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Bully: Scholarship Edition (XBOX 360)
By: Adam Waddilove You can’t beat a bit of Bully! Bully - Scholarship Edition takes place in the fictional New England boarding school of Bullworth Academy, and tells the story of 15-year-old Jimmy Hopkins as he experiences the highs and lows of adjusting to a new school. Capturing the hilarity and awkwardness of adolescence perfectly, Bully: Scholarship Edition pulls the player into its cinematic and engrossing world. Universally acclaimed upon first release, Bully: Scholarship Edition is a genre-crossing action game with a warmth and pathos that is unrivaled. New features include: The original Bully set controversy for all the wrong reasons. Mainly just the title was misunderstood as you playing as a Bully, picking on kids and tormenting them. Nothing could be further from the truth in the original or in Scholarship Edition, essentially you stand upto bullies and try to unite the different cliques such as the Nerds, the Jocks, the Greasers and so on but of course it’s never that simple. You have to earn their respect by doing missions that usually involve some revenge tactics against one group. It’s still controversial, no matter what way you look at it. But, Bully was never a GTA-Shooter in a school. Jimmy gets weapons like stink bombs, spud launchers, slingshots to launch at enemies. But you’ll usually end up fighting with your fists to prove yourself against the cliques. It’s all about trying to fit in at Bullworth, despite everything being against you from the start. You will eventually get the trust of one group and then move onto another. You will have to attend lessons at the school, which are more like mini-games. There are 5 levels of them for each subject; once they are done you are free to roam the town and school without fear of truancy. There is a curfew at 11, but you can stay up till 2 where you will pass out. Some missions will only appear at certain times of the day, so it’s about being at the right places at the right times. Outside the school, there’s quite a large town to explore. Full of warehouses, carnivals, trailer parks and mansions. You will spend a lot of time in the town, collecting objects or doing missions. Although Bully is actually quite a short game, I managed to get a full 1000 in a few days. Some have complained that the game is a tad glitchy, that some achievements do not unlock. Well, they all did for me. The game recently got a new patch but it still seems that some are having problems, hopefully Rockstar will sort this out soon. The story of Bully is pretty good, the writing is just hilarious. It’s all a bit over-the-top, but in a good way. The truth is that you probably won’t want to put the game down till you are done, or need some sleep. So kudos to Rockstar for making a great game, once that is much more than a void-filler before GTA IV. Now I personally never played the original Bully, so I can’t compare the versions but I can say that it’s not the best looking Xbox 360 title. Its graphical improvement is minimal, but still worthy of being on the platform.    The thing about Bully is that you will care about every character, be it the alcoholic teacher, the gross chef, Russell who is a powerhouse of flesh, he literally charges at everything. Then there’s the nerd who pees himself to the posh kids who need a good punching. You will find something to like or hate about each personality, and it’s just so well done. The voice-work is so well done that it makes you care, and that deserves some high praise. Another thing about Bully is that it has a mixture of gameplay elements. It has racing, swirling, chucking people in bins and lockers, arcade games, carnival rides, freak shows, escort missions, kissing girls and guys will earn you two separate achievements. Yes, if you want to be a gay then you can get an achievement called “Over the Rainbow”, mainly just to cause extra controversy, go Rockstar! Then there are achievements for being somewhat cruel, like throwing stink bombs, beating students, giving wedgies and so on. Some might feel you are being rewarded for being a bully, and there is some truth to that but its temporary. The Verdict Bully: Scholarship Edition is a great game, full of so many gameplay types that you won’t know what to do next. It may use the whole sandbox idea from GTA, but it’s put in a perfect setting of a town with a school in the centre. It may have a few glitches now, but it’s still an amazing game. One that should not be missed out on, and as Jim Bowen would say “You can’t beat a bit of Bully”, I wonder why Rockstar UK didn’t think that would be a perfect advert? 
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