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By Keith B (8th Apr 2008)

I come from an old school of computer gamers, meaning I started my adventures on the Commodore 64 and progressed through the ranks of Atari Lynx, first PCs and all the rest. It also meant I was sort of a geek, so playing Bully: Scholarship Edition brought back all sort of repressed memories for me.
You take control of 15 year old Jimmy Hopkins, dropped off at boarding school by cold parents who don’t care much for their troubled son. Although not a bully yourself, you have enough smarts and ingenuity to play the others at their own game when the time comes. For all the hype about the game, complaints that it promoted bullying and encouraged antisocial behaviour, Bully: Scholarship Edition actually focuses more on removing the impact of bullies on the rest of the pupil population. You see, from the outset our Jimmy is on the receiving end of trouble, for his grubby clothes, and things move on from name calling to actual physical violence. This leads Jimmy to the conclusion that the only way to make life more tranquil in the halls is to take over one element of the pupils one at a time, and force them to stop harassing each other.
The game is a sort-of port from the PS2 game of 2006, a game that did surprisingly well in the review scores but never managed to become a sweeping hit. For the 360 we have improved visuals and a few extra missions thrown in.
Coming from Rockstar Games, if you’ve played any of the more recent Grand Theft Auto games you’ll have an idea of what to expect. The game plays like a teenage GTA ¬– driving cars is replaced by cruising around on skateboards and bicycles; killing someone with a rifle is now knocking them out with a slingshot; and the police are now prefects (and police when you leave the school).
The whole experience genuinely feels like being at school too. You can skip classes if you so choose, but if you’re not in the classroom between specific hours of the day you’re a prime target for prefects, and if they catch and subdue you, they march you off to class. And you may even learn something when this happens.
Once thrown into class, you have to perform certain tasks in order to pass. For example, if you’re in English, you’re given a jumble of letters and told to make as many words as possible. It sounds simple enough, and it’s easy to get the required 40 per cent to pass, but even at 31 years of age I found myself struggling in some fields. Take Geography: my first task was simple enough – drag and drop the flag of a country with its associated land mass on the map of Europe. Easy ones first, France, Spain, the UK; but then things got sticky. I now realise I’m not too sharp on which eastern European country is which, and despite years of living in the real world Norway and Finland obviously still confuse me.
Get out of the classroom and the world opens up significantly. You’ll pass the time doing assorted missions for one of the four main gangs: the Jocks, massive man-mountain sports freaks; the Nerds, self explanatory; the Greasers, who hang out at the auto shop and look like the cast of Grease; and the self-important Preps. Get out of the school and into the local town, and you’ll also have the Townies to contend with.
Let’s not get too caught up with the flow of the game, because there are plenty of missions to keep you occupied and lots of humour to keep you smiling as you complete them. The real fun comes from being 15 years old again.
While you can certainly assault anyone you like, it’s not always the best option. You have a trouble meter beside your mini-map that lets you know how deep you’re in it. If your meter is high, find somewhere quiet to hide out and things return to normal. Then you can go find the bum beside the bus shed and, in return for items, he’ll teach you new combat moves. When in a dust up, you can increase the impact of your actions by humiliating the person you’re fighting, finishing the bout with a Chinese burn, or should you be close to a bin or a toilet, a good old-fashioned ducking.
The massive armoury of weapons also provides an abundance of entertainment. From dropping marbles outside a door and watching everyone hit the dirt to aiming your scoped slingshot at someone’s head from 100 yards, then knocking them out with one shot, everything about the rougher side of Bully is handled brilliantly. And never does it feel like completely random violence (unless you want it to), so you can take solace in the knowledge that you’re helping out the smaller fish in the Bullworth pond.
There are criticisms that can be levelled at Bully easily enough. There are a lot of boring missions thrown into the mix, like delivering pizzas on your skateboard or escorting a fat kid through the school. But escort a girl back to her dorm and you’ll earn a kiss, and the more kisses you get, the better. Throw in the skills you learn from completing classes (completing art class gives you a better way with the ladies) and there is a definite element of social development going on.
You could also point at the graphics and say they’re dated, which they are. But sometimes, just sometimes, isn’t it better to look at something as an overall picture than just how gorgeous it looks. 360 owners should look past the 2006 graphics and what you’ll find is a rewarding and funny game that does better than the lack-of-hype suggests. It’s also a good way to pass a few weeks until GTAIV drops.