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.