Self-indulgence is a wrong most videogame creators should steer well clear of – but sometimes, it can be done so right. Scott Pilgrim vs The World: The Game wears its allegiances on its sleeve – it's been created by a bunch of fanboys who totally love their source material and want to show you exactly why it is the best thing in the world. (And if the guys at Ubisoft Montreal aren't a bunch of comic-loving nerds who have never let the dust settle on their retro games collection, they do an awfully good job of pretending.)



By now I'm sure you all know the story. Scott Pilgrim loves Ramona Flowers. Ramona Flowers loves Scott Pilgrim, but she comes with baggage in the form of her seven evil ex-boyfriends. And there we have the premise for the game – each level (and boss battle!) is based around each former partner, each one with its own unique slant. You – as Scott, Ramona or one of Scott's bandmates – get to brawl your way through these levels, encountering paparazzi, monsters, street dogs, giant flying piggy banks and random misfits at every turn.

If you don't want to venture into the streets alone, then grab a friend (or three) and get them to help you out. The more good guys you have on screen, the more bad guys will spawn, which is a nice touch.

Despite what you may have heard, this one isn't a straight-up side-scrolling brawler. In these modern times, the devs have carefully blended RPG elements into the game, including the (brilliantly Canadian) coins you can collect and use to purchase food and records. As you biff-bam-pow across the screen, you'll also earn experience points and unlock new moves – all adding up to a pretty in-depth repertoire of attacks, blocks and counters after playing for only a little while. (These are necessary, by the way. The game is hard, and playing it solo – even on "easy" was a definite challenge verging on grinding. The only way to survive is to keep playing, unlock new moves, and spend your coins on upgrades and improvements. Which is exactly what you'll want to do anyway - just one more level, just one more level!)



There are a couple of noticeable drawbacks, however. If you want to play with someone else (and you will), you have to be in the same room as them (thanks to the lack of online play) and you'll have to both decide you want a game at the beginning of the level (thanks to the lack of drop-in/drop-out co-op). While this prevented me from fully exploring the teamwork element of the game, it does add a certain atmosphere. As convenient as it would be, there'd be something kinda wrong about teaming up with a partner you couldn't see – almost disrespectful to the concept of the game, in a way.

But who really cares? The graphics are brilliant – a love letter to the golden days of 8- and 16-bit artwork, through a distinctly modern lens (worth noting here that the pixel art is by Australian Paul Robertson, who also worked with 5th Cell on Drawn to Life and Lock's Quest). The soundtrack is everything you'd hoped for (and more - chip-tune legends Anamanaguchi are onboard, bleeping, blooping and generally rockin' out all over the place). It's funny. It's challenging. It's brilliant. Even if you haven't read the comics and you haven't seen the film and you have very little interest in doing either, you still want to download this game and play it. Trust me.