Bully: Scholarship Edition

"A hilarious and immersive game from start to finish"

Bully is one of my favorite games. I enjoy it even more than Rockstar's most popular game franchise, Grand Theft Auto. This is similar, but has many positive differences. WARNING: This review will contain very mild spoilers throughout.

Story

The game tries to tell you that your character is a misunderstood boy who just wants to be left alone. No. Jimmy Hopkins, the protagonist of the story, is a jerk. A likable one, somehow, but still a jerk. He is dumped at Bullworth Academy boarding school for a year while his mom and stepdad go on their honeymoon. It lasts a good 5-10 hours.

There are several interesting plot twists but basically it comes down to gaining the respect of factions, some of which will remind you of high school: Nerds, who love playing video games and hang out at the library; Jocks, who like to play sports and pick on people smaller than them; Bullies, who pick on weaker kids and can't back up all the trash they talk on even ground (just like in real life); Preppies, spoiled rich kids with superiority complexes; Greasers, who try to look and act cool by dressing like they were just booted out of the 70's; and finally, Townies, jackasses who either got kicked out of Bullworth or graduated.

I won't spoil everything, but the enemy and final boss in this story is a student who's an even bigger jerk than you. Overall, the story is entertaining and exciting, particularly near the end.

Gameplay:

The game certainly delivers here. It's a sandbox game, and your stomping grounds and limited at first to Bullworth school, which is rather small. After the first fifth of the game, however, the school gates open up, and you can explore part of Bullworth town, other parts of which are unlocked by progressing in the game. The school is definitely the best part of the town, though, and the story is mostly set there.

The main story mode missions are fun, and have variety. Some of them have you racing around town to pick up items before a timer runs out. A few have you pulling pranks and destroying property. Others have you fighting students and cliques. Some missions are just so much fun you'll want to have a save just before them so you can do the same mission over and over again, like the Halloween ones. Before a new chapter starts you'll have to face the head of a faction, a boss. Doing missions will change your reputation with a clique. If they like you, they help you out, if they don't like you, they start fights with you.

You can also attend classes. There are two a day, and ten classes in all. Some of them just give you funny-looking clothes that you will never wear, but some give you upgrades- for instance, English class upgrades your ability to apologize or taunt. Taunting is usually how I start fights, and Jimmy says a wide variety of badass things when you taunt. You can either shove them or insult them, depending on your distance from them. Shove taunts are different when you are holding some objects. If you are holding eggs, then jimmy will smash one in your enemy's face instead of shoving them.

You won't have much variety of attacks at first, but as you complete gym class and learn other new moves from the local hobo, you'll be a much stronger fighter. You also have fun and in some cases funny weapons, such as a bottle rocket launcher, a a slingshot, and a bag of marbles. The marbles are probably my favorite weapon, although they're not necessary or useful for much, because it's fun to throw marbles at a group of people fighting each other and trip them all up. Of course, then they chase you, making escape all the more fun as you toss marbles behind you to trip them up. You can't kill anyone but you can knock them out.

Speaking of chasing, that brings me to...the prefects! These do-gooders will chase you whenever you do anything even slightly against the law. There are three levels of trouble you can be in. In the first, prefects will either chase you or yell at you if they see you, and it's very easy to escape. One of the things that will get you in this meter is impudence: mouthing off to a prefect or cop. In the second, the prefects will chase you all the time, and you cannot apologize to them. Still easy to escape. Fighting will land you in this category. Finally, we have the third, where the trouble meter turns red. In the previous two, you could mash Y to get away if a prefect got lucky and grabbed you. No such luck in red; if a prefect grabs you, he'll take you straight to the principal's office. Hitting a girl or prefect will put you in this zone.

If you cause trouble outside school, the police will try to arrest you. They are basically the same as prefects, but they have cars and motorcycles and it's terribly difficult to knock them out. If they catch you they will send you to the nearest police station. You can get bikes, a skateboard, a scooter, and a go-kart. None of these stand out besides the go-kart, which is by far the fastest (and the deadliest)

That wraps it up for this portion of the game, but bear in mind there are many other gameplay elements. These are just a few of them. There are so many things to do, you'll never be bored while playing Bully.

Graphics

Probably the weakest part of the game. The graphics are average for a 360 game. There are minor graphical glitches. The only bad parts about this game are that it freezes (uncommonly, though) and that the frame rate worsens the more people are in an area. This may sound normal, but it's worse than other games. The upside is, the character models are nice and varied, and the buildings look great, especially during the winter part of the game.

Sound

Bully boasts superb sound. It's bass tracks are excellent, and I never once felt the need to sub out the sound for my iPod. I especially like the track that plays while fighting Greasers. There are very many things characters say, most of them funny, and you will only rarely hear the same line twice. The voices are fitting for the characters and the voice acting is good.

Replayability

I played Bully for hours after I finished it. It's even fun just running around and listening to what people are saying. There are side missions and errands you can do for extra cash, and plenty of collectibles, some of which combine to make a new weapon. You'll have fun playing this awhile after you finish the story. The story is also fun to play through a few more times.

Buy or Rent? Buy, definitely. Unless sandbox games aren't your thing - hell, even if they aren't, rent it - this is a good buy, and I got my copy new for a fairly low price.

Note: This is a review of Bully: Scholarship Edition as a game, not as an expansion pack for the original Bully. For anyone who is trying to find out what the differences are, in Scholarship Edition there are a few more students, more classes, more clothes, and slightly improved graphics.

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 08/17/09

Game Release: Bully: Scholarship Edition (US, 03/04/08)