Falling Fred a Falling Game with Blazing 3D & Dark Humor
by Paul Wilks
Aug 17, 2011 10:47 AM –
Install
Falling Fred is a darkly comic action game which puts the player in control of the falling body of the games’ protagonist Fred. Avoid all manner of insidious obstacles to fall as far as possible. At the risk of extreme mutilation, dismemberment, decapitation and other serious injuries Fred has a lot to lose in his descent. There are also a host of other characters in the game which provide some great tongue in cheek celebrity humor too.
WARNING: THIS GAME FEATURES VIOLENCE AND GORE
Price: Free
Tested on: HTC Desire HD
Content Rating: Medium Maturity
Pros & Cons:
Pros
- Brilliant 3D graphics.
- Good game physics.
- Superb dark humor.
- Easy to use controls.
- Variety of gruesome obstacles.
- Plenty of injuries to incur.
Cons
- View is hampered sometimes by Fred’s body.
- The novelty wears off after a while.
Features:
Developer Dedalord brings to the market this darkly funny and gory ‘falling’ game. How do we categorise this? A “fall-em-up”?? Pigeon holing aside, the game is rather original in that the aim of the game is to manipulate Fred’s fall through a hazardous tunnel of blades, fire, beams, cutters, lazers and more. Avoid these to stay in one piece for as long as possible and you might even end with a good score (as well as traction and any number of re-attachement operations required).
Obviously there is no way you are going to avoid all the obstacles in your way and in no time you could find Fred hitting a brick wall, or merely decapitating himself by falling the wrong way into some nasty looking cutters. The graphics really come into their own when this happens; blood splatters across your view and Fred’s body becomes a nasty falling tangle of limbs. The graphics are accurate, cartoony and developed with humor rather than horror in mind. At the end of each level you see a humorous newspaper report detailing what happened and sometimes why! You also see a very poorly looking mass of bandages in a hospital bed, Fred clearly has good insurance.
You control Fred by using your accelerometer. Simply tilt him in the right direction to avoid the obstacle. I found the tilting control quite accurate & and responsive, and accuracy is definitely needed to descend as injury free as possible. Superbly, there is also an option to replay the fall if you want to see it again. You can also share this on Facebook or Twitter if you are particularly proud of it. It should further be noted that the length of Fred’s descent is the main score you go for, and this is entered into the integrated OpenFeint scoring; which in itself comes with some funny achievements, such as “Your armpit is now just pit” and “My first skull fracture”. There really is plenty of humour here. 
Another feature which is very cool is the ability to change character. Fred is the default but you can also choose Crash T Dummy. Also available (albeit for small charge via Android Market) is a curious list of slightly familiar celebrity types: there is M. Gandalfi, Ogama Ben Ladder, Blondie “Gigi” Lala and Outrageous B. There is also the promise of new characters here, so worth keeping an eye on. This all adds a significant dollop of satirical humor to proceedings!
Watch on Mobile
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Falling Fred – In-game view (1)
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Falling Fred – In-game view (2)
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Falling Fred – In-game view (3)
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Falling Fred – In-game view (4)
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Falling Fred – In-game view (5)
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Falling Fred – In-game view (6)
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Falling Fred – In-game view (7)
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Falling Fred – Pretty gory graphics
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Falling Fred – It typically all ends as you hit the walled floor
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Falling Fred – Funny newspaper reports
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Falling Fred – Doctor Crash T Dummy
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Falling Fred – Ogama Ben Ladder
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Falling Fred – Gigi Lala
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Falling Fred – Outrageous B
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Falling Fred – M Gandalfi
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Falling Fred – New characters coming soon
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Falling Fred – Falling Fred
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Falling Fred – Main menu
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Falling Fred -Settings
Fun Factor:
Falling Fred is hilarious and there is an abundance of fun to be had here. A lot of effort has gone into this game and is subsequently a gorgeously gory and fun-filled treat.
Addictive:
There are plenty of crazy achievements to be completed in the OpenFeint scoring feature so this will probably keep you coming back again and again to get those elusive awards. It’s also brilliant fun to play against friends who have also downloaded the app. Falling Fred is addictive but perhaps lacks the longevity that some games, such as the perennial favourite Angry Birds, provides. I think for many users it won’t be a long ride before the novelty wears off, but it’ll be a exhilarating ride nonetheless.
Graphics:
Although cartoony, the graphics are accurate, funny and superb. There are all kinds of gory details to notice as blood and limbs catastrophically fly everywhere in fleshy explosions of mess. Lots of fun, but definitely for a more mature audience.
Accelerometer, Vibration & Sound:
The accelerometer is the key to this, and you really need to be looking down at the screen to get the calibration right. Hold it upright and you will find Fred hitting the wall far too much. However, held right, the accelerometer controls are accurate and responsive. The music is typically funky for this kind of game, but you won’t have much time to appreciate it as you plummet through some hair-raising obstacles and nasty impediments.