Rule 32: Enjoy the little things in life.

Had a chance to sit down with a buddy last night and Scott Pilgrim VS the World on the PS3. Somehow 360 owners drew the short straw and have to wait two weeks like chumps. Sucks, cause the game is pretty fun. Sorry 360 owners. The game follow the now famous story of Scott Pilgrim and Ramona Flowers. Boy meets girl, boy learns horrible secret, boy gets pummeled on, boy defeats evil exes. It’s Scott Pilgrim. You know what you’re getting.

So, yes the world is going Scott Pilgrim crazy right now, myself included. The last volume came out recently, which was my favorite and a great way to rap up the series. The movie comes out in a few hours which I’m quite hopeful and excited to see. I have faith in Edgar Wright and most of the cast. And then there’s the game. It’s a good time to be a fan. So you’ve read the comics and already have you ticket for the show. But should you play the game? Well, if you’re that big of a fan, then you’ve already play and possibly beaten it. But the answer is yes, still play the game.

Scott Pilgrim VS the World plays like an old school beat ‘em up like River City Ransom or Streets of Rage or Turtles in Time or Double Dragon. In fact, the game is pretty much old school everything. Like the recent Mega Man 9 & 10, the developers have really gone out of their way to really capture that old school 8 and 16-bit era of gaming. (The ‘Golden Age’ of gaming if you ask me.) There’s tons of retro references from Sonic to Mario to Mega Man and the list goes on and on. If you’ve been gaming for a while, you’re bound to see something that’ll make you smile. In addition to the gaming references, there’s tons of subtle things from the source material, whether it’s Stacey Pilgrim at the snack bar or Wallace’s secret shop, it seems like pretty much every character that’s in the series makes at least a cameo somewhere. These small things make it a very full and entertaining backdrop for the game.

But what about the gameplay? Not to worry, the it’s quite fun. If you’ve played any of the aforementioned beat ‘em ups, you’ll feel right at home. You play as either Scott, Ramona, Kim Pine or Stephen Stills. That’s right, the whole Sex B-ombs is ready to go. Then you go beat stuff up, each level ultimately culminating with one of the evil exes in a big over the top fight. Repeat seven times. Luckily each level is quite different with its own unique enemies and layouts. Quite fun stuff.

Special shoutout to the gentlemen behind the soundtrack. Really awesome retro rock and roll that fits perfectly into the beating up back guys thing. Really awesome. I can’t praise the music enough. A band entitle Anamanaguchi, they provide the excellent soundtrack. A quick check on Amazon show they have a cd entitled Dawn Metropolis. I am downloading it at this very moment

Now the game is great, don’t get me wrong, but there are a couple places it could improve. Two things I would have liked to see are online co-op, (there’s none) and drop-in drop-out co-op. The latter I kinda see why they didn’t include it, the former I don’t know why. It’s hard to get four people in the same room, unless you’re in college, which I’m not anymore. Online play would have been great. Also, the game is a bit hard. I advise replaying each level after beating it once for the experience.

Scott Pilgrim VS the World is a fun multiplayer retro beat ‘em up. Fans of the series should definitely check it out, but fans of retro games and beat ‘em ups in general should also. theindiegeek out.