It’s time to Chau down!
Scott Pilgrim vs. The World is one of my favorite movies and series of graphic novels ever made. It was a property that would have felt right at home as a video game, given the subject matter and easter eggs that were packed into almost every scene in the movie, or panel in the source material. So when it was transformed into a side-scrolling beat’em up, I was stoked. The game, at the time, was sublime. It had an amazing chiptune soundtrack, engaging combat, and after it added in online multiplayer and a few additional characters, the game was something I found myself returning to again and again. A decade later, with this re-release, the game still excels, but it’s also been placed in an era where its contemporaries have simply done the genre better in its absence.
When the game was pulled from digital storefronts some six years ago, it got people talking about the game again. Those who had the game installed on their Xbox 360’s could simply load the game up any time they wanted, but those who hadn’t bought it by then, simply couldn’t, since it was no longer able to be purchased. Thankfully, the game is back and looks just as pixel-perfect as ever. The game is pretty much identical to that of the 1.2 version we eventually received on the Xbox 360, complete with all the DLC characters and the ability to play online with friends. The only big difference here with the Complete version is how you unlock Knives Chau, and that the sacrifice code now has a different input. The big take-away for this re-release; however, is that you can finally play it on modern consoles, as the game was never made backwards compatible due to licensing issues.
Scott Pilgrim’s journey to take out Ramona Flowers’ evil exes takes you through a Super Mario inspired map with 7 main locations peppered around its digital recreation of Toronto, Canada. There are secret locations, hidden doors, and a ton of easter eggs to discover, but as was the case with the original release, the game is very light on story, making a viewing of the movie or a read of the graphics novels to be a requirement to understand just exactly what is going on and why Scott is pulverizing these random people into Canadian currency. Now, that said, as is the case with most licensed games, you’ll likely have already seen the movie or read the books, which each have their own unique take on fundamentally the same story.
Each of the game’s few locations will push you through the plot of Scott having to do battle with each of Ramona’s evil exes. You’ll hit the streets, a movie set, a speeding bus, a night club, and more. Each environment is loaded with easter eggs, destructible objects, and several secrets doors that likely lead to the subspace highway that every Canadian, like myself, knows is just far too convenient to not use. You’ll bash hundreds, if not thousands of bad guys, collecting every loonie or toonie that drops from their near limitless pockets, and use that money to buy snacks, heals, additional lives, and if you pay off Scott’s late fees at the video store, a wealth of stat and experience boosters.
Unlike most beat’em ups, you save progress with each character, increasing their stats and level as you continue to use them. You’ll earn new moves, upgrade how tough they are, and how much of a punch they can take. This causes you to find your favorites and stick with them, making that progress mean something. Unlike recent beat’em up’s like Streets of Rage 4 or Battletoads, your progressed characters are not back at their default every time you boot the game up. By increasing these stats and leveling up your character, you not only get better at the game, but the depth of the game increases as well. You’ll unlock flips and rolls, and new moves that continue to grow the arsenal of abilities you’ll have access to. It’s a fantastic yet simple system that most beat’em up’s don’t have, usually clinging to the trappings of how games like this were handled in the arcades; the same experience with every quarter.
Combat itself is your typical lane-based beat’em up. You’ll have a variety of moves that you can pull off, various characters that come with their own unique special moves, but more or less feel and act the same when it comes to your typical punches, kicks, and dropkicks. You can pick up items, or even downed foes and then throw them at incoming enemies. There will be hazards to avoid, enemy patterns to recognize, and bosses that often have a few tricks up their sleeve. While more modern beat’em up’s feel a bit more fluid in their combat, especially titles like River City Girls, and The Takeover, Scott Pilgrim vs. The World can feel a bit janky in comparison, but it never feels bad to play in any particular way.
Part of the appeal of most beat’em up’s is the ability to do so alongside others. Scott Pilgrim vs. The World allows four players to play either locally, or online. While online didn’t ship with the original game way-back-when, it eventually did find its way eventually. Now, the online mode here is functional, but I did observe several sessions where I had some odd input lag, causing issues with being able to run and several disconnects of my online companions. Also, the game doesn’t load you into a menu where you would normally see various lobbies to join and instead just placing you in one randomly. Don’t like the level they are starting on or that someone has also taken your favorite character’s color? Well, leave and it’s quite possible that you’ll just simply rejoin that same room several times before you’ll likely see another of the same option. It’s a shame that they didn’t flesh this out better, given that Ubisoft is quite familiar with online games. As it stands, you can easily play with friends, but the setup for playing with random players is rather hit and miss.
Apart from the issues I found with its online modes, I experienced something that several people seemed to mention in other reviews; a lack of good sound mixing with its sound effects. While I could easily hear the music pounding away as I was thrashing enemies via the mean streets of Toronto, the sound effects were washed out and just not present in the same clear way its music was. This made punches, kicks, and special attacks feel hollow and not anywhere as impactful as they should be. While it’s likely something that will be patched by the time this review goes live, it did affect my playthrough of the game, but not something I feel should affect my score too harshly, given it’s an easy fix for the publisher to address in the near future.
Scott Pilgrim vs. The World: Complete Edition is a solid enough beat’em up that is essentially the exact same experience that was present during the final version we received almost a decade ago. There isn’t anything new, updated, or addressed to fix any problems that anyone would have had back then, so if you didn’t care for it then, then there isn’t anything here to really aid with that. If you still own the original, the only perk here is being able to play it on new hardware, making it far easier to have access to it and play online with your friends. The game still plays quite well, even if several beat’em up’s have simply outplayed it since. Re-releases are usually a sign of gauging interest by the publisher, so maybe, just maybe, we might see Scott Pilgrim and his digitalized Toronto, Canada, again someday soon. One can only hope.
Developer - ENGINE SOFTWARE Publisher - Ubisoft. Released - January 14, 2021. Available On - Xbox One/Series, PS4/PS5, Switch, Windows, Stadia, Amazon Luna. Rated - (T) Mild Blood, Partial Nudity, Language, Cartoon Violence. Platform Reviewed - Xbox Series X. Review Access - Scott Pilgrim vs. The World: The Game - CE was purchased by the reviewer.