Scott Pilgrim: Round 2!

How do you follow from seeing Scott Pilgrim vs. The World? You see it again, that’s how. I could have seen Salt or Grown Ups, but I would have sat through either of them thinking “I could be watching Scott Pilgrim again“, and that would pretty much ruin my week, let alone seeing a film with David Spade in it.
It also appears that I have to follow a post about Scott Pilgrim with another post about Scott Pilgrim. While I could write endlessly about the books and film, there are in fact two mediums I haven’t yet written about. I intended to write about Scott Pilgrim vs. The World: The Game in the last post, and would have had it not been for a fear of writing a post the length of War and Peace (hey I know classic literature exists!) and winning the title of Scott Pilgrim fan boy 2010. Since then I’ve procured a copy of the soundtrack, and am probably only a fancy dress costume away from being Scott Pilgrim fan boy 2010.
I was quite surprised when I heard they were making a Scott Pilgrim game, despite the series being heavily influenced by video games and featuring action, I always saw it more as a love story, and love stories don’t make great games (or could they?). I was kind of relieved when it was announced it would be a download only game, because if it was a full release, I would no doubt have spent £40 on it and been dismally disappointed. That sort of disappointment when you watch a beloved childhood TV show when you grow up and it turns out it was shit all along.
Fortunately, the game is not shit, it’s just not very good, but it has enough style and charm to get by. Developed by Ubisoft, SPVTW:TG (it’s even long abbreviating it) is a beat em’ up. You don’t see many beat em’ ups these days, mainly because they don’t really work anymore. Double Dragon, Streets of Rage, and Golden Axe were part of the golden age of beat em’ ups way back when, but since then interest in this genre has dwindled, mainly because they only really work in 2D, and we’ve pretty much been over 2D since the mid nineties.
It’s a shame because Nintendo have shown that there is still life left in 2D platformers, so maybe the beat em’ up can be resurrected. SPVTW:TG is a start at least, and like the latest 2D Mario games have done, has incorporated newer elements to create a much more immersive gaming experience than the 8-bit era gave.
SPVTW:TG looks and sounds the part, in fact it’s the best thing about the game, and remains reasonably faithful to the source material while bringing its own style. The artwork is well done, if a little repetitive, but the cutesy playable characters will surely please most fans. Most homage’s and references are to the Mario series, but it’s still a nice touch. The game’s soundtrack has rightly received universal praise, and chiptune band Anamanaguchi have created something really special that is nostalgic of my early childhood. I didn’t know there was such a thing as chiptune a week ago. See, the things you learn.
The gameplay really lets the whole thing down by not being very good. It is pretty much unplayable until you unlock the counter move, and even then it’s still pretty hard to play. There is a slight RPG element that gives a little more purpose to the proceedings. The extra moves make it more exciting, but after a few level ups it becomes much easier. Perhaps it’s just a beat em’ up thing, but the game is either too easy or too hard, it never seems to be a fair or fun challenge.
The levels are quite inconsistent, with the bosses sometimes being underwhelming and easier than the rest of the level, and this can be quite frustrating. The bosses should be more significant to the plot of the game as they are in the books, but instead feel irrelevant. I know they are going for a retro feel and most people who will play the game know the plot anyway, but a little exposition would have made SPVT:TG much better. Monkey Island was notorious for its funny dialogue, it really feels like a waste that no dialogue was put in this game, it’s not like they are short of it.
Maybe time and money stunted this game, but it’s such a wasted opportunity, and it’s highly unlikely that another will be released. At a glance it looks a perfect companion to the film and books, but hardcore fans will be disappointed once they get past the style and sound. It would have been cooler to have more unlockable content, especially in terms of characters, or even have them appear in the game. Wallace Wells could have been like Toad, offering extra lives, they’re both gay so it would have worked. It’s a little sad that this is the only Scott Pilgrim game we will get, but hey, at least the soundtrack rocks.
Speaking of soundtracks…onto the film’s original soundtrack. So yeah, this rocks too. Music is integral to Scott Pilgrim (Bryan Lee O’Malley even published his own playlists in the back of the books), so it is natural that a lot of work was put into making the film sound right.
To their credit, the film sounds like I imagined the books would have. I know Sex Bob-Omb are supposed to be terrible, but I really like their songs, especially Garbage Truck and it’s a shame that they’re not a real band. In fact even Crash and the Boys and Clash at Demonhead are pretty good, Metric’s Black Sheep (performed by Brie Larson as Envy Adams in the film) being the standout track on the album.
Other contemporary bands like Broken Social Scene, Blood Red Shoes, and Black Lips appear, but there are a lot of older artists like The Rolling Stones and T-Rex as well, creating a good mix that never feels out of place. Just a minor criticism though, removing the fictional bands, this does just sound like any other indie soundtrack for an indie film. Garden State, 500 Days of Summer, and Juno all have these unique indie soundtracks, but as a collective they are starting to get repetitive. It’s only a minor criticism though, and the fictional bands haven’t been removed and thus the soundtrack is a joy to the ears.
I don’t write about music much and now I know why, it’s not that interesting to write about. No wonder the writers at NME are bitter angry pricks. There is still the score of the film to buy, which I will eventually, but I won’t write about it, we can just assume I like it, maybe two blogs ago we could have just assumed I like Scott Pilgrim and everything about it and saved everyone the hassle. Next week, Scott Pilgrim: The T-Shirt reviewed!