Bully: Scholarship Edition

"The best school days of your life"

Welcome to Bullworth Academy. Known in-game as the worst school in the country. I personally see it as the best in the country.

Your initial reaction may be 'Grand Theft Auto for kids', and although you're slightly right, it's more than that. Rockstar have turned their attention away from their GTA series and made Bully, where our main protagonist Jimmy Hopkins, 15 year old tearaway with a bad attitude, is shoved into a new school while his mother goes off with her new husband. Stuck in this battleground between teachers, prefects, and different cliques of students, Jimmy must survive this nightmare. And you have to tag along for the ride.

While the name suggests the game is merely about running around beating people up, there is actually more to that. Rather than cause bullying, Jimmy attempts to put a stop to it, albeit using rather extreme measures. Disgusted by this dump of a school, Jimmy rallies round all the cliques to end the taunting and teasing and abuse circulating round this place. Of course, that isn't easy. And being the new kid makes it even harder.

As soon as you step foot on school grounds, you are in control of Jimmy. Walking around is easy enough: use the control stick on the nunchuck to move him. Holding A makes him run, while tapping A make him sprint. Basic, easy to get to grips with. Just what you want with a control scheme. To swing your deadly punches, you swing the wii remote and nunchuck. No boring button-mashing here. Control Pad changes Camera, + and - changes weapon, etc. All very easy to get to grips with, and you'll be running around the place in no time, in total control of your abilities.

On your first day, Jimmy reluctantly befriends Gary Smith, a possible sociopath, who offers to help Jimmy settle in. During your time at the school, you get several missions to complete, as well as the classes you can attend, and the many sidequests that inevitably follow in a game such as this. Missions appear as a small orange glowing circle on the floor, quickly found by using the handy map up in the corner of the screen. Completing missions moves the story forward, which you will want to do, as the story is surprisingly engaging. Jimmy attempts to take control of each of the cliques, which he must do so by completing missions and punching people. Missions usually range from the bog-standard 'Go and get that and bring it here' missions to the strange and excellently varied missions on offer, such as the Halloween scenario, for example, where Jimmy and Gary spend the night to wreak havoc on the school with many pranks.

The school consists of a number of cliques, which are all just stereotypes. There's the Nerds, who are very smart but pathetically weak. The Jocks are the total opposite: incredibly tough, but would put 2 and 2 together and get confused. Then there's Greasers and Preppies, who hate each other, and Bullies who hate everyone smaller than them. Each is instantly recognisable from their clothing, and each is controlled by a single pupil, who Jimmy must get on his side. These people are great fun to mess around with, especially the Jocks who will put up a good fight. There are some who don't belong to any, such as Jimmy himself.

The game separates itself into 6 Chapters, which gradually progress as you complete missions. Each Chapter follows Jimmy as he tries to take on a certain faction, for example, the third chapter show him taking on the Greasers, while in the fourth, he wages war with the nasty Jocks. Although the 'go anywhere' factor remains, there's still a storyline along with it, but the fact you can simply decide to run around at free will is a great change of pace.

Cutscenes are of course used to explain the storyline. The dialogue is extremely well written and witty. Rockstar needs to give their script writers a pay rise. Each character fits perfectly with his or her voice, adding to the already high level of realism present.

Of course, it is a school you know. There are classes to attend. Which you can choose to attend or not (not going results in the prefects coming after you for truanting, but you can easily stay out of their way). Classes take the shape of minigames, each being relevant to the subject in question. Chemistry requires you to perform an experiment by matching the on screen prompts, English requires you to form words out of a selection of letters, and Geography requires you to place countries on a map. None of the classes are particularly long (usually a couple of minutes at the most) or hard, and the fact you can just decide to not go can be very relieving, as you don't want to have to go halfway through a mission. However, I personally found the classes fun and rewarding, as finishing each class results in an award of sorts, such as unlocking new abilities, weapons or clothes. Each subject has 5 different levels, and completing all 5 levels means you no longer have to go. The subject will still take place as usual, but you do not have to go, so the prefects won't berate you.

At Jimmy's disposal, he has many items to help him on his mission. Items range from weapons such as Stink Bombs and a Slingshot, to modes of transportation like an old-fashioned skateboard, or a trendy, speedy BMX, and other miscellaneous stuff, such as a camera.

Graphically, the game is very sound. Nothing spectacular, but very solid. The cutscenes are not CGI movies or anything, simply enlarged versions of actual gameplay. Plenty of shiny things throughout the game though.....

The game features many memorable tunes that play in the background which very effectively add to the atmosphere of the game. Reminds me of Danny Elfman......

The main game itself is pretty lengthy, albeit not very hard. It'll last you around 15 hours if you play straight through the main missions, although to miss out the added content is a waste. There's plenty to keep people occupied afterwards, such as many collectibles and sidequests, commonplace in a sandbox game.

Summary

A very engrossing, deep, longlasting game. One of the funniest I've played in a while too, and one you should definitely not miss out on. A real gem. Here's hoping a sequel is made soon. 9/10

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 01/28/09

Game Release: Bully: Scholarship Edition (EU, 03/07/08)