Taking the world by storm with a different kind of battle royale is Fall Guys, the latest viral competitive game. Fans of the old WipeOut hilarity on TV finally have the opportunity themselves to compete in the virtual world. With the solid variety of obstacle courses and puzzles that shuffle in every match, the mini games in Fall Guys keep every player on their toes in ways other battle royales haven't really done before. Each mini game is a unique challenge that mixes up the gameplay from platforming, to racing, to memorization, and other games.
Not all mini games are as thrilling as the next; some are too easy or uninteresting to qualify in, some are exciting and unique every time. Whether it's getting bored and not making much progress on a "Perfect Match" round, or a tense race up "Fall Mountain," each mini game has its fair share of strengths and weaknesses that makes some far less bearable than others. Here's a ranking of every Fall Guys mini game added to the game so far, from worst to best.
F-Tier
Perfect Match is the only to find itself in F-tier, which is unfortunate because it could easily be one of the more unique challenges in the whole game. Unfortunately, Perfect Match never even remotely comes close to reaching its potential fun factor. The goal is to memorize which hidden tile has the type of fruit that will be displayed on screen, but the hidden fruits are revealed for far too long. This particular mini game is not challenging in the slightest unless most players are griefing one another. It's far too easy, the round takes too long, and not many players get eliminated from Perfect Match rounds anyway, making the final rounds more difficult.
D-Tier:
Arguably Tail Tag is worse than its team-variation simply because it was the base mode. Truthfully, Team Tail Tag is worse because it makes the player's effort feel like it doesn't matter in a team game, whereas Tail Tag at least rewards individuals for outrunning opponents. At the end of the day, the grab mechanic is far too inconsistent for either Tail Tag mini games to be fun.
Slowing down the pace of every Fall Guys match is Roll Out, which ends up being more finicky than challenging. There's less of a focus on intelligent movement and planning, and oftentimes, it's easier just to rotate between walking back and forth between platforms with little risk. The only way players can mess up is if they fall off an edge or they land incorrectly, making Roll Out just plain boring. While Block Party is faster paced compared to Roll Out, this mini game suffers a similar issue. The actual platforming is occasionally challenging, but the player count itself can determine a lot of the eliminations simply by forming a giant wall of tumbling characters colliding into one another.
Rock N' Roll seems fun at first, but the ending portion of the round is typically were things go off the rails. Rounds can last way longer than they need to thanks to the ending portion of this mini game. Teams can either focus on bringing their ball to the goal or preventing other teams from doing the same, there's no viable division of tasks in this mini game. Doing both often prolongs the round itself until one team actually wins. All of the mini games rounding out D-tier just make games last way longer than they should without engaging players well.
C-Tier
While the Royal Fumble last-round mini game is arguably fun, it is still just another variation of Tail Tag. It's a free-for-all, but there's far more opportunities to stun the current tail-haver, so most players still have a chance to actually steal the tail reliably. Hoarders, on the other hand, is a solid team game, but can get pretty unpredictable and annoying when teammates are being unhelpful. Tip Toe can be particularly fun if it's a later round with less people, but any falls at the later end of the challenge just reward other players with a free win.
Jinxed is a genuinely enjoyable tag team event that functions more like Infection from Halo. As fun as it is to jinx and eliminate as many players as possible, this game mode is still bolstered by the player's unpredictable grab mechanics. Door Dash is a genuinely fun mode early on, though is weighed down only by its heavy reliance on RNG instead of genuinely challenging players' intuition. Gate Crash, on the other hand, is better at testing players' reaction times and intuition, but in some cases, it's far too predictable to be a true challenge for players. Each one of these Fall Guys mini games are very middle of the road, never too difficult but occasionally problematic for unseasoned players.
B-Tier
Fruit Chute emphasizes a lot about what makes Fall Guys so fun. It's chaotic fun that strikes a solid balance between environmental and player influences, with a small degree of unpredictability that doesn't take too long. Jump Club is reminiscent of the bouncy obstacle courses people would find at carnivals, emphasizing proper timing and good platforming, solidifying Jump Club itself as a B-tier. Another solid platforming mini game is the See Saw, despite an often complained about mini game from fans. See Saw is definitely better than several of the aforementioned races, uniquely rewarding patient players moreso than several other mini games.
Dizzy Heights is a particularly quick and fun race that doesn't have too many unpredictable gimmicks to set players back. It's fast-paced turn tables truly rewards good timing on behalf of players with a quick qualification. Hoopsie Daisy is one of the few genuinely enjoyable team games that feels like players have a tangible impact on their progress. Slime Climb isn't as good as the upcoming Fall Mountain can be, but Slime Climb is especially challenging with the proximity of obstacles and the rising slime levels. All of the B-Tier mini games are pretty strong, only outshone by the upcoming tier's mini games.
A-Tier
A-Tier is where some of Fall Guys' best mini games land, ranging from races to platforming to team-based games. Fall Ball is easily one of the best team mini games, even though it's basically just slower and less-involved Rocket League. Fall Mountain is a solid all-rounder for final-round games, blending all the best obstacles and environments Fall Guys has to offer in one final hill climb to the crown. Egg Scramble is just a bit better than Fall Ball, where teamwork is king, and it's viable to play both offensively and defensively. Hit Parade is one of the best races in that it offers far more terrain diversity, with less object unpredictability compared to other race stages. The Whirlygig is easily the best platforming stage, mixing in just enough skill-based jumping and pattern recognition to always be fun.
S-Tier
As for the absolute best mini game, it has to be Hex-A-Gone. This is presumably a wildly-shared opinion, but it's true. The Hex-A-Gone minigame emphasizes, at its core, everything that's great about Fall Guys. Platforming and racing is mixed together in a unique and challenging way, the competitive aspect of the mini game keeps players on their toes, and the unpredictability of other players landing and taking another's path away makes this final-round game always different every time. It's the perfect way to get the W in a Fall Guys match.
Fall Guys is out now for PC and PS4.