Bully

"I wish boarding school was this fun!"

When I first heard about Bully and especially saw some of the early previews I thought Rockstar was signing there death warrant , GTA but in school ? Well as more info came out the game turned out to not be like that but became its own little niche in the sandbox genre.

Story (some spoilers)

Jimmy Hopkin's mom has gotten remarried again and is going on her umpteenth honeymoon . She dumps off Jimmy Hopkins , a "troubled" youth at Bullyworth academy , one of the worse schools in the country . Jimmy after getting dumped off there has to deal with an apathetic principal ,a slew of messed up teachers and the most sterotypically defined cliques in the world . Jimmy soon after finds himself played into conflict with the 5 cliques at Bullworth .

They are ,The Bullies , your closest thing to thugs , Greasers , kids that are stuck in the 50's , Preps , the rich kids and the Nerds , the smart social outcasts . Along the way Jimmy picks up girls and gets into alot of trouble to say the least .

Gameplay

The gameplay for the most part is good . You don't kill in this game first off . The main method of fighting is with your fists and the combat is very similar to "The Warriors" . You also get access to a slew of ranged weapons such as firecrackers , stink bombs , itching powder , eggs , a slingshot and some really original ones . The original ones being a multishot potato gun and a bottle rocket gun .

You also have access to a slew of clothing , haircuts and other body decorations besides your school uniform . You can nearly look like any clique you want to . Appearance though has an effect on how students at Bullworth talk about you . If you look like an idiot people will laugh at you . You really learn this first off when your mom sends you a christmas present.

Now Rockstar Vancouver left a fun little segment . You can have a girl friend if you want and having a good relationship can give you a health bonus . The girls you are involved with are tied with the story and you have a canon girlfriend each chapter. Besides that you can have fun with any girl you want to ,but if one of the other girls you've messed with catches you making out with another one you get to either see a chick fight or getting beat up by our own gift of flowers to that one .

The Classes

Your at a school , there are going to be classes . Each class is a mini game that successfully completed gives you a bonus . The classes are Chemistry , Art , Photography , Shop , English and PE . Now you do not have to do the classes but if you haven't completed all five for each not only with the prefects hunt you down for class cutting but you get screwed out of useful upgrades . So don't be truant .

Graphics and game scope

Considering the age of the PS2 and the graphics system Rockstar has used for GTA which Bully uses a modified form of ,the game looks good. However do not expect super realistic graphics, impressive draw distances or character models there is no way it could be done and considering how much has to be rendered it would be impossible . Also every character model is different face wise . You will see some repeated clothing but the face of that model will be different .

The scope of the game is massive . There are many enviroment types , you have a very large school with nearly every building enterable . The outside of the school is even larger . You have Bullworth town where alot of the other story action takes place .

Bullworth town has many stores to go to and very many nooks and cranies you can use to outrun the police or beat up someone in private . The streets and sidewalks of Bullworth town are crowded too , in fact you have to be really be careful when using any form of transportation or else you will run someone down . So not only is the game big but there are many NPC's running around as well .

The Verdict

So in brief I feel that Bully deserves a 8/10 on the GFAQS scale . The main reason for it not a nine or ten is because in my opinion the targeting system isn't as fluid as it could be . You will find your self looking at the person you might not want to beat up or introduce to a fire cracker sometimes and in a fight that might get you sent to the infirmary because of that .

Also I will admit that the story could have been abit longer . Atleast one more chapter that actually expands the story of the game . Though if this game gets a greatest hits release I hope it gets a few extra missions.

Besides a few minor non game wrecking flaws Bully is well worth the MSRP or whatever you pay at your local video store for game rentals .

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 03/12/07