Bully

"If the media is taking a closer look at videogames, then it must be time for another quality title from Rockstar"

Ah, high school. I remember it well. Fighting with teachers and security, throwing fire crackers and water balloons, and all around being a bad kid…. Wait, that wasn't me. That was Jimmy Hopkins, protagonistic, anti-hero of Rockstar's newest media circus, Bully. .

Rockstar's newest, has us controlling Jimmy Hopkins, age 15, as he is unceremoniously dumped in front of Bullworth Academy by his mother and newest husband right before their honeymoon. As they speed off toward happiness, Hopkins is greeted by the Dean's secretary, who informs him that he already has a meeting. In the Dean's office you learn that Jimmy has been thrown out of nearly every other school he has set foot in, but this school will be different. The Dean tells Jimmy that he expects nothing but the best of behavior. Jimmy is to go to class on time; he is to participate in extracurricular activities; he is to be an all around good kid. If not, he faces detention and possible expulsion. Oh, so many detentions. After being dismissed from the Dean's office you are introduced to Gary, resident mastermind, who wants to take over the school and all the cliques. Gary is the guy who will show you the ropes, and tell you how to survive at the school. Now, it's time to start your first year of school at Bullworth Academy.

The graphical presentation of this game is standard Rockstar fare by now. Good graphics and character models, accompanied by lush outdoor environments. Everything, from the school to the surrounding town and the characters who populate both, looks good here. Nothing pushing the bar, but nothing holding it back either.

The story in this game is a classic tale of woe, and trying to fit in at school. Yeah right. This story is all about Jimmy Hopkins trying to get back at the man. Jimmy's main goal is to try to stop all the bullying, and get all the cliques at Bullworth to be friendly to each other. Sounds like a cop out, huh? Well it is. Rockstar had to play it safe when making a game that takes place in a school, so, while you can bully kids, the overall theme of the story is to bring everyone together. Not lovey-dovey though, as Jimmy must often use violence to solve the everyday problems set upon him by the students and faculty of Bullworth Academy. All this is done, while being thoroughly entertained by another great story from Grand Theft Auto III writer, Dan Houser. The story is often very funny at times. More than once, I found myself laughing out loud at the satirical and stereotypical take on modern day high school. So, if you are not egging an upper crust party the preppies and their parents are attending, you will be getting the laundry, consisting of panties stolen from the girl's dorm, for the physical education coach. The story takes place over five chapters; each of the chapters has Jimmy focusing on the best way to get a rival clique to his side. The cliques being: Jocks, Bullies, Preppies, Greasers and Townies.

Main story aside, this is a Rockstar game, and as such there are tons of things to do. At the beginning of the game, you are required to go to class when the class times are available. Not doing so will result in you being truant, and being sought out by the prefects, the schools security force, inside the Bullworth walls, or the police in the towns. Eventually you will pass out of all your classes, and be able to do missions during class times. This won't come until later in the game though. Missions come in three flavors: main story missions, side story missions and reward missions. Main story missions are the missions that you do to advance the plot of the game. Side missions become available after completing main story missions. Side missions usually involve the faculty of Bullworth, whereas the main story missions are what Jimmy needs to do to take over a school clique. Reward missions are missions that can be done for extra money or items. These are indicated by a blue “X” on your map, and can come from anybody. They usually run toward you. There are also job missions you can take. The only two of these are doing a paper delivery route and mowing the Bullworth Park's lawn. Other side ventures are finding 75 rubber bands or 40 collectible card game cards.

This being a Rockstar game, you can expect a variety of weapons. If you are not being taught a new move by the local Vietnam veteran who lives behind a bus on school grounds, you can use on of a variety of weapons consisting of: fireworks, stink bombs, itching powder, firework launcher, spud gun, sling shot, etc. And if the weapons don't do it for you, you can engage in fisticuffs! Being expelled from a majority of schools you attend can make a great fighter, and Jimmy is no slouch here. Sporting a wide variety of combos that you learn from gym class, Jimmy can take down the toughest of opponents with ease.

There wouldn't be much use calling it Bully, though, unless you could Bully. While Rockstar may have taken the path of least resistance for the main story, that doesn't mean that you can't get your Bully on! It's all in here, from stuffing people into lockers or trash cans, or giving them swirlies, wedgies are fair game too! The best part of the bullying, is while fighting people, you can humiliate them. Whether it's giving them an Indian burn, spitting in their face, or giving them multiple punches in the arm, you can do it all. After learning how to grapple from the gym class, you can actually do a humiliation take-down. When the person you are fighting is low on health, you can grapple them, take them to the ground, and spit right in their face!

All in all, and the media circus aside, Bully is a good “go-anywhere and do-anything” game that shouldn't be missed. If you enjoyed the previous stories of Dan Houser found in the GTA games, then you should definitely check this game out. It's a bit on the short side, probably shorter than GTA III, but there is still stuff to do here. Beating the game also unlocks a sandbox mode where you can finish any collections or missions you may have missed. This is a great game that needs to be in your collection.

PS-I didn't know where I should put this, but I wanted to talk about the Collector's Edition that Rockstar released for this game. It's probably the best CE that has been released for a game in a long time. It comes with a comic, RockStar sticker and a full size dodgeball waiting to be inflated, which has become the torment of my co-workers. All of this comes bundled in an oversized box, almost the size of an old-school PC box that is made to look like, and opens like, a school locker. A really nice package for the asking price of $50, and a reason that this game got an extra point on its score, just wanted to say that before I finished up my review.

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 11/07/06