GameSpot rated it a 7/10, USgamer rated the game a 4 out of 5 stars. This game alongside Among Us was seen as an online game that grew in popularity during the COVID-19 pandemic not to mention that both games have bean-like characters. Fall Guys won Best Multiplayer Award and Best Family Game on the Golden Joystick 2020 awards, the Best Community Support on The Game Awards 2020, and Best Independent Game-Platinum and Best Multiplayer Game-Gold at the PlayStation.Blog Game of the Year.

Trivia

 * 1) Takes inspiration from game shows like Takeshi's Castle, It's a Knockout, Wipeout, and playground games like tag and British Bulldog.
 * 2) Spawned some memes like the Yellow Team, QUALIFIED!, ELIMINATED!, the hackers, the song "Fall n Roll" for its lyrics, the gameplay, tail tag, and some comparisons between Fall Guys and Among Us.