Scott Pilgrim vs. The World: The Game is finally back after years removed from digital shelves. The 2D beat-'em-up translates the story of the graphic novels and movie well, with each stage culminating with a boss fight against one of Ramona's evil exes. It's a highly entertaining title, but with no real changes in this new version, some old issues rear their head.
The trouble is, you begin feeling underpowered. Even on the easiest difficulty, you'll likely be stomped by basic enemies, because you have the most rudimentary of movesets. As you gain experience, you'll level up and unlock extra abilities that fill out your move pool, but for the first couple of hours we definitely felt under-equipped. It means there's an uphill battle at the beginning, but if you persevere, the combat broadens and the difficulty becomes more manageable.
As with any beat-'em-up, this is best played in co-op. Local play is the way to go if you can, but online co-op is just about serviceable. While we had pretty heavy input lag when playing online, it seems to work okay for the most part. Playing with others ups the fun factor, especially as Scott Pilgrim has such great supporting characters. The Complete Edition means you have access to Wallace Wells and Knives Chau, so there's a good amount of fighters to choose from.
It's really a simple little game, but it's one so full of personality. Not only does it contain all the major beats of the story you'd expect, but there are lots of small references to other games to find in Scott's chunky, pixelated hometown. The music adds to the effect a lot; Anamanaguchi's chiptune soundtrack is a delight. If you enjoy a straightforward beat-'em-up, this is well worth a look, even if you're not a fan of the source material — though it definitely helps.
Comments 22
You really do feel like a jerk getting walloped by basic dudes at first. Though I did take Matthew Patel ("Are you a pirate?") without taking a hit.
Had a lot of fun playing with one friend last night while the rest wait to purchase. We had several instances of online issues, mainly in the shopping district of the first stage. We would become separate where it was like we were playing on two different servers with the other person seemingly attacking no one and vice versa. Both of us have pretty strong internet connection so I’m not sure what happened.
Also, there is a slight lag for whoever isn’t the host. It wasn’t anything too awful for the most part. Although at times it kept me from reviving successfully
@Quintumply I can equate to the feeling underpowered part, I felt that way when I first played the game so many years ago. In fact that was one reason I never understood the hype about this game. Although that seems to be a trend now with most beat em Ups. I remember feeling that way with River City Girls at first too.
@Tasuki Yeah, RCG felt like that for maybe the first hour or two and then you ended up with loads of strong moves. The balancing in that game was really quite good I thought. Scott Pilgrim was relatively similar in difficulty if I remember correctly.
It's a bit grindy at first but you actually feel super overpowered not too long after. I get why some people don't like the RPG-lite stuff. It's not like SoR4 where it's entirely skill-based. I like them both for different reasons.
Never liked this game due to the crappy hit detection. I still bought it but it reminded me how overrated a beat em up it is. It's decent at best but def nothing special besides the sprites.
As for the online ..... yes, it's bad. It's garbage period. They need to update that. Would have been nice if they have just improved the game in general but copy and paste for a nice quick buck.
I played this years ago on ps3 or xbox 360, it's pretty good. The story is a bit weird though.
So the online wasn’t improved from before? The online mp was awful in the original when it was introduced with the dlc, clearly it was a rush job on that. Was hoping to play with my brother without lag, guess that won’t happen.
QUESTION: I have still Scott Pilgrim in my ps3. Is there some difference in ps4 version (graphics, level design, sound tone...)? Simply, is it worth buying it on ps4 or is it just waste of money, because my ps3 version is same?
I bought this physically from Limited Run Games, so it will be a couple months before i can play it.
Loved it on PS3, got the comic book spot on, music brilliant, difficulty reminded me of beat 'em ups on the speccy, like Target Renegade.
Bought it as soon as I saw this review.
Loving it again.
Online is crap though. At least a second or so of lag! Constant disconnects, both as host and joiner. Unplayable.
12 quid though...
I think maximum between 8 and 10 would have been a bit of a better price point.
Don't think they've even touched the code. Just lumped DLC together.
So probably a good chunk of that 12 is recouping the licence fee. Again.
Fix the online.
Mediocre game, so so comic and one of the most overrated films out there designed for the hipster age. Yeah i'm not a fan of Scott Pilgrim at all
I loved the movie but dont understand this outdated ugly graphic, can someone explain that to me? retro?
@djlard Same exact game, just with Wallace and Knives automatically included. If you still have your PS3, no reason to repurchase.
@misak192 it is artistic style. Yes, something like retro. Pixelart has some kind of magic. It is also because most famous beat em up games are pixelated. High end graphics somehow doesn't work in these games, and if, everything is at least outlined. @Deadhunter thank you
Decided to buy it physically, so I can't immediately play it, but I had it for PS3 so I know what I'm in for. It'll be nice play this with the DLC, since the game was delisted before I could get those.
7/10 is what I figured for such an old game! I still plan to purchase the physical edition when it becomes available.
@djlard thank you for explaining this to me. I used to play lots of old games (e.g. Golden Axe) back in the days and loved them, but i think they can do so much better these days so bit surprising they stick to the old graphics.
For example Ori and the Will of the Wisps is one of the best rated games for Xbox, that one looks so beautiful, could have been pixelated but isnt.
Cheat codes from the PS3 still work so...
@misak192 Didn't play Ori. I've finished Golden Axe (all three), Final Fight, Metal Slug etc. maybe 100x each and must say I cannot imagine it non-pixelated. I have Golden Axe in some Sega 32 version and it looks disgusting.
@SlySnake0407 Why not?
This how I felt about Castle Crashers...
Overly simple gameplay & if you keep going, it gets hard quick.
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