Scott Pilgrim VS. The World: The Game was a fairly successful video game adaptation of the Scott Pilgrim franchise, so it’s not too surprising that it would receive a sequel. Okay, it would be surprising if Ubisoft released a sequel since they haven’t had their act together in years. Instead, Tribute Games, which consists of some of the original Scott Pilgrim developers, developed and published Scott Pilgrim EX all on its own. The result is a beat ‘em up that feels like a genuine sequel to the first game but surpasses it in nearly every way.
The story of Scott Pilgrim EX takes a bit of inspiration from Scott Pilgrim Takes Off, the underrated anime series that finally arrives on Blu-ray this month. The best thing that show did was reboot the universe and allow the Seven Evil Exes from the original story to live. They’re all such great characters, and they make better friends and frenemies than expendable foes. As for the plot of the game, it involves the members of Scott Pilgrim’s band getting kidnapped by Metal Scott, a cool but evil robot version of Scott. The titular hero and his remaining friends will have to battle robots, vegans, demons, and disgruntled time travelers to get the band back together and save the day.
Scott Pilgrim EX might look a lot like its predecessor, but the playable lineup has undergone big changes. This time, Scott and his sometimes love-interest Ramona Flowers are joined by a host of former foes: the actor Lucas Lee, the half-ninja Roxie Richter, the mystical Mathew Patel, the entrepreneurial Gideon Graves, and the mechanical Robot-01. Said robot is a creation of the Katayanagi Twins, and although he played an important part in Scott Pilgrim Takes Off, Robot-01 also appeared in the comic and previous game. All playable combatants start with four selectable color palettes, though two players can’t play as the same character. The playable cast is great, other than Knives Chau not being playable. That said, there are numerous unlockable support characters who can be summoned during a fight.
Whereas the first game followed a Castle Crashers-like structure of separate stages linked by a world map, the new one kicks things up a notch with a River City Ransom-style open-world structure. Our heroes will explore the wintery streets of Toronto, fight territorial gangs, visit shops for refreshments and gear, unlock sub-space shortcuts between locations, and open new paths via bombs, keys, musical riffs, and other methods. NPCs will offer advice and/or quests via dialogue that’s filled with jokes and gaming references. Scott Pilgrim EX lacks voice acting, but the actual writing is just as clever and entertaining as that of the River City Girls series.
The actual beat ‘em up gameplay is surprisingly deep and fluid. For my money, it plays better than Tribute’s own Marvel Cosmic Invasion! Fighting relies primarily on two attack buttons, a grab button, and a jump. Those face buttons can be comboed, charged, and combined with directional inputs into a huge variety of attacks, so the fights never get dull. Weapons like pipes, rocks, and Super Mario Bros. 2-style vegetable are plentiful and handy. Blocking or performing a character’s unique super move will consume the GP gauge, which must be replenished by finding pick-ups or buying food from shops. The same largely applies to health. Returning to base doesn’t replenish HP or GP here (for better or worse), so Scott and friends will have to buy lots of snacks. Thankfully, enemies drop plenty of coins when defeated and can easily be farmed.
RPG elements like character stats work similarly to the River City games. In addition to restoring health, eating various food items will generally increase one or more stats. It seems that players can eat the same item repeatedly for more boosts, which is fun but a little unbalanced. Some food items can be purchased “to go,” as indicated by a symbol on the shop menu, while most food must be consumed upon purchase. That’s a needless complication, but the purpose seems to be that players can only take dinky health items rather than good ones. Unlike River City Girls, you only get to carry one food item period, and it will be consumed automatically upon losing all health. Accessories and badges provide stat boosts or other benefits, allowing some fun customization to the gameplay. The actual leveling up system is item-based rather than experience-based. Level-up items are rewards for certain quests and rare drops from enemies. When these appear during a co-op game, only one player gets the item, and that’s a drag. Why not allow everyone to pick up each drop?
Still, multiplayer is one of Scott Pilgrim EX‘s finest qualities. Drop in, drop out 4-player local co-op and online co-op are supported, and multiple local players can join an online game from one device. Even better, Scott Pilgrim EX has full cross-play co-op, as we tested on long today when mixing and matching Xbox, Steam, and Switch players. Like other Tribute Games beat ‘em ups, you have to actually jump into the game before partying up with online players, but that’s a minor hassle. We only experienced players getting dropped from the game on rare occasions, which is worlds more stable than Marvel Cosmic Invasion was at launch.
In co-op, only the host makes story progress. Everyone else will simply retain the money, items, and levels that they acquire. There’s no friendly fire, so bringing friends along will definitely make the fights easier (and more chaotic). Players can also revive each other, but utilizes Scott Pilgrim EX‘s strange tossing mechanic. At any time, players can hold the left trigger and press one direction to throw a heart (sacrificing a bit of their own health) or another direction to throw a coin. Sharing health and money in this way is certainly handy, but it makes reviving downed players awkward. You have to toss a heart on the injured teammate before the 10-second countdown expires. Holding a button or beating the downed player into alertness, the revival mechanic favored by most other beat ‘em ups, would be more intuitive. Still, the penalty for dying is just a loss of money, so failing to revive someone isn’t the end of the world.
One playthrough will take 5-8 hours, which is a little short for this style of game. Thankfully, a “New Game Plus” mode will keep the party going. Replaying with different characters (they all have unique playstyles and level up independently) and partying up with friends seem to be the way to get the most out of Scott Pilgrim EX.
In the movie Highlander, the Kurgen says, “It’s better to burn out than to fade away.” Well, Scott Pilgrim EX burns super brightly. The pixel art from Paul Robertson and others is even better than that of the first game. The world is full of expressive and unique characters, detailed backgrounds full of Easter eggs and references, and countless gorgeous colors. Bosses are huge, creative, and memorably on-brand, including prehistoric versions of Todd and Roxie, pirate Envy Adams and her carnivorous plants, a baby piloting a robot, and even a chance to engage in Scott’s fateful battle against Simon Lee on the school roof. The chiptune soundtrack by Anamanaguchi is diverse and catchy. Movement and fighting feel incredible, and the co-op support does not disappoint. I wouldn’t have minded a longer game, but Scott Pilgrim EX is intensely entertaining from start to finish.
Scott Pilgrim EX costs $28.99 on Xbox, PlayStation, Switch, Switch 2, and Steam. Scott Pilgrim Takes Off: The Complete Series arrives on Blu-ray on March 24. Preorder it for $27.99 at Amazon.
Steam download codes were provided by the publisher for this review.