Scott Pilgrim vs. The World: The Game Review

8.0

Review Score:

Scott Pilgrim is kind of a big thing right now, all across the world people are rushing out to buy the comics that they totally read way before the movie was announced and of course, as with any big movie release, comes a movie game. Usually in the form of a retail game that will only be played by children, unfortunate journalists and achievement hunters, however Ubisoft decided to give Scott Pilgrim vs. the World the downloadable treatment and it seems to have worked in their favour.

For those of you who haven’t been to see the Scott Pilgrim movie yet or “read the comics”, the story goes that Scott Pilgrim, a 23-year old Canadian, falls in love with Ramona Flowers but in order to live happily, he must first defeat her seven evil exes. Of course, the plot is much deeper than this but for the sake of this review, I’ll leave it there. However, the game does feature various elements of the Scott Pilgrim comics that were missed out of the movie which will definitely put a smile on any true Scott Pilgrim fan.

The game plays out as a 2D side-scrolling beat-em up similar to Streets of Rage but with Scott Pilgrim background making it ten times more awesome. The game features seven levels to fight your way through, each ending in a fight with one of Ramona’s exes. Each level is accessible through a level select screen is an 8-bit hub world that is somewhat Super Mario-esque.  The levels are filled with all sorts of wacky enemies and objects and various bonus levels even feature flying piggy banks which are to be opened with a flying kick. The 8 and 16-bit visuals also provide a lovely nostalgia trip.

The game’s old school gameplay is added to by almost RPG elements that allow you to level up your characters as you take down enemies and spend your hard earned cash on upgrades and new moves – and these upgrades are much needed as the game can, and most definitely will, hand your ass to you several times.

The game features one of the most awesome soundtracks to ever grace a video game and probably one of the longest performed by the band Anamanaguchi. Seriously, this soundtrack is one of the best video game soundtracks in history. It’s probably one of the strongest points of the game.

The game features a four player co-op mode but this is also one of the more frustrating things about the game as the co-op can only be played locally and there is no online play whatsoever present which means you’ll need to be sitting next to your friends to play together. The game is clearly designed to be played by four players rather than alone so the lack of online co-op is a real shame and a lost opportunity for added playability. Another issue is that the co-op mode doesn’t allow for drop-in and drop-out, meaning that to play the game co-operatively you’ll have to return to the menu every time somebody wants to join or leave the game. However, this wasn’t enough to stop me playing and even though I was constantly getting killed and found myself grinding through levels to raise my characters strength, I still loved every second of it.

Scott Pilgrim vs. The World is one of the best movie games in a long time and for just $10, you can’t go wrong. Whether you’re rocking out to the game’s fantastic soundtrack or beating the crap out of Ramona’s exes, this is a great way to compliment a truly brilliant film. (Seriously, if you haven’t seen Scott Pilgrim vs. The World yet, go do it – now!)

NXT Score: 8/10

Pros

• Some great beat-em up fun with a visual NES feel throughout
• One of the best soundtracks in any video game to date
• Plenty of re-playability when grinding to level up in order to beat the game

Cons

• A lack of online co-op means you’ll have to have three buddies sitting next to you to enjoy the game as it was intended
• The co-op features no drop-in or drop-out functionality