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.)

This decision may actually have been influenced by the series' creator Bryan Lee O'Malley, who incorporated many facets of the classic 8bit NES game into the books. The novel's boss fights, levels, role playing elements, and weapons are borrowed and, in some cases, lifted directly from the NES game. The choice to go back to source material was inspired, and the result is almost nothing short of the higher fidelity sequel the game never received. In short, it is awesome.

The game lets you play as a Scott Pilgrim, Ramona Flowers, or Sex Bob-omb's Steven Stills and Kim Pine. Each character has a slightly different set of attributes, which make the choice more than a cosmetic one. You will fight your way through seven levels taken, more or less, right from the books. And at the end of each, you'll square off against at least one boss, generally being one of Ramona's seven evil exes. The combat is challenging and sometimes frustrating, but the core gameplay is so fun that you'll keep coming back. You have a vast array of moves that grows as you get more powerful. And if you get stuck, you have the freedom to go back to earlier levels (through the game's Super Mario Bros. 3 inspired overworld map) to "grind," or level up your character in order to have a better chance at success. This game, like RCR, has stores where you can buy items to power up your character. These purchases are made from the coins that every defeated foe leaves behind...just like in the graphic novel. The combat, combined with the RPG elements and challenge, makes for a very enjoyable ride over the several hours the downloadable title will last.

The graphics are beautifully rendered in 16bit style, and feature animations that are only possible on more modern machines. The art direction captures the spirit of the comic, but also the essence of the 8bit Technos Japan games, like RCR and Double Dragon. The mix produces a visual style that is far more detailed than the initial impression implies. But even better than the graphics is the music, provided by chip-tune artist Anamanaguchi, who provides original music that drives and soars with melody and texture. It truly is one of the better game soundtracks of the year.

One major omission holds the game back from true greatness, and that is the lack of online co-op. The severity of this sin depends on how much you like to play online, but the only way you'll play co-op is to have everyone in the room with you on your system. In fact, you can't really jump in or out at will either...you have to start the game together from the beginning. For me, this was a minor annoyance because at the time I reviewed the game, I was playing solo. But I can imagine that if playing co-op is an important feature in the buying decision, then you will be disappointed. Otherwise, I couldn't have been happier with the game.

In short, Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World is an outstanding update to one of the best games of the 8bit era. It features the great story and characters from the graphic novels, and tons of little secrets hidden for fans of both the novels and video games in general. If you've ever enjoyed the classic side-scrolling beat'em up, and have even a passing interest in the Scott Pilgrim novels, then you shouldn't pass this one up. At $10, it's a pretty low-investment purchase that will bring back tons of memories from the 8bit era, as well as provide many new moments to remember going forward.