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Bully: Scholarship Edition Review

by Chad Crawford March 8th 2008 7:00 PM CST4 Comments

School definitely sucked. As if my thirteen year nightmarish experience wasn't enough of a reminder of that, Bully: Scholarship Edition is here to put a knock on my head yet again. I never played the original Bully that came out for PS2, as I was one of those who skipped it in favor of exploring the new generation of games on the then freshly released Xbox 360. Well now Bully has joined the fray of the new current generation, and most people are wondering if the upgraded version is worth a purchase. Well, as Jimmy Hopkins, the star of Bully, would say...you better buy this game or I will kick your ass.



Bully is definitely one of the more clean games Rockstar has ever produced. While you're involved in conflicts that you'd probably not want to see your kids get into; there isn't anything to cause controversy in this game. Unlike most Rockstar titles, you won't be attracted to Bully because of all of the nasty things you can't do in life, but because it's just damn fun to explore the world around you.

You play as young Jimmy Hopkins, a con-to-be, whose mother has shipped him to Bullworth Academy, a horror-filled school that can bring back terrible memories to any private school graduate. As you explore the school and town around you, you're also going to have to make friends, pass class, and become the king of school by the year's end.

Bully wouldn't be as engaging if it weren't for its true open world experience. While you have all the standards of any school to explore such as the required classes, the sports and other educational means, you also have a plethora of characters to interact with. Talking to characters is simple, you can either be a good guy, or you can be a little SOB. Both offer in return positive or negative effects. Building relationships, making friends, and trying to get on the good or bad side of cliques are the keys to succeding in the game's world.

Since the game is so character heavy, writing walks hand in hand with Bully's success. The game's screenplay is downright hysterical and smart at the same time. The characters are believable, and their reactions to your responses definitely materialize the school based setting of the game. None of these character would be able to come to life however if crappy voice acting was at hand. Luckily, the voice work is amazing, and the emotions exerted by the character models are clear. While the story's pacing slows down a bit more than you'd like, the game's main story does play a major part of the game from the moment you enter Bullworth right down until the end.

Now most of the time the missions in the game are easy, but luckily they are all fun to go through. You'll be studying, helping out nerds, doing favors for jocks, and kicking the crap out of local bullies all in one day. Since most of the game's missions revolve around the goal of fighting an actual bully, the combat is one of the main components in the game.  The simplicity in combat is welcomed, and the actual fighting is engaging. Most of the guys you are fighting are real big pricks, and the ability knock one in the face, and not only follow that up with a humiliation move (which are ever-so satisfying to pull off) really gives off some of the best experience in the gaming.

This game was made for the PS2 originally, but now because its on the Xbox 360, I expected a huge graphical update. Sadly, there really isn't one at all. While the art direction and the monotone feel of the colors definitely help the setting of the world, the graphics are pretty bland. Nothing is that great, and the Scholarship Edition represent a PS2 game more so than a 360 game, and that is one of the few bummers present.

Sometimes though, Bully's simplicity gets in the way. The fact the dialogue tree is so simple, and that combat and missions are so easy does make some things feel like a chore. But only some things. Whether its studying in class, kicking the crap out of bullies, or just being a 15 year-old kid in an open environment, this game is simply pure fun, and anyone who wants to experience the days of high school yet again needs to pick this up.