Bullying, a theme all too familiar to most of us. Having either been the bullied or the bully, it calls forth strong memories of our high-school years. Leave it to Rockstar Games to take such a controversial topic and turn it into a game. So, is it all about revisiting painful memories or just having a blast with a wonderful parody on America’s educational system? I’m guessing it’ll surprise no one that it’s all about the latter…
For those having lived in a cave these last couple of years: this is not the first time Bully has been released. A couple of years ago it was first released on the PlayStation2 under the name of Canis Canem Edit. Why Rockstar had to change the name to the Latin equivalent of “Dog eat dog”? Sony, always fearful of politicians and complete idiots of the likes of Jack Thompson demanding a boycott, urged Rockstar to change the name. An unfounded fear clearly, seen as how the re-releasing of this game on Wii and Xbox 360 is done under the name “Bully: Scholarship Edition”. But enough of my whining, let’s talk business: what has Bully still have to offer two years after it’s first release?
First off, Canis Canem Edit was a wonderful game, but got overlooked by most gamers because of the arrival of the next-gen consoles. However understandable, it’s still no excuse. And if you’re feeling guilty right now, you damn well should. Be ashamed, be very ashamed! Canis was a little gem on the PlayStation 2, and now that it’s being re-released it’s your chance to make amends.
Bullworth Academy
The game revolves around young Jimmy Hopkins. A rebellious boy who, after having been expelled from over a dozen schools, gets dumped on the doorstep of Bullworth Academy by his mother. While she’s off on her umpfteenth honeymoon, you have to deal with inbred preppies, backstabbing nerds, brainless jocks, and foulmouthed bullies. Not only do you have to graduate from the worst school in the country, but your only friend in school is a sociopath who just about wants to take over the world.
All this comes packaged in some of the best story telling you could wish for. With the famous Rockstar sense of humor, the great music, sounds and voice-acting and a rough-edged but charasmatic lead character, Bully reminds us of the great Grand Theft Auto: Vice City…and surpasses it. Bully is definitely more than just the sum of its parts.
Getting your ass to class
Bully is not just all about school and the different cliques. The school, campus and surrounding town all feel incredibly alive, and there’s plenty of fun to be had aside of the main missions. Aside from side missions, errands, races and oddities to collect, are the classes. Following classes might, in theory, not be necessary to complete the game. It is however near impossible to do it without them, and you would be missing out on a lot of fun. Classes are basically just fun but challenging mini-games that offer rewards upon completion. Being able to brew your own stink bombs after chemistry class, being more successful with the ladies after art class and learning new fighting moves during gym class… you simply wouldn’t want to do without. Since some new classes have been added for this re-release, they now total at nine: gym, math, geography, art, photography, chemistry, biology, English and music. Each class consists of five lessons. As I said before, passing these classes makes your life a whole lot easier when you’re taking on the main missions. Playing hookie also isn’t rewarding in the sense that school prefects and police officers will bust you on sight for truancy, and take you to whatever class you were trying to skip. So either learn to run like hell, or be a good boy and go learn something.
A good polishing
Canis was a good-looking PlayStation 2 game. And it’s still looking good, even on a HD-TV. That’s because Rockstar upped the texture resolutions quite a lot, and was able to add new lighting effects such as dynamic lighting. Although the Wii version looks good, and slightly better than the PlayStation 2 original, it’s the Xbox 360 version that has clearly had a successful makeover. It looks great considering only the textures and lighting have changed, and that the character models are still the same ones used in the original.
Wedgie!
When it comes to the Wii version, updated graphics are a lot less important and interesting than controls. Where the Xbox 360 version resembles the original control scheme very closely, the Wii’s motion controls are very different. Because, although you will be using the analog controller on the nunchuk for walking around, everything from fighting to giving wedgies will be done by moving your arms. It works quite well, and it’s fun most of the time, but I can’t help but want to stick to the Xbox 360’s control scheme. Innovation can be fun, but I prefer ease of use, and that’s not always the case with the Wii’s control schemes.
Some clothes, a friend and a midget
In addition to new classes, updated graphics and new control schemes, there’s a couple of fun new missions worked into the game (smashing up a rent-a-santa’s cardboard workshop and beating up his midget elves was hilarious), a bunch of new clothes, and of course the two-player multiplayer. The multiplayer consist of nothing more than playing the mini-games from the classes against a buddy (who has to be sitting next to you since you can’t go online with them). It’s still great fun though.
Those that have missed out on the original should run to the nearest store straight away, and atone for their sins with one of these great re-releases. Those that didn’t miss out on Canis Canem Edit… you still might want to run after the others, because if you loved it then, you’ll love it now. There’s enough new content here to make for a happy reunion with an old friend, so go on, Jimmy doesn’t like to be kept waiting. Check out the full trailer on the official website here.
This review is written by Marco Edelman who is a PR manager for the Dutch gaming website GameParty.
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