Scott Pilgrim EX Review

Scott Pilgrim EX is a four-player co-op beat-’em-up developed and published by Tribute Games Inc., which is made up of former Ubisoft developers who worked on Scott Pilgrim vs. The World: The Game – Complete Edition.

I love the Scott Pilgrim series; underneath the pop culture references and crazy fights is a love story about a very crappy man trying to be less crappy and more man, while dealing with the demons of both his and Ramona’s pasts (sometimes figuratively, more times literally). It made for a great graphic novel series in 2004, an awesome movie in 2010, and an interesting Netflix series in 2023. And, of course, it even made for a really good movie tie-in videogame also from 2010.

While taking cues from Scott Pilgrim vs. the World: The Game, this is more of a sequel to Scott Pilgrim Takes Off; the Netflix show that changes the story of how Ramona and Scott (mostly Ramona) fought for their right to date. Although not necessary, if you haven’t watched it, you’ll probably find yourself a little lost, so spoilers ahead!

Taking place after the show, the far-off land of Toronto has been taken over by three rival gangs — The Vegans, The Robots, and The Demons — who’ve kidnapped Scott’s bandmates… and right before a gig, too! Now Scott Pilgrim, Ramona Flowers, and her not-so-Evil Exes (okay, one of them is still pretty evil) must band together and traverse space and time to save Canada (and the world or whatever)!

The story isn’t the most complicated, but it’s fine for what it is. It’s simply a fun adventure that references a bunch of classic videogames and the Scott Pilgrim universe as a whole. I also really liked that each character has different dialogue, which makes going through the game a little more interesting when it comes to repeat playthroughs.

...I played as Scott for the majority of the playthrough, but I swear there are other characters.

Meanwhile, the graphics are just as great. Combining Brian Lee O’Malley’s art style with pixel art makes for a very colourful and exciting world. And every character, friend or foe, is so lively and vibrant. The backgrounds are full of little details you’ll appreciate if you’re a fan of the series. All the while, you’ll be happily bobbing along to the upbeat chiptune rock provided by Anamanaguchi that makes every fight a joy to play.

But enough about that, let’s choose our fighter. Aside from Scott and Ramona, for the first time, you can play as her Exes like Matthew Patel and Roxie Richter. There’s also Robot-01, who was sent by the Katayanagi twins to kill Scott, so they count. Each hero has their own play style, moves, and even different endings, so pick who you like and start rampaging through the streets of Toronto.

Since EX builds off the movie game, the basic gameplay should feel familiar. You can perform light and heavy attacks, grab enemies and objects, and unleash special attacks. However, there’s a lot more to your moveset this time around. You can perform parry attacks, execute combos, and use charge attacks to beat up whoever’s in your way. You won't unlock new skills as you level up (that’s tied to your base stat total), but you’ll have all the tools you’ll need to beat the game. It’s really fun, and although the more technical techniques can be difficult to do in a multiplayer environment, you never really get tired of the constant onslaught of foes you'll need to face, even when you’re simply going from one point of the map to another.

On your adventure, you’ll unlock Assist characters you can call in, such as the non-playable Exes, the members of Sex Bob-omb (after you’ve rescued them), Wallace Wells, Young Neil, Crash and the Boys, and more. Their abilities range from damaging enemies and buffs, all of which can really get you out of a sticky situation. I didn’t find all the Assist characters too useful by themselves, but remember: everyone can call on their own, so I recommend timing assists to make the most out of them.

…Though I would seriously recommend that someone always have Young Neil. He’s a screenwipe that can absolutely destroy boss health bars with surprising efficiency, and he’s a decently early unlock. Also, Lucas Lee’s Stunt Team is really good if you need breathing room and they’re available from the start.

But it isn’t Toronto if enemies didn’t disappear and drop money, which you can use to buy healing items, upgrade your stats, or buy equipment to get passive bonuses. Every little bit helps, and you definitely feel the difference in power with each purchase. However, because of this system, you’re encouraged to stick with the character you chose. Upgrades and equipment don’t transfer over, so regardless of whether you’re playing solo or in co-op, some fighters are going to be left in the dust. That being said, you can reach max stats fairly quickly with enough Canadian dollars, so it’s not as bad as it sounds.

Unfortunately, due to the RPG elements, you’ll have to pause the action on a fairly regular basis to change equipment or switch Assist characters, which can be a little bit of a bother in co-op. Oh, and if you don’t remember what your equipment does, you’ll need to check a second menu instead of having a tooltip or something.

I also found myself backtracking a lot, either because of quests, to buy stuff in shops, or to earn money to buy stuff. There’s no fast travel, and there aren’t that many shortcuts, so it can be a bit of a slog to run through areas without getting hurt (no free healing, ironically enough). Also, sometimes I’d accidentally leave the area I wanted to stay in.

However, I think my biggest gripe is how the game handles death. Despite having an autosave, dying will revert you back to when you crossed the last checkpoint. That means you’ll lose story progress, whatever purchases you made are gone, and you’ll be back to whatever HP you had the moment you activated the checkpoint. I’ve had to redo fights and re-battle bosses I’ve beaten already, which kind of blows. There was even a time I beat one with 0 HP (thank you, Young Neil), saw the cutscene, died once it was over, then I had to do the entire level again.

The game is quite short, as you can beat it in 90 minutes if you really rush through it, but an average playthrough will be under 10 hours generally. However, this does help make multiple playthroughs a little more tolerable. What’s not so tolerable are the unskippable cutscenes. They will grate on your nerves if you’re struggling with a boss. However, despite these issues, I had a blast!

Scott Pilgrim EX is just really dumb fun, and I love it to bits. It’s a great successor to the movie game that fans will love from start to finish. I would recommend playing in co-op, though, as some fights are really annoying by yourself.