Absence can make the heart more amateurish and with more Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World: The Game the wait has prepared me to fall in love again with its nostalgia for retro play. His return could not have come at a better time either. Collaborated at home, away from friends and family, while the days are short, cold, and within reach of the ongoing pandemic, the beat of decades ago helps me recharge when I needed it most.
Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World: The Game was originally released in 2010 coinciding with the release of Bryan Lee O’Malley’s Universal film adaptation Scott Pilgrim series of graphic novels, about a group of twenty-somethings from Toronto who navigate life and relationships through video game-inspired hijinks. A joint project of Ubisoft Montreal and Ubisoft Chengdu, offered one Scott Pilgrim-Tour the classic beat ’em up RPG-lite, River City Ransom, which was elevated both by the animated style of the animation of the artist Paul Robertson and by optimistic soundtrack of punk band Chiptune Anamanaguchi. The digital-only release exploded on PSN and Xbox Live Arcade as a competently licensed game with a deep, independent heart. And then on December 30, 2014, he retired from the two storefronts, disappearing quietly and seemingly forever, transforming into a poster boy for the pitfalls of game preservation in a digital age.
Now he’s back on PS4 and Xbox One, alongside PC, Switch and Stadia, and as well as I can remember. The Beat ’em ups have had a bit of a renaissance in recent years, and at the same time Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World it can’t match the new golden pattern of the genre recently established by Streets of Rage 4, is still a very fun playground to relax. As its source material, Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World it revolves around its titular protagonist falling in love with a messaging package called Romona Flowers and fighting her seven paranormal ex-boyfriends in the process.
Between the cut scenes and the boss battles, however, Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World it’s mostly about getting into fights with random unknown mobs on the streets of Toronto and using the experience and money earned to level up and unlock new skills. Levels, sorted as Super Mario Bros. The world map is reproduced and includes stores where you can spend money on food to increase stats like health, strength, and speed. Pay $ 500 Scott for late fines at the video rental store and get an even more powerful menu of upgrades to buy. Enter a cheat code (square, square, square, X, circle, triangle on PS4) and you can start all levels with a deadly sword that sends Master Sword-style energy waves.
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Everything inside Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World it’s like it was before, like going back to the bedroom of your childhood, perfectly preserved in the years since you left, out of negligence like anything else. This includes the flawless but doable online multiplayer, previously released as DLC years after the game’s release. Then it seemed like a later thought, but today it is a gift from God. Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World it’s an extremely enjoyable walk down the memory lane playing solo, but with a friend or group it transforms into a proper hangout. Last week I’ve been playing here and there with friends and strangers, and I feel like the unexpected heartbreak of a snowy day combined with the exuberance of a free wheel of a post-barcrawl cooperation session: two things they caused the pandemic.
Of course, there are many other great multiplayer games to relax with friends. In fact, more than ever. But none give me the same welcome notes Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World fa, a retro tribute that returns with a unique layer of nostalgia of its own. This last year has been a disaster and no matter how much I don’t want to face the next day, it always comes. Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World it’s what I needed now to make the previous nights last a little longer.