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Jimmy Hopkins moves to the Xbox 360 and Wii. Bully, originally released for the PlayStation 2 in October of 2006, by Rockstar Games was yet another controversial game by the notorious publisher. It turned out that the game (Rated “T” for Teen, by the way) was about a kid trying to find himself at a new school and not a bully simulator like some in the mainstream press had portrayed it. More importantly, it was a lot of fun. Scholarship Edition is a Director’s Cut, of sorts, with improved graphics and some new content.
In Bully, you play as Jimmy Hopkins. His mother remarried a man who isn’t very fond of Jimmy, so the new couple decides to leave their son at Bullworth Academy while they enjoy a year-long honeymoon. Jimmy is quickly introduced to the numerous cliques at the school (the jocks, greasers, etc) while finding a friend in fellow outcast, Gary. As expected from a Rockstar Games production, the dialogue in Bully is genuinely funny and the game manages to deliver a compelling story amidst all of the free-form gameplay.
Bully is a more structured affair than Rockstar’s previous titles. The game is broken up into chapters that consist of going through your daily activities (more on that later), as well as completing some missions. These range from fighting rival cliques, taking dirty pictures of girls, stealing the school mascot’s uniform or even going on a panty raid. As you complete these missions, you’ll make new friends and enemies, develop a relationship (maybe even kiss a girl or two), and fight off some rivals as you try to make a new for yourself. There are a number of weapons ranging from baseball bats, stink bombs and firecrackers, although you’ll learn to rely on your trust slingshot.
You’ll be completing these missions “on the side,” since your primary role is to be a student. This means you have to get up at 8 a.m., go to class at 9 a.m. and 1 p.m., be back in the dorm room by 11 p.m. and go to sleep by 2 a.m., at the latest. That last requirement is a must: if you try to stay up after 2, Jimmy fill fall asleep from exhaustion. But the game doesn’t force you to go to class or get inside by curfew, though you will be taken to class by the prefects if they find you loitering during class hours and taken back to the dorm if you try to stay out after curfew. You’ll want to go to class, though, since the minigames in the various classes (there are 10, four unique to Scholarship Edition) are quite fun and teach you new schools. Doing well in English class lets you sweet talk your way out of problems, and Gym makes your fighting skills more accurate and tough, for example.
So what’s new in the game? I mentioned that there are four new classes, and the game also includes some new missions, which are quite humorous and fit in with the game well. There is also an offline multiplayer mode with 10 minigames (based on the classes), where you compete against another player in a tournament of sorts. It doesn’t radically change the value proposition of the game, but the new content is quite fun. As expected, the Wii version includes motion controls for fighting, allowing you to use the Nunchuk and Wiimote to pull out punches, make grabs, and continue pummeling your opponent. The motion controls work quite well and do make combat more satisfying.
Visually, Bully was probably the best looking Rockstar Games title on the PlayStation 2. The game has received a visual bump on both the Wii and the Xbox 360 (although it’s far more noticeable on the latter), meaning that the game looks okay, although it definitely shows its origin as a “last-gen” title on the Xbox 360, although it looks like a decent Wii game on that platform. Nonetheless, Rockstar Games has built a very compelling world in Bullworth Academy, one that you will enjoy exploring.
The audio is quite well done. The voice acting is tremendous and helps bring the captivating story to life. The soundtrack in the game is not licensed music as you’d expect but ends up fitting the game quite well. The sound effects don’t stand out but sound fine.
Bully: Scholarship Edition is definitely recommended if you missed the game the first time around. The polished graphics, new missions and classes, and multiplayer mode are all icing on the cake for a game that is genuinely funny and provides a rather unique experience. It’s not any game that can make going to class fun, but Bully is that game. -- Jose Liz, PGNx Media
---- Mar 5, 2008
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