bully scholarship edition review

 Ever wondered what it might be like if you could relive your high school or college years in a whole new perspective?  In the hit game, Bully Scholarship Edition, released back in 2008, you do just that (with some obvious twists).  In this hub, I will give you a detailed review of Bully Scholarship Edition. 

Bully is definitely a one of a kind game and makes an excellent spin off from the Grand Theft Auto series.  In Bully, you play as a troubled teen named, Jimmy Hopkins, who has a habit of getting expelled from previous schools and has recently been transferred to Bullworth Academy, which is apparently one of the worst boarding schools out there.  Soon, Jimmy meets principal Crabblesnitch, who keeps a close eye on Jimmy throughout his career and loves to give Jimmy detention whenever he gets deviant behavior.  In addition, Jimmy gets in the crossfire between clicks (who initially don't like Jimmy, but you gain respect from them as you play through the game's missions), which operate similarly to the gang systems in the GTA series (where each click rivals each other and you gain respect from each click as you do missions for them), which includes: nerds, jocks, bullies, preppies (the snoody rich kids you encounter), and townies.  Meanwhile, Jimmy gains a major enemy who wants to have Jimmy expelled and take over the school (you will find about who he/she is as you play through the game).  In addition, Jimmy must complete all 5 levels in each of the offered classes: math, science, photography, etc) to graduate from the academy.  Can Jimmy gain respect from all of the school's clicks, makes the grade, and manage to keep a good standing with the school?  Play the game to find out in the open ended, action role playing game that is created by the people who created the Grand Theft Auto series. 

I finished this game about a year ago on the Xbox 360 (there is also a version of this game for the WII, PS 2 and PS 3 just for your information) and would be willing to share with you my thoughts about this game. As mentioned earlier, Bully is an open-ended action role playing game that is a spin off from the Grand Theft Auto series (though has a T rating instead of an m rating as most of the GTA series do). Like the GTA series, you will find that the game is very interactive and engaging (almost like you are in an interactive movie), full of clipscenes, a huge world to explore (initially, you will be confined to the academy, but as you complete each of the 5 chapters in the game, various areas surrounding the academy will open up, giving you a huge map to explore), plenty of storyline missions to complete, hidden items to find for extra perks, classes to complete (almost like you are in a real college), NPCs to interact with, side missions (such as errands, jobs, etc), as well as the ability to make Jimmy do as you wish. You can make him into a total bully and bully kids, make him into a nice guy, get into fights with people (sometimes fights are inevitable of course since hostile clicks will attack Jimmy on sight), become a "ladies' man" and attract the many girls in the game (btw, just about all of the girls will develop a crush on Jimmy as you play the game, which is a bit unreal in comparison to real life women), as well as plenty of other features. Of course, with actions are consequences, both good and bad (as is the case in the GTA series), with prefects functioning as cops (though you do encounter them in the town) and will bust Jimmy when they catching him deviantly, violating curfew, or skipping class (unless if he has completed all 5 levels for that class). Unlike the GTA series, though (where cops simply catch and release your character when acting deviantly), sometimes Jimmy will be taken to Dr Crabblesnitch's office, who will give Jimmy a good lecture and slap him with detention (which opens up the minigame where you have to mow the lawn in the school yard using a tractor), though that only happens when Jimmy is on campus and gets caught.

Postive aspects about this game:

1. very engaging game

2. awesome graphics (almost like an interactive movie)

3. good voice acting.

4. Has a GTA San 4 style feel to it (though the content is much more mild than that in the GTA universe)

5. Long game, full with storyline missions, side missions, as well as the open-ended feel to the game.

6. You do feel like you are back in school and get to relive those days.

7. Plenty of funny moments (such as the Big Prank mission, which opens up towards the end of the 1st chapter, where you pull a huge prank on the school, as well as when you pull th fire alarm, causing other students to panic and Dr Crabblesnitch's assistant to taunt you).

