I borrowed this game off of my buddy when he rented it back in Dec. of '06, and from the get-go, this game captured the feeling of being a student stuck at crappy school with nothing to do but cause trouble. The game does a great job introducing the player into the game. With plenty of on-screen prompts to help you utilize Jimmy to his fullest extent. Whether it be laying down a beating on a fellow schoolmate who so badly deserves it, or shooting at the practicing football team with your later-acquired slingshot, it's all explained in great detail. The game is divided into five different chapters. I don't want to reveal what happens, but the last chapter is highly reminscent of the last mission in San Andreas, which is pretty cool to say the least. The school contains the stereotypical groups (or "cliques") of students who attend Bullworth Academy, along with their turf of the school. You've got Nerds at the Library, Preps at their Rich-boy frat-house, Greasers at the autoshop, and Jocks on the gridiron and gymnasium. There's also Townies in the neighbouring town, but they're not all that special. One of my favourite characters in the game is Russell, cuz everything the guy says is a stitch. The game has so many mini-games in it that it's easy to find something to do. Unfortunately, all you can do with your earned cash from oddjobs is buy articles of clothing, and the occasional soda to increase your health. I would've appreciated buying those G&G cards instead of finding them. There's also the awesomeness that is the Carnival, where you can exchange money and skill for tickets to collect prizes from it. Which is pretty cool the first couple of times you budget your time to make it all the way across town to play the Carnival games, and then make it back to your dorm room before you fall asleep. Because, much like GTA, Bully uses an in-game clock much more appropriately than GTA ever did. Scheduling classes around the 24-hour clock along with many other activites can seem overwhelming at first, but with some helpful time management experience under your belt, you'll be multi-tasking in no time. One Extraordinarily Awesome feature in Bully that intertwines with the game clock is seasons. Thats right, when you reach a certain stage in the game (after so many days and events), the seasons change from what a regular school season would see; fall to winter, then spring and summer. Winter makes riding a skateboard or bike rather "skiddish," but you can still get from point A to B no problem. Now these season changes bring about certain holidays to be celebrated with various beautiful, streaming decorations. The first time I witnessed this event was Halloween. I saw the various decorations scattered about the Boys dorm, then proceeded outside to see 27 pumpkins scattered throughout the premises -all of which you can smash at one time and place in the boiler room to unlock the pumpkinhead- and into the main building to see it littered with funderful streamers & banners that screamed "School Spirit!" The Halloween mission was hands-down the best and funnest one to do in the game. I had strong feelings of nostalgia from my childhood right when it ended, because it meant that Christmas is just around the corner! I really liked the entire "sandbox" landscape. Little known fact about this game's environment, was that certain parts were designed after locations found in the city of Vancouver. My sister, who lived in 'Couver for a year pointed this out to me while playing it, including: the underpass tunnel that takes you to the Carnival, and the first part of town opened up to you. I can't tell you specifically which locales they're modeled after, it's just FYI. But it's all the little things inside the environment that make the game cool and unique in certain ways. Good examples would be: lockers in the school to either pick, or open and stuff someone inside, I also liked the graffiti tags and enjoyed reading the various, hilarious insults directed towards certain cliques. Sadly there are no Unique Jump spots in the world of Bullworth. So there'll be no slow motion "Leaps of Faith" on your scooter or skateboard. Although while riding a BMX, you'll be able to pull off a sweet back-flip on certain jumps throughout the town. Plus, you can even skitch cars on your skateboard! This is already a memorable PS2 game, placing 10th amongst 2 714 games on the system. It's right up there with the likes of its cousin GTA, and other games like: FF, Metal Gear Solid, God of War, and Virtua Fighter. I need to use the word nostalgia again because it describes the theme of the game perfectly by reminding everyone what it feels like to be a kid again. And before I go I have to say how great the bass guitar compliments the game's soundtrack. Peace!
Most of us out there will not ever have to play Bully, the newest offering from Rockstar Games. there is nothing new here in content for anyone over the age of 17 anywhere, and I'm not talking about similarities to the G... Read Full Review
Bully is the debut title from developer Rockstar Vancouver (formerly Barking Dog Studios known mostly for Homeworld: Cataclysm) which has endured hardships most games won't ever be able to comprehend. But now that Bully ... Read Full Review
