Thoughts on Bully Scholarship Edition

Every few years a rumor always seems to pop up that a new Bully game is in the works. Bully is one of the Rockstar IP that I have never played and it seems to have a strong following. It was recently on sale on the Xbox store so I decided to take a punt and give it a play.

The game was developed by Rockstar Vancover this was their first game under the Rockstar banner. The game was first released in 2006 with the Scholarship Edition the version I played two years later.

The game sees you play Jimmy Hopkins a teenager which as been expelled from several different schools. His mother decides to send him to Bullworth Academy boarding school for the academic year. Whilst she goes on a cruise with one of her new husbands.

The games see Jimmy navigate playground fraction such as Nerds, Jocks, and teachers. To rise to power to running the school by having all the different factions respect.

What I liked

• I first thought the burden of classes will ruin the pace of the game. But I found myself at 9:30am and 1pm going to class. Classes are basically simple mini game such Maths, Rhythm action game among others. Completing often give you useful items and abilities. For example a Bike, Fighting moves and new items of clothing.
• Bullworth although smaller than other GTA games it felt more detailed such as seasonal and daytime cycles. Fox example in winter there is snow where you can have snowball fights and Halloween where there is a number pranks to do

What I didn’t liked

• A bit nitpicking but there is no fast travel so to get to different parts of the city. However I think this was done by design.
• Like most Rockstar games from that era since the game is made up of series of mini game. I say 90% of them work however when they don’t the game can be very frustrating such as a performance at school concert which seems to go on forever. At the sametime I can count on one hand when the missions didn’t work.

Final thoughts

I enjoyed the game at no point I felt it drag like some of the GTA games. The world does seem smaller which makes sense as you don’t have a car so you rely on your bike and Skateboard to travel around. But this didn’t hinder the game as there is loads to do such a paper round, boxing and even a funfair.

I liked playing the character Jimmy Hopkins watching him rise in status as he navigated school ground politics gaining the respect of one faction and losing the respect of another at the same time. I can see why the game viewed so fondly and people often say they want a remake. The game as a whole is a fun game to play I found it a decent length and world they built enjoyable.