river city ransom's spiritual sequel

image from PS3 version

Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World - The Game

PS3/XBOX 360

Review By Chris Nolen

Even more so than movies, videogames are the ideal medium to retell the story of the Scott Pilgrim novels. After all, the very structure of the tale is built around videogame conventions: boss battles, leveling up, co-operative play, and statistics. For a more detailed recap of the how this story works, view my full review of the graphic novel series here. Now if you are up to speed, let me say that a giant kudos goes out to the minds Ubisoft and the marketing team at Universal Pictures, who somehow managed to not only tell the story well in its natural format, but miraculously picked the most absolutely perfect game to emulate in doing so...the side-scrolling beat'em up, River City Ransom (RCR.)

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flawless victory - a review of scott pilgrim vol 1-6

Bryan Lee O'Malley's Scott Pilgrim Graphic Novel Series, Vol 1-6

Review By Chris Nolen

It is in O’Malley’s ability to make complex subject matter not only digestible, but entertaining, by speaking the language of his audience. The artistic style is inspired by Japanese cartoons, or Manga, a style that fits the video game references and structure well. To those who aren’t fans of the style, it can be a bit off-putting. But the dialog and depth of the stories and well-developed characters and relationships balance out the art style perfectly, bridging the gap between serious storytelling and comedic fare. It’s true that O’Malley does seem to have found a wonderful balance of accessibility and depth, and a fan of a well-told-story should not miss out on the Scott Pilgrim series simply because of the art style. And if you are from the Nintendo Generation, or love pop culture in general, it is a can’t miss cultural landmark series...that, along with the film adaptation, is another step toward videogames being accepted as a mature medium for the masses.

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