Nitpicking great games: Scott Pilgrim vs the World
By SuperfluousMoniker 8 Comments
Scott Pilgrim vs the World is proving to be a pretty divisive game. Obviously, a franchise with a strong base in video game and nerd culture is probably going to have fans who like to play video games, but there are plenty of people who dislike old school nostalgia in general or Scott Pilgrim in particular. Add in a media blitz for a movie starring a typecast actor and you've got a bubbling font of negative reactions.
But hey, there's a video game somewhere behind all that crap, and it's a pretty good one, too. Personally, I've been waiting for a game to be made with Paul Robertson's art style since I saw the Pirate Baby Cabana Battle and Kings of Power 1000% animations, along with his other work on Mechafetus and elsewhere. "Why isn't there a game with graphics like that?" was a thought that ran through my head for years. Now we've got one, and it's beautiful. It sounds great too, with music by chiptune virtuosos Anamanaguchi. Unfortunately, when you actually start playing the game is where things start to take a downturn.
As you progress through the game, you unlock new moves and abilities. This isn't a bad thing, but I think it's been poorly implemented. Some of the things you unlock should be standard issue, especially the air recovery, which speeds up the game by mitigating those long knockdown times I mentioned. The fact that said air recovery is the second to the last upgrade you get (meaning you'll play almost the entire game without it unless you grind) makes this even worse. There is also only one move that can break an opponent's block, and the only way to get it is to buy it from a secret shop halfway through the game. Considering that enemies block a lot, and sometimes just stand there blocking for inordinate amounts of time, I think this was a bad decision.
Moving on, there are four characters to choose from, but they are disappointingly similar. Ramona moving slightly faster and Stephen Stills having slightly more HP are the only differences I could find. Kim probably hits harder or something. They all have the same moves (unlocked in the same order and using the same controls), the same number of hits in a standard string to knockdown an opponent, same jump heights, the works. The only real differences are the attack animations and their (largely useless) strikers. I was looking forward to the replay value four characters would provide, but it seems to be pretty nonexistent since they all play exactly the same.
I think the clear culprit here is time constraints caused by the game needing to come out to coincide with the movie. No doubt that's also why there's no online co-op mode. Releasing a game this buggy just to be out the same week as the movie is inexcusable, and hurts the game in the long run (Unless they patch it. Which they probabaly won't do.).
Despite all this, I really enjoyed the game and still think it's worth the ten bucks if you like Scott Pilgrim and/or old school video games. If for no other reason, buy it for Paul Robertson.
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