Infinite Backlog - Scott Pilgrim vs. The World Review

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Released in 2010 for the PlayStation Network and Xbox Live and developed by Ubisoft Montreal and published by Ubisoft and distributed by Universal Studios, today's review is Scott Pilgrim vs The World: The Game

This review is based off the PlayStation 3 version of the game.

Based off the movie of the same name... You know minus ":The Game"

ANYWAYS in Scott Pilgrim you play Scott Pilgrim and insert friends, as you set out on a quest to defeat your girlfriend's ex-boyfriends for reasons... I'm sure the movie and comics gave reasons for, as for the the game itself it's basically a highly stylized clone of River City Ransom.

You move through the streets beating up whomever gets in your path with button combinations or objects you can find off enemies or on the ground, you can enter shops and restaurants to buy food or items that increase your stats and abilities, as I said it's River City Ransom basically.

Notably though, the game also does feature online co-op, but I have no clue if this is still working though as I had nobody to play with, as well as some extra game modes, such as a Battle Royal mode, which once again, I had nobody to play with but I'm assuming it's a versus kind of thing, as well as a Dodge Ball mode.

But one thing of interest about this game, in December 2014 for whatever reason Ubisoft never renewed it's license for Scott Pilgrim and sure enough the game was removed from both the PlayStation Store and Xbox Live Store... Meaning, unless you had it already on your console's hard drive like I did, you can't legally get this game anymore, making it more less abandon ware at this point.

So with that being said, I also have no idea if the online functionality still works, I imagine it would work fine still if it's peer to peer based, but if there was servers, I'm sure they're offline now sadly.

So I decided to take it upon myself to catalog and review this neat little beat em up in the name of Infinite Backlog and brand it with the good, the bad, the opinion, take the hard drive and store in the Infinite Backlog secret warehouse somewhere in Tazmania for safe keeping...

So... I can more or less... Just buy a larger PS3 hard drive in the near future and not have to worry about not being able to re-download this once I've done that but the question remains, Is it any good? Let's find out with....

The Good

-Solid beat em' up gameplay

-Gorgeous and varied backgrounds and pixel art

-Lots of charm and highly stylized with plenty of little details

-Incredible boss fights

-Replay-ability with different characters and co-op! (I think?)

-Good music

If there is one game you're going to take inspiration or cues from or basically make a clone out of, River City Ransom is a damn good choice, the beat em up gameplay is on point, with fast responsive controls, tons of combos and moves to unlock as you level up and being able to juggle objects by punching them into enemies never gets old, my only gripe with the actual gameplay at times was it feels like forever to get back up again once you're knocked down by an enemy.

But as I said, if you're gonna make a beat em up and copy River City Ransom, it's hard to go wrong., however aesthetically and the overall presentation of the game itself is very highly stylized and unique and for the most part is where the game draws it's differences from River City Ransom.

The game is filled with gorgeous and varied backgrounds packed with tons of charm and little details, with some incredibly good pixel art as well. But, thankfully the game is very self aware that it's copying things and throws in plenty of references and throwbacks as well.

On top of that, the boss fights are easily the highlight of the game in my opinion on a gameplay perspective, everything from fighting some dude with a skateboard, to some sort of super human who is a Vegan who has to constantly remind you they're Vegan, to fighting the crazy ninja ex girlfriend, the boss fights are all very fun and unique in terms of style and their attack patterns.

The game also features a number of different characters you can play as, each with their specific move sets, combos, and special moves you can unlock, as well as there own ending cut scene segment.

So there is some replay-ability here as well, and with no bugs or glitches as far as I can tell during my roughly 6-7 hours I spent with it across 2 ½ playthroughs, aside from the odd crash I only had happen once, finally throw in an incredible soundtrack and hey you've got yourself a recipe for a fun time for a couple of hours and even more so with friends I imagine.

But now let's discuss....

The Bad

-Slippery feel to movement then throw in PLATFORMING into a beat em' up and it's a mess

-You become overpowered far too quickly and easily (Minor stuff)

You know... 2d platformers and 2d beat em ups probably look the same to the average laymen or person who just doesn't play video games and at points in this game I was starting to wonder if that's who they hired as a level designer... Because sure enough the game features a few segments (thankfully not too many) that are platforming and it is absolutely the worst thing about this game.

To add to that problem, for whatever reason the movement has this weird slippery slide non-sense going on, so whenever you let go of the d-pad your character kind of slides a bit, which seems very minor BUT; throw in some in speed upgrades you have may have purchased earlier on, then like I said, add this with a platforming segment...

You've lost me, this is one of those games where I can see myself WANTING to play this in the future, but then I think about this for a quick second, and I immediately abandon that thought.

My next gripe, much more minor and probably more my own minor gripe, you become way too over powered way too quickly and far too easily. You can basically grind the first level a few times, then if you buy an upgrade at the shop in the tunnel thingy in the first Toronto streets level, you'll then plow through this game like nobody's business.

But now it's time I give....

The Opinion

To be honest, I'm amazed a 2d beat em' up in 2010 came out of a company like Ubisoft, let alone this good of one considering it's also a movie tie-in game. But then again look what ended up happening to it because of something they probably decided on, so that doesn't surprise me.

And all things considered, it's River City Ransom with a fresh coat of paint and a movie deal thrown in, mind you with some great boss fights, then someone at Ubisoft saw a 2d game and figured it should also have platforming elements.

So maybe I shouldn't be amazed this came out of Ubisoft?

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