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As mentioned earlier, I can’t really relate how faithful the game is to the comics, but it doesn’t really seem to matter.  The game has no real plot to speak of.  Instead of following the story of Scott Pilgrim, Ramona Flowers and her seven evil ex-boyfriends, the game uses locations from the comics as levels in a side-scrolling, beat ‘em up style game.

You travel across seven levels in the snowy tundra of Toronto, Canada (which, after much research, I was surprised to find out is an actual country.  I know, right?!) fighting each of Ramona’s seven ex-boyfriends.   If you’re not familiar with Scott Pilgrim at all, you will probably have no idea the reason as to why any of this is happening.  The game’s plot is just as simple as old-school brawlers like Streets of Rage.  It’s not a bad thing, but it leaves quite a bit to be desired.

What the game lacks in plot it makes up for in visual flair.  Ubisoft has jumped onto the retro bandwagon and made Scott Pilgrim an 8-bit style game.  I say “8-bit style” because a lot of the game’s character animations are smooth and could not be done on any old-school console.  Also, the fact that the game is in HD helps the colors pop.  It’s hard to describe, but everything looks perfect.

The game plays a lot like Double Dragon or Streets of Rage in that it’s a brawler.  You go from screen to screen fighting off waves of enemies until you get to the level’s boss.  You fight that boss and then progress to the next level.  While there are a few moments where things are varied, that is basically all you will do for the entire game.

Fighting through the city, you will gain experience that unlocks new moves and abilities.  In this way, it manages to add in some RPG elements.  Unfortunately, like many RPGs before it, this game requires a ton of grinding.  As you progress, you will gather money from enemies which you can then use to buy upgrades for your strength and health.  This is made more difficult by the fact that if when you go to purchase an item, you have no idea how it will alter your stats. Only after you’ve spent the money will you be told how your stats were changed.

This is where things get a bit tricky for me.  Being an old-school brawler type, the game is clearly intended for multiple people to be playing at once.  Sadly, just like those old-school brawlers, there is no online multiplayer.  In the age of the Internet, this is inexcusable.  The game is meant for multiplayer, and if you’re like me and don’t have many friends near you who play games, you’re screwed.

It’s sad, too, because in the limited time I played multiplayer, I had a lot of fun.  Players can juggle characters or attack each other with the various bits of trash littered through the level.  It’s difficult to put into words, but it’s that kind of fun that you can only have with friends.

However, things are made worse, as the difficulty seems designed solely for multiple players.  Even on the easiest setting, single-player is extremely difficult.  Thankfully, the game employs a decent checkpoint system so that even if you lose all your lives you can usually resume the level about half-way through, assuming you hit that point.  Anybody expecting to blow through the game is going to be disappointed, though.

This feels like a strange review to me.  It’s clear that Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World was meant for multiplayer.  However, the developers decided, for some strange reason, not to include online multiplayer to the mix.  That feels cheap and leaves me extremely disappointed.  If you can play with someone on the couch then this might be a decent title.  However, for anyone else, there are far better games out there.