Bully: Scholarship Edition

"Grand Theft Auto junior"

Bully is a moderately open-ended sandbox style game developed by Rockstar, the same people behind the acclaimed GTA series. You can immediately tell that it is from the same team as GTA when you assume the role of a disgruntled and disillusioned teenager by the name of Jimmy Hopkins. He arrives at a notoriously rundown, seedy and corrupt city... Err, school by the name of Bullworth and he is left there by his parents who have predictably left him with little respect for his elders or authority. From here on in you go undercover investigating the dark and often comic secrets of the school and begin your ascent to the top via a combination of arse kissing, arse kicking and... Err, subterfuge. Sound familiar? Yeah, it is essentially Grand Theft Auto meets Skool Daze.

The GTA-esque storyline of "a nobody begins working for the big players in town/school and eventually supplants them" is serviceable enough but it does eventually begin to grate. Jimmy supplies frequent narration and updates on the story, and it doesn't seem to fit in with the school environment of the game, he sounds far too much like Tommy Vercetti on a mission to work out why he was set up and where is Cocaine money is rather than some fifteen year old trying to "get to the top." For want of a better word it begins to sound a little, well, silly. In particular, Jimmy's cries of "I AM THE BOSS! I'M THE DADDY! YOU WORK FOR ME NOW!" upon gaining control of a faction make the game sound like the developers were working on a Grand Theft Auto game, but at the last minute were told to work it into a school environment.But this isn't a huge problem, the game is presented in a very humorous fashion, frequently playing on the typical stereotypes and social cliques of American high school. However, as comic as some of these cultural references and spoofs are, they are often lost on European gamers who have never seen an episode of Happy Days.

There are several factions throughout the school, the Triads, the Yakuza... Sorry, sorry. I mean, there are the Nerds who are typically weak and weedy but sport the ability to manufacture improbable weaponry, the Bullies, who are fairly self explanatory, the Preppies who are the upper class, snobbish rich kids, the Greasers who all dress like the Fonz and the Jocks, who are typically the size of gorillas and possess the brains of chickens. On top of this are the typical seedy, self-esteem and enthusiasm murdering teachers that you would expect from a Rockstar game. Think of them as corrupt cops and politicians in GTA games if its easier for you. The storyline is good if predictably full of betrayal and double crossing and several elements such as certain close friends feeling forsaken and "out of the loop" are ripped straight from GTA: Vice City towards the end of the game.

As we have already established, this is a game developed by Rockstar, or technically, a subsidiary of Rockstar by the name of Rockstar Vancouver. As such, the gameplay is what you would expect. While the school and its local surroundings are not immediately open-ended for you to explore, it soon becomes so, if you are fed up of going to class, why not go and dick about on your BMX all day instead? There is a certain level of freedom, but it is restricted by storyline progression and number of quests complete. Aside from this you are free to do whatever you want (within reason) to your fellow classmates. This raises a lot of questions in the media as to the games suitability and indeed, there have been several attempts to have this game banned as many claim it encourages bullying.

It may encourage bullying if you are an incredibly weak-minded, brainwashed individual who is need of mental health treatment and gleans their social standards and morals from Television. But if this is the case, you shouldn't be playing video games in the first place, let alone Bully. I don't buy the whole "This game makes you into a bully and you will burn in hell for all eternity if you play it" argument. The violence is very minimal and cartoon, and yes, while you can wedgie a vulnerable nerd or punch him in the face repeatedly, the game is careful not to get out of hand and you will be severely punished if caught. Throughout the storyline, Rockstar are careful to make sure you are aware that Jimmy is working for "the greater good" and seeking to liberate all the school children from the shackle of the tyrannical Headmaster's reign. If you're a pretentious knob, then you might want to read into the satirical social commentary that may or may not be woven into the story. So all-in-all, anyone with moral qualms about this game is just a middle-aged woman who hasn't even played Tetris and reads the Daily Mail.

Many of the games numerous missions are delightfully improbable, such as one where you must storm a Nerd's observatory stronghold and fend off attacks from Spud Cannons. Realism isn't Bullys strong point, but then again, a realistic game based on school life would suck, hard. You will spend much of your time fighting, not bullying it must be stressed, choosing to bully is up to you, the fighting you do in missions is usually against Jocks or Greasers looking to smash your face in with a baseball bat, or someone else's face in who is more defenceless than you. The combat system is implemented very well and can be tremendously satisfying, the controls are basic, tapping X to punch and kick and using the Y button to grapple and then the X and B buttons to throw them to the ground and beat them. There are a wealth of moves to be unlocked by visiting a mysterious hobo who lives behind the school and appears to be a martial arts master. A targeting system would help however, as sometimes, you end up beating eight kinds of crap out of the nerd you were supposed to be helping.

There are also a plethora of weapons at your disposable, such as Fire Crackers that can be tossed into the face of your adversaries to blind them and give them ghastly second degree burns and scar them for life, just joking, it hurts them slightly. There are also stink bombs, eggs and all the other kinds of things you might find at a typical school, apparently.

What you find at Bullworth, that are not present in typical schools are items such as a slingshot with a zoom lense, a grenade launcher-esque Bottle Rocket and a Spud Cannon which is similar to a rocket launcher. I found these items to be completely useless and did most of the game using my fists, which are more fun and occasionally the slingshot. I didn't like these items, it would make the game more of a spiritual successor to Skool Daze (which is what I desperately want) if they stuck with a pea shooter and a slingshot. I mean, hey, if Rockstar wanted to stamp some more realism into the game, why not give Jimmy a 9mm Pistol and a few rounds and have a mission entitled "Harrowing Massacre?" It'd be more realistic and representative of modern american schools. Ho ho, satire against the second amendment ftw!

