Scott Pilgrim EX review – is it time to grow up?

It’s 20XX, and unrepentant slacker Scott Pilgrim and his friends are revelling in the throes of young adulthood. They’re skint, but in a cool way that’s unrecognisable today (not least because nobody can afford to live near downtown Toronto). For many readers, the Scott Pilgrim graphic novels were a cultural touchpoint, a story about emotional immaturity, growing as a person and ultimately defeating youthful arrogance. Having cemented itself as a cult classic with an Edgar Wright movie, a 2010 tie-in game and a Netflix miniseries, it’s now back in the form of a raucous action-adventure game, Scott Pilgrim EX.

This is a homecoming of sorts for developer Tribute Games, which was formed by ex-Ubisoft employees who worked on the 2010 Scott Pilgrim game. Having established themselves as beat ’em up revivalists with Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shredder’s Revenge and Marvel Cosmic Invasion, the team has stepped up for another crack at this essential coming-of-age tale. Scott Pilgrim EX feels like a passion project, so they have the Powers of Love and Understanding on their side.

Vibe-wise, Tribute Games has certainly succeeded. Though the pop culture locus has moved on from mall goths and arcade gaming, Scott Pilgrim EX is nostalgic about nostalgia, and endlessly referential. Does it feel cool to understand pastiches of everything from Super Mario Bros 3 scenery to Resident Evil’s Raccoon police department? Yes, but the experience of play is still fun if you don’t.

The game is a romp through Toronto, starting as Scott’s Sex Bob-Omb bandmates are abducted before their next gig. Scott, Ramona and several of her no-longer-evil exes are tasked with recovering the band and their instruments (and Young Neil, for some reason) in time for the show. Meanwhile, Toronto has been overrun by reality-bending portals and a heap of new gangs, so you’ll be fighting demons, robots and, uh, vegans as you rampage through everything from gothic castles to beaches and a medieval burger shop.

Seven playable characters make for a comfortable range of fighting styles; Scott throws punches and knows his way around the bad end of a bass guitar, while Ramona uses her signature hammer to cartoonishly bash villains on the head. New to the roster for this game is former evil-ex Lucas Lee, who pushes the limits of pixel art animation with his skateboarding martial arts. Everyone feels fun and frenetic: Tribute Games knows what beat ’em up fans want, and it’s to hit thugs with metal pipes. Special moves help tame the hordes, ranging from overpowered – Young Neil’s onslaught of Sex Bob-Omb fanboys helped me defeat multiple bosses – to brief and rather boring stat boosts. References to classic brawling games stack on top of the pop-culture tributes, so you’ll eat roast chicken from the ground and get accosted by dudes hiding in trash cans.

The most exciting thing to come from Scott Pilgrim EX is a new Anamanaguchi soundtrack. As sonically critical to the Scott Pilgrim universe as Sex Bob-Omb themselves, the New York City rock band returns with a very hands-on approach to the game’s music. Aside from the chiptune hits Anamanaguchi are known for, we’re treated to some unexpected sounds, including an industrial beat for the Casa Vania level that is delightfully 1990s Nine Inch Nails. The band have matured as artists over the past 16 years, and their level of control over the game’s sound design benefits from it.

While the music and gameplay have evolved with the times, in terms of narrative, Scott Pilgrim EX plays it way too safe. Though written by series creator Bryan Lee O’Malley, there’s none of the edge that secured Scott Pilgrim its original cult following. Our cast have, for the most part, worked out their differences. There’s no David v Goliath here, no antagonist that forces Scott and his pals to grow amid the messiness of bad relationships. Scott’s other friends appear in fun cameos and cat-meos, but the story is a silly, shallow adventure that feels like a side quest, the kind of game Scott would stay up all night playing before missing his shift at work.

Maybe that’s OK. Even if they have all become better people, they never really change, and to those millennials who read the comics, watched the movie and played the original beat ’em up, Scott Pilgrim EX is a comfortable tread through a cult property. It’s just that the Scott Pilgrim universe is now almost as old as Scott Pilgrim himself. Could it be time to grow up?