Scott Pilgrim vs. The World has come a long way, from its graphic novel / comic book origins, to its surprising jump to a charming live action film adaptation. Alongside the film is a comic book style retro arcade brawler game that was pulled from stores in 2014, with no way of acquiring a copy. Now, thanks to all the online requests, it is re-released and now available on PC as Scott Pilgrim vs. The World: The Game – Complete Edition.

The story follows the nerdy skinny musician Scott Pilgrim, dating an eccentric gorgeous girl named Ramona Flowers. The problem is, she has these Seven ‘Evil Exes’ that are still in her life and all are out to stop her and Scott. Mystic Pirates, Vegan Rock Stars, and Bi Ninjas are out to get him. All of her exes have one thing in common: seemingly larger than life personas and are all very intimidating. Scott Pilgrim has to defeat them so they can be left alone and date in peace.

Unlike the graphic novel and the film, that’s basically all of the story. As Scott Pilgrim vs. The World: The Game’s plot fades into insignificance and is highly overshadowed by its brawler beat ‘em up gameplay that takes me back to the good ‘ol days of playing Streets of Rage and X-Men: The Arcade game.

Booting up Scott Pilgrim vs. The World: The Game, you will be greeted with the 8 bit music and retro art style that will immediately evoke nostalgic feelings for those fortunate enough to have lived through the golden age of arcade video games. The arcade retro style of the 80s and 90s are perfectly captured.

The gameplay is a traditional retro beat ‘em up, taking place in scrolling 2D environments with you and up to four players in a cooperative brawler experience, beating countless bad guys in 7 different stages to proceed. Culminating in a boss fight to battle one of the Evil Exes, stage by stage.

At the start and when playing solo, movement is a bit annoying, as Scott Pilgrim walks slowly by default, and you need to double tap your movement direction (D-Pad is preferred over Analog Sticks) in order to run. A dedicated run button would have been better. Over time though, your speed statistic will increase, and you will be moving around very quickly.

If you’re expecting a kinetic action-packed combat with lots of satisfying mindless button mashing, prepare to be disappointed. As Scott Pilgrim vs. The World is more of a tactical brawler game that rewards smart positioning and careful execution of moves. It’s a bit unforgiving and slightly frustrating even with the easiest difficulty. The slightest mistake and damage you take can easily stun-lock your character, or worse, knock him down requiring him a good unskippable few seconds to go back up again.

Scott has a finite amount of health points and overall lives that are used up once your Heart Points reaches 0. Scott also has a “Mana” called Gut points and you can mainly use it to perform special attacks or call out the assist character named Knives.

There are other game modes too like the Boss fight only Boss Rush, the zombie horde game mode called Survival Horror, the last man standing multiplayer versus Battle Royale, and the multiplayer versus Dodgeball game mode where you fight each other with a large beach ball. Everything is playable up to four players coop or versus.

Scott Pilgrim vs. The World: The Game has its frustrating moments, from initial movement issues to the annoyingly stun-lock mechanics. Ultimately, it is a classic fun cooperative brawler that still holds up despite being a re-release of a ten year old game on top of being retro in nature.

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Originally posted on TapTap.