It is this sense of ludicrous unreality that sometimes bugs me about this game, it is a minor point and not one that detracts too much from the overall experience. But barging into a private clubhouse, beating up several grown men and then seizing the place as your own property a-la GTA, when you are playing as a fifteen year old boy, just feels WRONG! It is more like a junior crime simulator that you have the option of going to school in. As you progress you unlock many different areas of the surrounding town and the school plays less of a central role in the game.

This game is also decidedly unchallenging, and you can easily cruise through this game with very few frustrations and very few retries of missions. Which is good, because Rockstar decided, in a stroke of genius that when you fail there is no instant restart of the mission, you have to go ALL THE WAY BACK to the original starting point of the quest. When you have cycled miles and miles out to some remote location, the ability to restart the mission immediately without the backtracking would be much appreciated. Another small gripe is the strictness of the police in the game. If you accidentally knock into a little kid or an adult on your BMX then all hell breaks loose, prepared to be chased by police men on motorbikes and in cars with sirens blazing. Also, using violence (accidentally crashing into someone should NOT be classed as violence) against a girl, child or adult removes the option to escape a prefect or police man if caught. This is so annoying as I have failed missions by cycling into a little kid and then getting immediately busted near the end of the mission. This is so irritating! I once punched a girl in the face when attempting to rescue a nerd and had to run off the school premises, leap into the sea and swim out for two miles to an abandoned ship before the police left me alone! I mean come on!

I appreciate the need for severe deterrment from beating up girls and kids in a video game, because let's be honest, if given the choice to beat up old people or little kids in a game, that is the first thing 99& of gamers will try. But give some leeway for accidents please. On the flipside, escaping authority for minor offences is laughably easy, just hiding in a bin or plant pot with your head poking out is enough to outfox the FBI. No wonder they are having trouble with Bin Laden.

Overall however, I highly approve of the presentation in this game and it is a fun and refreshing addition to the Xbox 360s library of generic first person shooters. The Grand Theft Auto games were very fun, and as such, Bully is too even if the game mechanics mirror GTA a little bit too much for this game to be awarded a prize for originality, it really does seem like "lil' GTA" at times. The graphics however, haven't really been updated since the PS2 version, naturally, there are claims that it is slightly sharper. But so what? Slightly sharper, that really isn't much of a big deal and as far as I can tell on my rubbish TV, it looks exactly the same as the Wii version of the game, a console of vastly inferior power to the 360. Sound and voice-acting is typically Rockstar brilliant, the characters are delightfully brought to life with great personality and humour. I am sorry to keep flogging the dead horse of this comparison, but nearly everything good about GTA is present in this game; lots to do, fun missions, great characters and excellent voice acting. Well, admittedly this game doesn't feature joy riding, prostitutes and the ability to murder as many old ladies as you want. But we can't have it all.

The strongest point of this game is the sheer wealth of things to do, amidst the numerous tasks to complete, you will find errands, jobs such as a paper route, bike races, item collection and well... Just the fun of cruising about on your souped up BMX and pulling some outrageous stunts. As well as all the aforementioned fun and gaiety, there are also the rather enjoyable and well, pseudo-educational mini-games in your various classes. In Math class you will have to carry out calculations and select "Which is tallest?" out of a sloth, a tricycle and a birdhouse, or something bizarre in a delightful parody of modern exam questions, against a time limit. In art you must sketch over a canvas with your brush without coming into contact with enemies such as erasers and scissors, kind of like a weird version of snake. In English you basically have to come up with as many words as possible out of six letters and this frequently makes you feel stupid as you fail level 5 for the tenth time. Geography tests your knowledge and may force completionists to find an Atlas, particularly if you are outside the States and do not know the exact location of Minnesota or North Carolina. All of these are very fun and challenging and you will be richly rewarded for being a goody two-shoes and completing all tasks, except the mundane Music lessons.

If, like me, you suffer from "completionist syndrome" where you simply have to find EVERYTHING in a game before you can leave it be, Bully can be infuriating. There are 75 Rubber Bands to collect, hidden all over the game world and 40 Goblin and Gremlin cards to find. This is very annoying as hunting around for them is VERY boring! Also, what reward do you get? Nothing except a big rubber ball and and some Gamerscore to impress no one on the internet with. I don't see why Rockstar always implement a tedious and frustrating collect-a-thon in their games, at least the Hidden Packages in GTA gave you an Apache helicopter to destroy old ladies with. As you already know that you cannot destroy old ladies in Bully, then you already know not to expect a cool reward, making the whole search for Rubber Bands and what-not, completelely POINTLESS!

I recently completed Bully for the second time, and that already means I am going to give it at least a 7/10. Take it as read, that any game I complete more than once is a game I thoroughly enjoyed. I really thought Bully was an immersive, addictive and fun game to play and I would recommend anyone, particularly GTA fans to purchase this game on their Xbox 360. You will have great value for money completing this relatively lengthy game and unlocking its many secrets, plus just fooling around for two hours trying to Double backflip on to the beach. The characters are very good and amusing, each teacher having a dark side to them, such as a drinking problem or an unhealthy obsession with school girls and it is all trademark Rockstar humour where fifteen year-old Jimmy is the only character that can see the world for what it really is, a cruel and corrupt, dog-eat-dog existance.

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 11/18/08

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