Film Review #33: Gang Beasts (game)

Gang Beasts is simply the greatest game of all time.
I mean, almost.  Sub Rosa's neck-n-neck, probably winning, but Gang Beasts, man... I dunno... it's close.  Only time will tell.

So.  Gang Beasts is a shared-screen-multiplayer melee game.  Brawl.  Whatever.  Basically, up to 4 players on the same computer (using separate controllers, keys, etc.; controls are customizable, you see) go and duke it out as four colorful little bean-bag people (maybe potato-sack, maybe jello ... it's personal perception) who beat the living shit out of one another and try to throw eachother off the map (or truck, or gondola, or train platform).  It's a free-for-all, simply batshit insane.

COMBAT:
One key element to this game's wonderful, glorious flow is its simplicity.  There aren't power-ups, unlocks, or any of that crap.  Movement is basically walking in different directions, jumping, "crouching" (I'll rave about that later), punching/grabbing, and raising your arms to lift stuff up.  Plus "gesturing", which is just sticking your arms in the air in a demonstration of your awesomeness (generally after KOing someone off a Ferris Wheel, or something like that).
In terms of HUD, there is:
-the numbers in different colors representing the number of lives for each player on the current map
(top of the screen)
- the health (green) and grip (blue) bars for each player
(above the corresponding character's head).
About these: they recharge.  The health bar is... well... the health bar.  The grip bar (as I call it, anyway) is the strength of one's grip on whatever one is holding.  It decreases as a grab is maintained on something; as it gets lower the grab is more susceptible to breaking due to jolts, weight, etc.

Basically, the process of defeating someone goes like this:
1.  KO them.  Solid headshots can knock people briefly (a couple seconds) unconscious (basically they can't do anything until they wake up), while getting someone's health all the way down by punching them, making them REALLY fall on their head, etc. will KO them for longer (30 seconds?  I dunno).
2.  Pick them up.  The grab buttons are just the attack buttons for each of the hands, held down.  So, if you hold down your left attack key, your left arm will grab the next thing it comes in contact with/near.  Anyway, ya go up to the unconscious target, hold down your grab keys so your guy grabs the target, and then hit the lift key.  Thus, YOU LIFT THEM UP!
3.  THROW 'EM OUT.  Yep.  Just run to the edge of whatever death-distributing abyss the map presents you with, and let 'em fall.  Swinging them around, etc. helps.  You're done! :D CONGRATULATIONS, you've just THROWN SOMEONE IN FRONT OF A TRAIN!  YAAAY

I'm gonna stop going into detail and just say the game is a ton of fun with a few good friends.  The characters are all physics-based, the maps are dynamic and diverse, and the music corresponds to the maps.  There are also some levels with NPCs if you feel like teaming up on some helpless but angry purple people, plus a pink behemoth.  If you have extra computer-viable controllers lying around, get the game.  It's FREE for ALL COMPUTER PLATFORMS (I think; YOU can check that)!  IT'S SO GREAT!  Get it NOOOOWWWW.

some BEA-UUUUUUtiful gameplay: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y7S2VShmyFI