8. Plenty of power ups and upgradable objects in the game (such as weapons to use when you get into fights).

Negative aspects about this game:

1. the background music is a bit loopy, playing over and over again and will likely get annoying after a while. Of course, in the options menu, you can turn down the music volume if you don't like the background music.

2. Some of the levels do get glitchy. For example, in the band class in some of the higher levels, some of the notes have you pushing both triggers (usually you only have to hit one note at a time) and the controller is not always very responsive on that matter). BTW, if you fail a course, you will have to wait several in-game days before trying it agin, though one thing you can do is to save just before going to that class, which would give you unlimited tries on it.

3. Sometimes the game will glitch. For example, as you play through the game, occasionally the game will lock up and then you will have to reset. It does not happen very often, but it did happen to me when I played the game, and so you will probably want to save often (say after you complete missions, etc) as this glitch does occur at random. It can be a frustrating thing of course since you could just have made lots of progress in the game or recently beat a difficult mission, and you forget to save the game, and then when the game glitches on you, it will set you back quite a ways. I am sure that not all versions have this problem, but that does seem to be a common issue in the game (at the version I had had that problem).

4. There is a time system to be aware of, and can be a bit of a nuisance. Not long after you start a new game on Bully, you will find that there is a clock in the background (near the upper left hand corner of the screen) and will dictate what Jimmy does during the day. Here is how it works:

- the clock will constantly be clicking most of the time (though there are times in the game where time will stand still, such as during the Big Prank Mission as well as when you first start the game).

- at 8 am, the bell ring once and Jimmy wakes up.

- From 9 am to 11 am, Jimmy is expected to be at his first class (classes are on a rotation system, by the way, and so it will change each day, so you will need to know where each class is and when they occur).

- Lunch goes from 11 to 2

- From 1 pm to 3 pm, Jimmy is expected to be at the second class (which also rotates each day).

- If Jimmy is more than 30 minutes late to class or you try to skip class (maybe you are on a mission or in town when it happens), Jimy will be considered truant and authorities will try to bust Jimmy and take him directly to class if they bust him. Even if you are in town, police officers will try to bust you and if they do, they drop you off right at school, and then the prefects will try to bust you as well, and send you straight to class. It may sound confusing, but you get the idea.

- After 5 pm, the school closes, and Jimmy will be liable for Tresspassing if he is found in the school building after that (though it is possible to sneak around the building without getting caught).

- curfew starts at 10 pm, and so Jimmy will need to be back in the boy's dorm, otherwise authority figures will try to bust him for violating curfew (they will send him directly to his dorm room when they bust Jimmy). By the way, as you play through the game, new safe houses will open up (such as the light house on the beach in town after you meet certain requirements) and you can have Jimmy stay at the safe house instead and he will be safe from getting busted as well. Of course, it is possible to sneak around after curfew without getting caught.

- If Jimmy manages to stay outside past 2am, he will pass out and can lose items to robbers in his sleep. If he is swimming in the lakes or rivers in the game after passing out, he will *drown* and be taken to the nearest hospital when he wakes up.

So there is the routine. You go to class, get lunch, attend another class, and between then and curfew, you do have time to complete missions and side missions. Of course, the time system will add some challenge to each mission since some missions will have you eluding authority figures in order to finish them (for example, some missions will have you going in the school building after it closes, which means that you will have to be able to beat the mission without getting busted). Of course, there are ways to free up extra time, such as completing all 5 missions in each class Jimmy attends early on in the game. Once you beat all 5 levels in a particular class (such as English), Jimmy will no longer have to complete that class, which gives you extra time to do your own stuff at that time. This can be extra handy later on in the game as the area that Jimmy can explores expands dramatically and you start doing missions that require you to go to town and back.

So there you go, that is my blurbs about Bully. It is a fun game, and while it does get a little boring and glitchy at times, with loopy background music, this game is certainly a must have for any of you looking for a good roleplaying game from the Grand Theft Auto franchise that allows you to relieve your high school or college career.

note: more info about this game will be posted over time.