Scott Pilgrim vs. The World: The Game

The side-scrolling beat 'em up is a great choice of genre to use for a Scott Pilgrim game. Inherently retro, like the geek chic references in the comics, and simultaneously hardcore and casual (you can do a stage without being hit once or you can just dumbly wander through hammering X) it's a genre that the franchise nestles into very comfortably. Add in some light RPG elements and you also allow it to add in gaming tropes such as HP, levelling up, unlocking new moves and "Guts" (using the same logo and performing the same function here as in Breath of Fire 2) to the more general gaming elements such as 1UPs, themed levels, boss fights and character select screens.
 
So as a way in which to recreate the Scott Pilgrim world in a videogame, it's perfect. But it could be that it's simply a neat publicity stunt for the movie which actually plays badly, as if made by someone with no experience of the genre. Fortunately, it's immediately obvious when starting the game that this just isn't the case. The game plays like it's been made by a group of people who have played games such as Final Fight, Golden Axe and Streets of Rage over the years and thought "This is awesome, but it would be even more awesome if you could do this..." and have put all those ideas into this game.
 

Gameplay

Armed with your light attack, strong attack, block and jump buttons, you can perform a mixture of combos, juggles, launchers into air combos, counter-attacks, dodges, grapples and throws. There are also down attacks, dash attacks, super moves and even a striker system similar to the one found in some King of Fighters. It's all amazingly intuitive and, unlike in a lot of the original games in this genre, you neither feel like you're doing the same move repeatedly or that you're not entirely sure how you just did that combo you just pulled off. 
 

Graphics

Graphically the game is an absolute pleasure to behold. The pixel art is spot on, both the characters and levels are vibrant, memorable and full of charm. The enemy design is fantastic and imaginative; you start out fighting the more typical "Random Thug #3" type enemies, but move onto film directors who turn the screen into a scene from an action movie, with stunt men running around and blowing up, aliens zapping you with laser guns and cutesy Godzillas rampaging around the screen. Then you're fighting ninja on a train and soon after, anime-style mechs. 
 

Sound

Special mention must go to the music, done by NYC "chiptune punk" band, Amanaguchi. It combines NES soundchip music with actual instruments playing alongside. The result is something that's very much like the game itself; something very modern and hip acting like something from the late 80s/early 90s, feeling both nostalgic and fresh at the same time. The sound effects are straight out of your favourite old games. I mean that figuratively, but in some cases it's almost literally true; Scott warps out of the level after defeating the boss in the same way, with the same sound, as Megaman.
 

Longevity and replayability

There are only 7 levels to play through, but with four different characters (plus two hidden ones) to level up, with riotously fun multiplayer (which lets you steal other characters lives when you die, or heal them when they die, depending on if you're an asshole or a nice guy) and extra game modes such as Boss Rush and Survival Horror (can you last 30 minutes against infinitely spawning zombies), there's a lot to do here and it's the kind of game you can keep coming back to whenever friends come around.
 

However...

There are two issues that hold the game back from a 5/5. The first is a minor gripe - there's no online co-op. Given that this game is only obtainable online, it's a given that the players will have the Xbox online. This is just the sort of game you'd want to ring your friends and say "Hey, let's play Scott Pilgrim for a bit" so it's a shame that this feature is missing. The second issue, as mentioned in this article's title, is a huge, monumental, almost deal-breaking problem. The game crashes. A lot. I am currently unable to get past level 4 with Scott because the game has frozen every single time I've played it. Apparently the problem is even more of an issue in later levels. While the game feels very polished and well-crafted overall, the freezing and a handful of other, less fatal glitches, show that this game really was rushed out in time for the movie's release. 
 
This game is highly recommended, even if you don't like Scott Pilgrim at all, and it's pretty much a necessity if you like retro games, beat 'em ups, pixel art graphics or 8- or 16-but music. When (and I'm assuming it's a "when") this game is patched, there will be practically nothing wrong with it at all. Also, additional DLC is promised in the future.