Review by: Brandon "Heart Sword" Cackowski-Schnell

Scott Pilgrim vs The World: The Game is a tough game to review. On the one hand, it's an absolutely beautiful and creative homage to retro video games, taking classic beat 'em ups such as River City Ransom and Streets of Rage and dropping them into the world of Toronto rocker and romancer Scott Pilgrim. Filled with plenty of nods to both the comic book series and the recent movie, some of the best made sprites in any game in recent memory and a fantastic chiptune soundtrack, the game is a well produced homage to games of old. On the other hand, the game brings all of the inflexibility of 20 year old game design and technical limitations with it, resulting in a game that is downright archaic in how it limits the player's enjoyment of it.

Scott Pilgrim is in love with Ramona Flowers but before he can date her, he has to defeat her seven evil exes. That's all the story you're given and all you really need before you head out as Scott or one of his merry band, beating up citizens of Toronto and making his way further into Ramona's heart. The combat system is pulled directly from beat 'em up's of old with a combination of light and heavy attacks that can be chained together into more powerful moves, moves that are unlocked as you level up via the game's RPG-lite leveling system.

The environment provides plenty of ways for you to get your assault on as well with lots of items to pick up and throw or use as a makeshift cudgel. Given the sheer number of enemies that you'll face, learning the right combination of moves as well as how to block is essential for making your way through the various stages. Along with a finite supply of both lives and health points, gut points are available as a mana well of sorts, used for pulling off special moves, calling in your striker and utilizing their attacks or refilling your health bar should you get downed. The combat system looks pretty simple upon first glance, but is actually quite deep and satisfying.

What isn't satisfying is the fact that you can only enjoy the combat system with friends if they're sitting right next to you. The game has no support for co-op over Live, a glaring omission, but does support four person couch co-op. Unfortunately, for every way the game adds to the experience by letting you bring your friends in, it also detracts. With others playing you'll have the opportunity to pull off co-op attacks as well as have your friends revive you should you get downed. If you're in a shop your friends can loan you money to buy stat boosts and if you lose all of your lives you can steal a life away from a buddy by floating your ghostly form over to them and hitting the B button.

The down side is that the game is incredibly chaotic with more than two people and with friendly fire aplenty, it is very easy to get knocked around by your friends just as much, if not more than your enemies. Adding to this is the inflexibility of both the co-op entry system, requiring you to be at the main menu to allow others to join. Given the scarcity of save points this might mean either giving up on some significant progress in a stage, or making your friends wait until you hit a save point. The game also has no mechanism in place to match newcomers to the level of your character when they join meaning that any time spent leveling up a character will result in your teammates being vastly underpowered compared to you, possibly making the later stages too difficult for your friends.