DEVELOPERS: Engine Software/Ubisoft Montreal/Ubisoft Chengdu/Ubisoft Pune Production

PUBLISHER: Ubisoft

REVIEWED ON: PlayStation 4 (Slim) from a copy purchased by the author.

When we reviewed Scott Pilgrim vs. the World: The Game on PlayStation 3 this summer to celebrate the film’s tenth anniversary, we wrote on the subject of Ubisoft getting it back up for sale:

“…it’s sad to say that bringing back Scott Pilgrim is probably not at the top of their priority list.”

It’s good to be wrong sometimes.

After approaching seven years of not being available to purchase, Scott Pilgrim vs. the World: The Game is back on just about everything that can play games, remastered for a new generation. Not only that, this new release, dubbed the “Complete Edition”, comes with all of the post release downloadable content that many perhaps didn’t have access to despite owning the base title. This includes two extra characters: Knives Chau and Wallace Wells, plus bonus games and online play with up to three friends.

Everything said this summer about the original release remains true for the “Complete Edition.” Having rolled credits, everything feels exactly as it did a decade ago. Scott Pilgrim remains a loving homage to classic beat ’em ups, in particular Kunio-Kun/River City Ransom, with plenty of winks to the likes of Konami’s brawlers like X-Men and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, plus Final Fantasy, Double Dragon and even Mega Man. All of this is topped off by a wonderful soundtrack from the band Anamanaguchi that perfectly fits the type of game Scott Pilgrim is trying to celebrate.

The extra modes on the other hand, like Boss Rush, a Survival Horror game where you have to survive as long as possible against zombie enemies and dodge ball won’t exactly hold your attention very long. Still, it’s nice that they’re back for those who missed them when they were added the first go around.

Easily the best new feature added to the original game was online play, and in the “Complete Edition,” it’s sadly a little spotty. For the purposes of this review, it was tested the day the game came out, January 14th, and during our session we were kicked out multiple times due to a poor network connection. Then there was instances of extreme lag, as in one player watching their partner seemingly fight ghost enemies.

Starting out, our session was hosted from a PlayStation 5 where we had most of the problems, but when it was switched to being hosted from a PlayStation 4, things got much better. Whether this had to do with how the consoles talk to one another or connection speed is hard to determine. This could have also been due to stress on the game due to launch day excitement, but hopefully Ubisoft will address this feature with a patch. Given that it’s not exactly easy to have friends over at the moment, it’s important to get this as stable as it can be.

If you were sad that you missed Scott Pilgrim vs. the World: The Game, or are someone who simply adores retro inspired beat ’em ups, don’t miss out on the “Complete Edition.” It’s not very often that a licensed game gets to come back from the dead like this, so seize the opportunity as soon as you can to add this to your libary.

If you’re paranoid about it going away again, you can also still, as of this writing, pick up a physical edition of Scott Pilgrim vs. the World: The Game – Complete Edition from Limited Run Games.

Scott Pilgrim vs. the World: The Game – Complete Edition is available now on Microsoft’s Xbox One, Series S/X, Sony’s PlayStation 4 and 5, Nintendo Switch, Google Stadia and PC.