The 12 months is 20XX. The good metropolis of Toronto is beset with three warring gangs: the Demons, the Robots, and, maybe most fearsome of all, the Vegans. If that’s not unhealthy sufficient, native legend Scott Pilgrim witnesses his greatest friends-slash-Intercourse Bob-omb bandmates kidnapped by the mysterious Metallic Scott mere hours earlier than their massive gig. Can Scott, his girlfriend Ramona Flowers, and a motley crew of Ramona’s repentant Evil Exes band collectively and save the day? Extra importantly, is Scott Pilgrim EX a worthy follow-up on a beloved Canadian franchise?
As a longtime fan of the Scott Pilgrim sequence (and former Toronto resident), I’m blissful to say it’s very worthy. Scott Pilgrim EX is the right storm: sequence creator Bryan Lee O’Malley returns to jot down the story, set after the occasions of the unique manga and its 2023 sequel anime sequence, as do chiptune legends Anamanaguchi to compose the soundtrack after their unbelievable work on Ubisoft’s 2010 beat ‘em up Scott Pilgrim vs. the World: The Sport and stated sequel anime. And there’s no higher developer to deal with a contemporary new Scott Pilgrim beat ’em up than Tribute Video games, who’ve confirmed their chops within the style with 2022’s Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shredder’s Revenge and 2025’s Marvel Cosmic Invasion.
However fairly than merely retreading well-worn paths, Scott Pilgrim EX surprises with a lot of its design decisions. You and a possible 4 associates—on-line or in your sofa—received’t be touring via a sequence of linear ranges of escalating problem. As an alternative, Toronto is an open world of 2D belt-scrolling screens randomly populated by one of many three gangs, procedurally scaled to your present degree. This freedom comes at the price of degree size and depth, because it solely takes a handful of screens to achieve every finish of Toronto, and also you’ll ultimately be sprinting finish to finish in a matter of seconds.
The sport’s development, then, comes with a sequence of twelve quests permitting Scott to rescue every of his bandmates and use their devices in a really Ocarina of Time trend to journey via rifts in spacetime. This will likely require a little bit of errand-running backwards and forwards, like carrying keys throughout the town with out dropping them, or bringing bombs to cracks in partitions a la The Legend of Zelda to search out secret rooms.
The payoff of this open-world construction is that Scott Pilgrim EX’s Toronto is a vibrant, dwelling setting, totally beautiful to behold. Regardless of the 20XX label, the colourful visuals pay tribute to video games of the Nineteen Nineties (consistent with the sequence’ retro sport adoration), significantly Sonic the Hedgehog, Avenue Fighter, and Mega Man. I may checklist a dozen different new and outdated video games referenced (and I’ve, in my notes!) Nonetheless, I believe it’s greatest if gamers uncover the tribute trove for themselves.
Better of all, the callbacks in Scott Pilgrim EX really feel joyful and celebratory of gaming’s yesteryears fairly than twee or winking. You may chuck inexperienced koopa shells down Queen Avenue to bowl over a line of vicious Vegans, and Guile-flash-kick Mortal Kombat-esque Demon ninjas and Robots that look contemporary out of Dr. Wiley’s manufacturing facility, and all of it someway gels completely. I really like the visuals on this sport.
I’d be remiss if I didn’t shout out the familiarity that clearly went into Scott Pilgrim EX‘s depiction of Toronto. Casa Loma is reoutfitted because the vampire-housing Casa Vania. The long-lasting nacho joint Sneaky Dee’s is right here introduced as Difficult Dee’s, an merchandise store; the identical goes for Trustworthy Ed’s (right here: Trustworthy Ex’s), the beloved thrift store that tragically went underneath in 2016. Excessive Park, the Distillery District, and Dundas all seem, populated by characters of Scott Pilgrim yore. I notice not everybody will get the identical kick out of the visuals as I did, however we Canadians deserve this win.
“Yeah, yeah, references. However how’s the punching?” As anticipated from Tribute Sport’s gameography, the fight is one other win. Gentle, heavy, seize, and particular assaults are right here, as are equipable help assaults from loads of characters who didn’t make the playable reduce. What’s extra, every of the seven playable characters feels distinctive. I admire that past Scott and Ramona, the characters from the final Scott Pilgrim beat ‘em up, now the aforementioned associates in want of rescue, are changed with a brand new roster (of previous villains!): Roxie the ninja, Matthew Patel the puppeteer, wrestler (and film star) Lucas Lee, zoner Robotic-01, and, surprisingly, sequence antagonist Gideon Graves, right here a rushdown “pressurer.”
