Review: Bully: Scholarship Edition (360)

You got to hand it to Rockstar. Their games may be the pinnacle of evil to a lot of politicians, but they never let the controversy alone sell their game. Instead they craft them brilliantly and let the gameplay do the talking. Something a lot of developers see no reason in doing; instead opting for the throw buckets of gore at the screen and hope that something works.

Bully: Scholarship Edition is nothing more than an HD version of the PS2 original - which was known over here as Canis Canem Edit - with a few bells and whistles added. No problem though because we liked the original and time hasn’t aged it one bit.Set in the fictional boarding school Bullworth Academy, you play little Jimmy Hopkins a 15 year old tearaway who has been expelled from a number of  schools and now has to overcome various cliques and bullies to survive.

A lot of the controversy surrounding the game came from the simple title - Bully. Yet when playing we really did feel it was completely unjust. You see you aren’t actually the bully instead you’re the one whose trying to bring peace between the factions. Admittedly violence does ensue numerous times yet it always has its place and never feels like it’s been added unnecessarily. Also, it’s not like bad behaviour doesn’t go unpunished. You have the simple crimes of throwing eggs at students, giving them wedgies etc, and in doing so the bar at the top right will rise slightly but reduce over time. However decide to take things to the next level and assault a teacher or adult then you’ll be chased relentlessly across the school until you find a mission to escape into.

The mission structure is the same as it is in Grand Theft Auto. At certain points of the day icons will appear on your radar and it’s just a matter of reaching it. This isn’t the only thing it shares with that other Rockstar game. The graphical styling is identical, with its characters that looks-wise walk the line between serious and comical, and the cut scenes are all animated like you’d expect in a GTA game. It even harnesses the games clever sense of humour.Not just limiting you to story based missions, being set in a school there are naturally classes that need to be attended. There are only two in a day and you can skip them if you so choose, though doing this will result in your trouble meter rising and if you get caught you’re automatically thrown into the class anyway. But there’s also another reason for attending class. Completing them (five ‘levels’ for each subject) and you get upgrades, whether it’s projectile accuracy for completing Gym class or just a new outfit for finishing Maths, it means there’s a reward for actually going. The classes vary, but all just come to down to simple mini games that get increasingly harder as each test is passed. And as is naturally the case some are fun to play others aren’t.If the classes and missions aren’t enough then there are also other challenges around the town.

Although not every area is accessible from the beginning (another similarity with GTA) once they do become available you can take part in bike races or take a job in order to raise some extra cash. This along with the usual collectibles scattered around means there’s certainly plenty to do even after you finish the main story.Story-wise the game is just as well written and brilliantly voice acted as other games in the Rockstar stable. When the game starts your character Jimmy may come across as being an arrogant little brat, but as the story unfolds you really start to warm to him. Same goes for the other main character Gary, who is someone you will love to hate. There is so much care and attention applied that you find yourself engrossed in the world and you will actually want the story to keep going. Here’s hoping that Rockstar aren’t too engrossed in GTA4 that they can spend some time creating some downloadable content. Though the chances of this are incredibly slim.

While so far we’ve done nothing but gush praise there are a few technical issues that we need to mention. So far we’ve only experienced one game crash and this makes us lucky because a large number of people are experiencing a lot of peoples with the game freezing and framerate issues. Disappointing when you consider all this is, is a port of an old PS2 game with slightly jazzed up visuals. It also suffers from some excruciatingly long loading times. Loading screens happen as you enter each building and it really breaks up the flow of the game. If you missed out on Bully first time round then this is the perfect opportunity to catch up. The addition of some new classes and missions makes the package all the more sweeter. Here’s hoping that once GTA4 has been done and dusted they can return to the world of Jimmy Hopkins. Bully: The College Years, anyone?

Rating: 8 / 10

Words by Adam Gulliver