Bully

"Bully Really Shows What A Game Should Be Like"

Do you still go to school? Are you still rotting your brain out with homework? We all know that school isn't fun, especially when you're the new kid in the school, or even in the town. You get picked on by bullies and the older kids. You aren't considered equal at all to the other kids. You see some students in the corner talking about you. Everyone knows that most schools are alike. Take, for example, the classes. Yes, everyone must take math class at least once. The only thing that differs are the students. See that pretty girl up in the front? What about that fat ugly kid behind you drooling down your neck? You see, school is an interesting place to be and make friends (and enemies.) In Bully, there are many things that your main character can do. See that kid? Give him a good old atomic wedgie. See that unlocked locker? Send that little kid into darkness. Think he needs a shower? Give him a swirlie. Did he tell on you? Steal his textbooks. Hey, I dare you go over there and pinch that girls butt! Why not try to jump down that whole staircase with your skateboard?! Beat that kid up who called you a name! All of this stuff is possible, but it won't be easy to get away with when teachers, prefects, and the cops are on the prowl. If you happen to find yourself in that situation, why not hide in that locker or that trashcan until the heat is gone. Any by golly never be outside past your curfew! Well, ladies and gentleman, you just entered Bullworth Academy, and you better be ready for the roughest, toughest, scariest, and most painful experience in school ever.

Meet Jimmy Hopkins. The 15 year-old protagonist of Rockstar's newest creation is here. The little brat has been expelled from many other schools and his mom has been married God knows how many times. Now she's dumping you off at Bullworth to go on a year-long honeymoon with her new husband, who, as Jimmy claims, is “twice as old as his grandfather, fat, and bald.” On the way to the school Jimmy and his mom get into a huge fight. She calls Jimmy a “monster” and she can't wait to dump him off at the school. When she does, she automatically peels off and drives away. The first person that Jimmy meets is the secretary, Miss Danvers. From there on out, Jimmy is on a quest to take over the school and stop all of the bullies once and for all. That's how the story in Bully works. You play as Jimmy Hopkins, and you job is to take over the school. However, that won't be easy. Taking control of the school means taking control of the cliques. To do this you must show them who's boss to get them on your side. Speaking of cliques, they are the bullies, preps, greasers, jocks, nerds, and the townies.

Each clique is unique with advantages and disadvantages. Each group has a leader and a person whose second in command. The leader in most cases is usually the toughest to beat down. Each clique also has their own way of fighting. The nerds, when fighting, will unleash a wave of harmless sissy slaps and sometimes very weak punches. They are either very fat or very skinny. While they are pathetic fighters they do have brains and will most likely toss some stink bombs your way. The jocks, on the other hand, are the toughest and will beat you down and football tackle you. They also have their own ways of dressing. The greasers are stuck in the 50's and wear jeans with big leather jackets with their hair slicked back. The jocks wear sports jackets and of the like. Taking control of the school won't be easy when these groups stand in your way.

In Bully, Rockstar really showed that they can create a fun game with possibly the best dialogue ever. Because this is high-school, the characters have to be funny. Almost every cutscene in the game is guaranteed to make you crack up, and I say this for every cutscene. The characters are voiced to perfection and are exactly where they should be with their lines. Each character says their lines with enough emotion to make the story believable and fulfilling at the same time. Along with the amazing dialogue come the other sound effects, such a weapon noises. Every weapon in Bully sounds excellent, from exploding firecrackers to the shattering sound of the stink bomb hitting your opponent in the face. My only complaint would be the music and how annoying it is in some parts. It's mostly just a bunch of dinging noises and weird bell thingies constantly ringing in your ear, but in some parts during some missions, the music is very good and gets your heart pumping.

Alright people, let's face it. The PS2 system is completely outdated. Although many people, like myself, can't afford to get a next-gen console, you will be happy to hear that the graphics for Bully on the PS2 live up to all of the hype. A lot of detail has been put into the visuals for this game, and, surprisingly enough, many things in this game look so good you would think that you were playing the game on a next-gen console. My only complaint is that a lot of things appear very blurry. Buildings, trees, and everything else gets completely blurred out around 20-30 yards in front of you. This can get pretty distracting at times, but really isn't that bad when it comes to how good this game is. All the character models look good to, but up close they tend to look rather blocky and washed out. Again we have another good aspect of Bully that really helps it out.

If you have played any of the Grand Theft Auto games, you will be happy to hear that the controls are basically the same. If you haven't played any of the games (shame on you), than all I can say is that you will still be happy with the layout, and it doesn't take very long to learn and get used to.

When we talk about replay-ability, Bully gets an easy A+. There are many things that you can do in order to get 100%, or to just have fun with it. There are collectables (rubber bands, Grottos and Gremlins Cards) that need to be found to get bonuses. You can do side missions, detention mini-games, odd jobs (paper route, lawn mowing), bike and go-kart races, carnival games, errands, or just plain going around beating people up! There are just too many things to name in this game that you can do. I guarantee that you will be playing this until the Playstation 6 comes out (or, in that matter, an X-Box 720).

As you can see, Bully is a game that had a ton of hype, and it lived up to all of it. Still, I cannot think of a game that has caused so many arguments, trouble, and controversy as San Andreas did with its little “hot coffee” mod. Miami lawyer Jack Thompson was all over this game and wanted it banned before he even saw it being played. Anyone who thinks this is a “Columbine Simulator” or “GTA For Kids” should go to hell. This game is none of that. No blood, no guns, no death, no killing, and no stealing cars! Come on people! Anyway, Bully is certainly a must buy for any gamer out there looking for an awesome action-adventure game.

REPORT CARD:
Graphics: B+
Sound: A-
Control: A+
Gameplay: A+
Replay-Ability: A

Reviewer's Score: 10/10, Originally Posted: 02/05/07