Now as far as games of films go, I haven’t seen many good ones. With the one memorable exception of spider man 2 on PS2, Xbox and PC I haven’t seen many other good ones worth mentioning in recent years.
Those of you unfamiliar to the story of Scott Pilgrim, the books were made between 2004 and 2010 with 6 books in total, the film was released in 2010 with the game alongside as a download only title for XBLA, PSN and probably on PC somewhere. The books and film all feature game references heavily.
Scott is a 23 year old Canadian, unemployed and part of a friends band named Sex Bob-omb, (Bob-omb being a character from the Mario games), He is in a relationship with a 17 year old high schooler named Knives Chau and hopes that the band will become famous and rival his ex girlfriends band 'The Clash at Demonhead' but to do this they must enter the battle of the bands.
A matter of nights before the first battle Scott dreams about a girl who he see the next day whilst out with Knives. Scott being Scott he asks this girl out, her name is Ramona Flowers but she has "baggage", in order to date her he must defeat her 7 evil exes in battle.
The game follows the films plot rather than the books, meaning some details on the story are missing but this does not spoil the game in any way. Scott being a big game fan himself, the game is presented as an 8-bit side scrolling beat-em-up. you have 7 stages (1 for each evil ex) and during those stages you must fight various goons and have a boss battle with each evil ex. You can play as either Scott, Ramona, Steve (singer of Sex Bob-omb) and Kim (one of Scotts exes and Sex bob-omb drummer).
Being a beat-em-up, there are several combos to learn and master before the end of the game and of course many frustrating retry screens. The game feels a little slow at times and the hits don’t always land when they should do which can be infuriating especially when up against a boss, not to mention the fact that there are countless numbers of goons on screen at one time making it a really mess with the annoying combos and missing hits.
The game is presented in a colourful 8-bit style and looks almost as good as the books drawings. The mix of blue&snowy Canada and yellow&warm rock clubs makes the game look and feel different from the browns and greys of today’s gaming. The music fits the style as well, remixing the films songs into an 8-bit format makes the game feel authentic and true to the franchise. The sound effects are nice as well, the OTT punch noises from the 90's beat-em-ups such as Streets of Rage return as well as the throw-able objects and their sounds.
Overall Scott Pilgrim Vs The World: The Videogame is a true memorial to the great 8-bit beat-em-ups of the generations gone by and a great addition to the franchise. A must buy for any fan to either the franchise or beat-em-ups and a steal at just 800MS points/£6 makes this game a grab whilst you can.
Scott Pilgrim vs The World: The Videogame – 8/10
+Scott Pilgrim
+Looks Great
+Fun co-op