There are not any unlockable strikes; fairly, battling and accumulating or buying gadgets boosts your vitality, willpower (mana), energy, and agility. Keep on with one character, and by the tip of the Scott Pilgrim EX‘s three-hour or so journey, you’ll be degree 300, maxed out, and flying across the display screen with every soar. There are additionally purchasable equipment and badges to spice up your stats and supply different bonuses, although nothing that flips the sport on its head. I noticed no cause past sampling movesets to play as a couple of character in my first solo playthrough, as the sport was fairly difficult in its later quests and I wanted all of the stats I may pour into one character.
The primary half of Scott Pilgrim EX, when my vitality was low, was a bit irritating in my fixed have to backtrack to earlier outlets to purchase corndogs or vegan sodas to heal my character, solely to be assaulted by baddies on each avenue and compelled but once more to waste my hard-earned loonies and toonies (that’s 1- and 2-dollar cash for you non-Canadians). The shortage of a life system raises the strategic bar going into every boss encounter, nevertheless it didn’t jive with the dearth of choices for replenishing well being.
Annoyingly, bosses and fundamental quests are unrepeatable, which means you need to begin a New Sport Plus carrying over your character stats and gadgets if you wish to, say, see all seven of Scott Pilgrim EX‘s endings. When partying up with strangers on-line, I couldn’t see what quest different gamers have been on, which means I used to be dropping out and in with oddly balanced ranges for the only real objective of incomes more cash and ranges for my very own roster. The crossplay coop expertise was chaotic but very clean (an enormous improve from Scott Pilgrim vs. the World: The Sport’s uneven mess), although the sport may higher talk different gamers’ stats.
One other unlucky miss was the writing. I really like the world and characters Bryan Lee O’Malley has created, although the jokes in Scott Pilgrim EX missed way more typically than they hit. That is due largely to the dearth of romance between its key characters and lack of seriousness within the the story’s stakes. Teaming up with the previous unhealthy guys felt like Mario enjoying tennis with Bowser, with all previous historical past scrubbed over in order that Scott and co. may very well be Mickey Mouseified to attraction to new (and youthful) gamers.
There’s a win in that: this sport can be a blast to play even for teenagers with little information of ‘90s gaming trivia. However whereas the dearth of story focus right here makes it approachable, Scott Pilgrim EX loses a variety of the magic that makes the sequence value approaching.
Lastly, the music. I may have spent half the assessment gushing about Anamanaguchi’s soundtrack to Scott Pilgrim EX. They have been my favorite band in highschool (round when the film and first sport dropped), and I used to be overjoyed to see their return right here, and with their largest-scale venture ever in addition. 71 tracks throughout an hour and a half signifies that fairly than delve into longer stage-specific songs, every display screen and store has its personal brief looping observe. Anamanaguchi stretches their historically 8-bit chiptune sound in Scott Pilgrim EX, as they’ve been doing of their non-soundtrack discography, to make a mesh of tracks that jogged my memory of the cohesive chaos of Undertale or Deltarune‘s music.
The soundtrack isn’t at all times melodically advanced, contemplating gamers hear brief snippets of every observe as they sprint backwards and forwards via Toronto’s streets, bars, and inter-dimensional subspace highways. As an alternative, the music favors fast, looping catchiness and mood-setting. Mixed with the eclectic and retro-amour visuals, Scott Pilgrim EX makes for considered one of my favorite sport aesthetics, and one which jogs my memory why I really like this medium.
Scott Pilgrim EX appeals to me in some ways, principally in the way it lets me mirror on my life out and in of gaming. It’s endlessly entertaining on the eyes and ears, and it has the most effective belt-scrolling fight this facet of Streets of Rage 4. The swings it takes when it comes to pushing its style or reaching in the direction of a brand new viewers don’t at all times join, nevertheless it’s nonetheless a fast, joyful expertise I’m blissful to proceed enjoying each solo and with family members (and also you random individuals on-line, I assume).
