Welcome to another edition of For What it’s Worth where bargain titles are examined to see if they really are worth your bottom dollar. Tonight we take a look at a good old-fashioned, retro style beat em up now available on Xbox Live Arcade. This is Scott Pilgrim Vs The World: The Game.

Scott Pilgrim is a critical darling in the realm of independent comics but does Scott Pilgrim’s video game inspired, kung fu, indie rock, hipster quest for love translate well into a format of an actual game?     
 

Story: In a nutshell, you play as born loser Scott Pilgrim, who after falling in love with Amazon.ca delivery girl, Ramona Flowers, must defeat her seven evil ex-boyfriends (well actually…. Never mind. I don’t want to spoil it) in order to keep dating her. The game doesn’t explore the deep relationships between Scott and Ramona and the other characters or even clearly explain what is going on in the main story. But if you happened to have read the books, you’ll notice a slew of subtle references from the plot of the comic series. It is a shame that the story isn't represented overly well here but the game is still solid enough without the added strength of the plot.     

Graphics & Design: The game sports a classic 16-bit presentation based on the style the comic series and is animated by Paul Robertson of Pirate Baby's Cabana Battle Street Fight fame. The character designs do look pretty goofy and light-hearted with its chibi anime influence but it adds to the game’s charm and is flat out awesome. Not only does Robertson’s art style work well with the game but also with the Scott Pilgrim franchise overall, as the characters look almost exactly as they do in the original books.  

Sound: Chiptune band, Anamanguchi provides what is one of the best video game soundtracks of all time. The mix of real instruments and a hacked NES make for 8-Bit greatness. The old school music really adds to the retro vibe of the game, as well as provides even more to the series’ love for classic gaming. It really is amazing how something so simplistic as the bleeps and bloops of 8-Bit music can really capture each scene so perfectly.  Here are a couple of my favorite samples from the soundtrack:

Gameplay: Scott Pilgrim Vs The World plays just like any old school beat’em up. The players move their character from one side of the screen to the other as they work their way through a horde of bad guys until they face off with the boss (in this case the evil exes). It may sound simple but the developers really added a good bit of complexity to the mechanics of this little downloadable title. The gameplay features elements from differnent classic games. For example, the game takes a couple of cues from River City Ransom, which are the ability to pick up eniemes (and friends) and use them to pummle other eniemes, which is pretty hiliarious. The other bit taken from RCR is the fact that you earn money after defeating each enemy and that money can be used at a variety of different shops to buy books, CDs, video games, clothes and various food items, which boost your stats or regenerate your health. The game also takes cues from other classic beat em ups such as Streets of Rage and Maximum Carnage in the sense that each character can call on a striker to help layout an additional smackdown. There is also an RPG element  in the form of a level up system. After defeating so many eniemes, your character will begin to level up and with each level comes a new move and the RPG standard of boosted up stats and increased HP and GP (gut points).

I guess now is as good a time as any to talk about Gut Points. Gut Points work in the same fashion as HP, except they allow you to call strikers or revive yourself after being KOed without losing a life, instead of being a measure of health. However, Once your Gut Points are all used up, one of your friends can revive you with a few quick taps of the B button if you happen to be playing on multiplayer. If not, you loose a life.

Now that we got that out of the way, let us talk about how the game actually plays shall we. As much fun as all of this chaos can be, it is not perfect. first off, with this being a game that is obviously meant to be played with friends, it lacks something that most of the great old school beat em ups (Final Fight, Streets of Rage, etc) had and that is drop in co-op. It royally sucks that a friend can not conviently get into the game at any point (you know like in the arcade). The fact that you have to start the game up again to allow a second, third or fourth player to join in on the fun is super lame. I know a lot of reviewers are complaining about the lack of online co-op (and they make a good  point) but the fact that multiple players need to share the same space in order to play together fits in with the game's retro vibe, so no complaints will come from me regarding the lack of this feature.  

Another problem I have with the game is the inconsitancy of the difficulty. It doesn't matter which of the three settings you choose from because there really isn't much of a difference. All three of them will require you to spend about half of the time you spend playing through the game level grinding to get past certain levels. Once you do that, you can easily breeze through the level and depending on the power ups you happen to buy, the rest of the game. I don't like how the game goes from kicking your ass to being a cake walk in such short period. The difficulty should be more of a gradual thing, instead of needing to level up as high as you can to get the midway point, then sprinting through the rest of the game. 

The controls can also feel a tad stiff at times when trying to get your character to run or perform certain moves (the PSN version runs a bit more smoothly according to some). I also don't like how objects can bounce back at you if you try to throw them off screen. Sure, it's funny the first few times you see it but it gets old fast and can even kill you.

But even with those few gripes, the game is still a blast to play. Afterall, just because a game is hard (but eventually easy in this case), that doesn't make it a bad game. The chaotic nature (this is fitting due to Robertson's body of work) of pounding on hoard after hoard of bad guys, combined with solid (altough routinely/mildly stiff) mechanics and some really clever bits of humor involving references to the books and various video games like Mario, Mega Man, Street Fighter, Kirby and others that I don't want to spoil, make for one addictive game. I also like how well the RPG elements fit into the game, even if it leaves the difficulty a bit unbalanced.

One last thing. Even though there is plenty of fun to be had in playing by yourself, you are really going to want to invite some friends over because it is a blast on multiplayer. Whether you are helping each other out, or decide to be a dick and beat on your team-mates, the game is just much more fun when playing as part of a group.

Extra Features: If you enter a few secret codes, you will get a Boss Rush Mode, as well as Survival Horror Mode (which has you fending off a horde of zombies until you die), Blood Mode (which adds blood to the game), the ability to use the Power Sword of Love throughout the entire play through, the ability to change all money into animals (Sonic reference) and a Sound Studio which allows you to listen to the entire soundtrack. Thereaare also two hidden characters. One of, which will be unlocked after beating the game with each character. The other will either be released as DLC or as an added bonus for the eventual release of the film adaptation's DVD. The Boss Rush and Survival Horror modes offer a hearty challenge, as well as an awesome way to level grind your characters without having to constantly repeat the same levels over and over again. Things like being able to use your sword and changing the animals into money are neat little additions but the Blood Mode is cheesy, as the blood is just a red dot that appears when characters are hit. But blood wouldn’t fit very well with the art style or the overall light-hearted nature of the game, so it is better that the bloodshed is kept to a minimum.  

Replay Value: Depending on the difficulty settings, the main Story Mode takes roughly three-six hours (mostly due to level grinding) although playing on multiplayer will take less time and add on the fact that each character has their own ending, players could potentially spend as much as 20-30 hours playing the main game. The level grinding can be a bit redundant at times but the game is so much fun and addictive in all of its chaotic glory that you won’t mind too much. Survival Horror and Boss Rush are also nifty little time killers and add even more to the playtime. For a game that is only 10 bucks, you’re definitely be getting more than what you paid for.    

Overall Value: Download Price- $10 (800 MS Points)
                          What it’s Worth- $25 (this could have been a good DS title)

All in all, even though it has its flaws, this proudly Canadian tale provides a really fun, clever and actually really addictive (which is the first time I could say that about a game in quite some time) experience. I say gather up a few friends and download Scott Pilgrim Vs The World right now!

Also read the books!

And see the movie if your theatre hasn't removed it from its line-up.

Until next time: Happy Hunting!

Next on the docket: Mega Man 9 and 10