2010
14AUG
Scott Pilgrim vs the World: The Game
Preface: I've never read any of the Scott Pilgrim comics or had any outside exposure other than typical pre-release buzz, so there will be no a-bloo-blooing about how close to/far from the source material it goes.
River City Ransom (right off the bat with the comparisons, I slay me!) is probably the first example of a "timeless" console game; that is, so ahead of its time in complexity and ideas, that twenty years later it is still revered within its medium. And this game is no mere homage, or love letter, or even direct rip-off, but a strange combination of the three that still manages to stand on its own; and with the asking price of just 10 bucks, you absolutely have no reason not to buy it.
Okay, now that the "review" review is over, I'll mention just a few things. First of all, like many NES greats (and unlike RCR, oddly enough), this game is buggy as fuck right out the door. I don't mean the cute little fake glitches in the bonus levels; I mean the hardcore game-crashing music-dropping fun-killing bullshit that started cropping up again when lazy-assed programmers realized they can always just "patch" it out later. I mean, I can understand if the game was rushed to get it out in time for the movie, but some of these bugs are jaw-droppingly amazing.
So, technicalities aside, how does it actually look and feel? Well, it's so retro it basically bleeds from the seams, which might kill it for some of us seasoned retro vets who are starting to see small-time games with pixel art as the next "gray and brown next-gen title" syndrome. Same goes for chiptunes, by the way. Fortunately, Robertson's work on the graphics still has that certain cartoony charm that keeps it a step above other "lol 2D" titles, so I can't strike it down too hard. Plus, again, ten bucks!
The gameplay is stupidly hard at first, as expected, due to that air of "put up or shut up" that gives us older gamers that feeling of smug nerd superiority. Yeah, it's meant to replicate games of the era again, which isn't exactly a bulletproof argument in and of itself, but in this case the difficulty comes from the leveling system - different moves come as you level up, but the first several are moves one would assume would be available out of the gate. It's like it's trying to induce complexity through linearity, and it doesn't really "click" until you arbitrarily grind for a certain length of time first.
So why did I rate it so highly otherwise?
It's ten bucks. No, seriously, that's the main reason. It's a lot of game for such a measly amount, and the chaos of four-man multiplayer (No online though? What in the fuck?) sweetens the deal considerably. There are even some legitimately interesting old-school twists, like hidden areas and secret characters, that up the replay value considerably (once you're max level, of course). I hate the fact that I criticized both the rehashing and the unevenness of new additions in the same breath, as the game is pretty tightly designed as far as its original material is concerned, but it's just one of those things I cannot personally overlook.
Nothing to cry about, though. They tried to fix what wasn't broken, but managed not to horribly mangle it as many developers do. Plus, it's ten bucks, god dammit!
River City Ransom (right off the bat with the comparisons, I slay me!) is probably the first example of a "timeless" console game; that is, so ahead of its time in complexity and ideas, that twenty years later it is still revered within its medium. And this game is no mere homage, or love letter, or even direct rip-off, but a strange combination of the three that still manages to stand on its own; and with the asking price of just 10 bucks, you absolutely have no reason not to buy it.
Okay, now that the "review" review is over, I'll mention just a few things. First of all, like many NES greats (and unlike RCR, oddly enough), this game is buggy as fuck right out the door. I don't mean the cute little fake glitches in the bonus levels; I mean the hardcore game-crashing music-dropping fun-killing bullshit that started cropping up again when lazy-assed programmers realized they can always just "patch" it out later. I mean, I can understand if the game was rushed to get it out in time for the movie, but some of these bugs are jaw-droppingly amazing.
So, technicalities aside, how does it actually look and feel? Well, it's so retro it basically bleeds from the seams, which might kill it for some of us seasoned retro vets who are starting to see small-time games with pixel art as the next "gray and brown next-gen title" syndrome. Same goes for chiptunes, by the way. Fortunately, Robertson's work on the graphics still has that certain cartoony charm that keeps it a step above other "lol 2D" titles, so I can't strike it down too hard. Plus, again, ten bucks!
The gameplay is stupidly hard at first, as expected, due to that air of "put up or shut up" that gives us older gamers that feeling of smug nerd superiority. Yeah, it's meant to replicate games of the era again, which isn't exactly a bulletproof argument in and of itself, but in this case the difficulty comes from the leveling system - different moves come as you level up, but the first several are moves one would assume would be available out of the gate. It's like it's trying to induce complexity through linearity, and it doesn't really "click" until you arbitrarily grind for a certain length of time first.
So why did I rate it so highly otherwise?
It's ten bucks. No, seriously, that's the main reason. It's a lot of game for such a measly amount, and the chaos of four-man multiplayer (No online though? What in the fuck?) sweetens the deal considerably. There are even some legitimately interesting old-school twists, like hidden areas and secret characters, that up the replay value considerably (once you're max level, of course). I hate the fact that I criticized both the rehashing and the unevenness of new additions in the same breath, as the game is pretty tightly designed as far as its original material is concerned, but it's just one of those things I cannot personally overlook.
Nothing to cry about, though. They tried to fix what wasn't broken, but managed not to horribly mangle it as many developers do. Plus, it's ten bucks, god dammit!