I loved the original Scott Pilgrim graphic novels by comic book author and artist Bryan Lee O’Malley. Quirky, charming, funny, and surprisingly insightful on the human condition, I think I devoured the entire series on a rainy Sunday afternoon. Clearly a love-letter to video game culture, the fisticuff-filled (mis)adventures of Scott, Ramona and her seven evil exes made for a great side-scrolling beat ‘em up, Ubisoft’s Scott Pilgrim VS The World: The Game; released in 2010 and then re-released on all the main consoles of the last generation. Now, it’s the turn of nostalgia-fuelled side-scrolling beat ‘em up legends Tribute Games to have a go with the Scott Pilgrim licence. Having played both of Tribute’s previous games – TMNT: Shredder’s Revenge and Marvel Cosmic Invasion – and liked them both to varying degrees, I was excited to see what they could do with a world as rich and fun-filled as Scott Pilgrim.
First off, just one glance at the screens of Scott Pilgrim EX will tell you that the developers were heavily influenced by Scott Pilgrim VS The World: The Game. In fact, the two games look almost exactly the same. This isn’t to do Tribute Games a disservice, as the pixel art and animation here are outstanding. There’s a tremendous amount of detail going on, every level cram-packed with personality, not to mention numerous nods to the original comic books and film. Player characters themselves are filled to their cartoon eyeballs with charm, effortlessly imbuing what made the comics great, a whimsical melancholy madness if I had to try and label it.
Set in an original story after the Scott Pilgrim Takes Off anime, there are seven heroes to choose from – including Scott, Ramona, Lucas Lee, Roxie Richter, Robot 0-1, Matthew Patel, and Gideon Graves – and each has their own fighting style and a surprisingly nuanced move-set. Along with the usual kick, punch, throw, there are numerous dodges, parries, juggles and recoveries to experiment with, not to mention a whole load of special moves and summons. Unlike Marvel Cosmic Invasion, in which the heroes felt quite basic and similar to control, the characters of Scott Pilgrim EX all play entirely different, radically changing how you approach combat in the game. Be it utilising the long-range attacks of Robot 0-1, the many evasive moves of Romana, or the Ryu-like average fighting style of Scott himself, there is someone for every player.
Scott Pilgrim EX isn’t your standard left-to-right duff ‘em up. Instead, much like River City Girls, there are a lot of RPG-lite level-up mechanics as you explore Toronto. You’ll stroll back and forth through the corridor-like levels, beating up hordes of enemies – and I mean hordes, expect dozens of characters on screen at once – whilst visiting various shops to buy new abilities and stat-boosting gear with your hard-earned dollars. The frequent NPCs that you meet will send you to various locations, each acting more like an enclosed arena. Here you’ll fight a boss of some sort, before returning to your exploring, gathering more resources, and finding the next boss encounter.
It’s a decent formula, and unlike River City Girls, much less tedious grinding is required to level-up enough to take down the next big bad. That being said, there’s still rather too much of going back and forth along the same street, fighting the same types of enemies in order to stat-boost than I would like. Indeed, there are moments where the brief 5-hour run-time actually starts to drag.
With up to four players on-screen at once, combat is suitably over-the-top, an anarchical bombastic explosion of light and colour. In short, it’s enormous fun. The one problem? Bosses can actually be very demanding. The chaotic on-screen action leads to frustration during these battles, the game controls failing to give you the precision that the difficulty demands. Several of the boss fights spoil the party atmosphere so prevalent elsewhere, resulting in less experienced players getting wiped out and then waiting for their pals to see off the boss.
It’s also a shame that all the player characters don’t level up alongside your progress. If you want to try a different character mid-way through the game, you’ll effectively be having to start from the beginning, though with much harder enemy types blocking your way. So, a whole load of grinding is required should you switch from Lucas Lee to Gideon Graves when you’re a few hours in.
Other issues? Well, there can be some noticeable slow down when there’s a lot going on on-screen. Chains of explosions, in particular, lead to odd little pauses that can prove discombobulating in the middle of an epic smack-down, ruining the otherwise enjoyable rhythm of the combat. Hopefully, these issues will be patched out sooner rather than later, as otherwise Scott Pilgrim EX is a delightfully fun, albeit occasionally frustrating, party brawler and a welcome return to the pop-culture infused creative mind of Bryan Lee O’Malley.
