Review: Bully: Scholarship Edition (Wii)

The game follows the trials and tribulations of the unfortunate Wayne Rooney look-alike Jimmy Hopkins, a 15 year-old delinquent who’s stuck at Bullworth Academy, the worst school in the country. With the school overrun with bullies and various other maniacs, Jimmy is determined to claw his way up the school social ladder and bring peace between the warring factions. What this boils down to is a free-roaming game, like the GTA series, with new areas in the school and surrounding town gradually unlocked as you progress through the game’s many missions. There’s a huge amount to do in the game outside of the story, such as running errands for different students and townspeople, classes to attend and a huge number of collectibles to find and buy. Though it’s easy to breeze through the story missions, it’ll be a while before hitting the magic 100% completion.

Another similarity to GTA is the use of a Trouble meter, rather like the Felony meters of old. Minor misdemeanours such as truancy and pulling wedgies don’t fill the meter much, while much more serious crimes such as assaulting little kids and adults will land you in much bigger trouble with the Prefects (who are probably bigger bullies than the bullies themselves), at which time it’s best to run and hide until the heat dies down. The system works well, and shows the complainers that crimes don’t go unpunished in this game.

What separates this version from the others is the use of Wii-specific controls. These mostly come up during the classes, both old and new, and range from simply moving the Wiimote and Nunchuk to follow on-screen prompts to performing full-blown dissections on dead animals. While it’s possible to skip classes, it’s worth attending them for the various bonuses they yield. For example, success in Chemistry allows you to craft various weapons like stink bombs, and doing well in English makes Jimmy better at talking his way out of trouble. The controls also come into play during fighting, with the Wiimote and Nunchuk assigned to a fist each (though the violence itself never extends beyond a few black eyes and a Chinese burn). Generally, the Wii controls are very well thought-out, and help to enhance your sense of involvement with the game.

The story is well worth playing through, with a wonderfully wicked and satirical line of humour running throughout. The package is helped greatly by a superb script and stellar voice-acting. Jimmy is generally a likeable lead, while Gary makes a great villain that you just love to hate. Unlike the nameless drones in the GTA games, every NPC is a fully-developed, unique character, and it’s wonderful to walk around and hear them strike up conversations with each other.

While we generally love this game, a few issues have cropped up. The graphics haven’t improved much over the PS2 version, though we’re glad that Rockstar kept the more cartoon-ish look, which nicely compliments the game’s sense of humour. More disturbing are a copious number of loading screens. The game goes to one whenever you enter or leave a building, which disrupts the flow of play. The Wii controls can also be a touch over-sensitive; the slightest jolt can cause Jimmy to swing his fist out and accidentally hit someone, which is bothersome, to say the least. Our final, minor quibble is the America-centric nature of the game, which is not a bad thing but makes us long for a British equivalent.

These issues aside, we have fallen in love with this game all over again. For those who missed out first time around, this is a great opportunity to catch up, and the extra additions and the nicely-done Wii controls make for an even better package. We would love to see a return to Jimmy’s world someday, and we hope Rockstar aren’t too distracted by GTA games to give the concept another shot. Those alarmists can now go stand in the corner and wear the dunce’s cap; Bully deserves to be top of the class.

Rating: 8 / 10

Words by Drew Middlemas