PS2 owners may reconize some of it, but Bully brings back many school pranks and more to make this a must get game.
You start out as Jimmy Hopkins, a boy who was recently expelled for the year, returning to Bullworth academy. If you watch the first little movie, you'll see the secretary already reconizes you and informs you that the head master is expecting you. Obiously, he has had lots of old memories of you. Vandalism, truancy, simply fighting or using weapons. He'll be keeping his eye on you.
After that, you'll head to the boys' dorm to change into your school uniform. Somebody will be trying to become your friend already. Well, somebody who's nobody. The boys' dorm is a lot of fun, simply because you cannot get in trouble in there. You can cause as much havack as possible, but that doesn't mean people won't fight back. It's probably where you're going to be if you're skipping classes.
There are quite a number of people. There are jocks, nerds, greasers, and more. Some have different personalities from the rest, but be warned. If you attack them, they, especially jocks, greasers, and sometimes nerds, will fight back. Some can be depicted from the rest. Others, you won't remember which is which.
In Bully, there are 8 subjects; Chemistry, Art, Music, Gym, Biology, Math, and more. There are 5 classes in each subject, and you can repeat the last one as many times as you want. If you pass, you'll go onto the next class when you have that subject again. If you fail, next time, you'll have to redo it. Each time you pass a class, you'll recieve an item or unlockable. Chemistry seems like the must-attend as it completing different classes will unlock 3 different items; the Firecracker, Stink Bomb, and Itching Powder.
Prefects are the officials. As in, if they catch you doing something you shouldn't, they'll come after you. There is a ! bar around the radar that shows how much trouble you're in. As you do more bad things, the bar increases. As time passes, the bar decreases. You can also get in trouble from the secretary and teachers, but prefects will likley be the people getting you to justice. If you are caught during class, they'll catch you and send you to class no matter what. If class is not in session and you do something bad, they will get you and you will end up with the principal, outside the office, or around nighttime, your room.
There is time in the game. Classes are from 9:00 am to about 3:30 pm. If you are in the school house after 7:00 pm, you're trespassing. If you stay up after 2:00 am, you pass out. You wake up at 8:00 am everyday. There are no dates, but sometimes, special events like Halloween will occur. When that happens, some exlusive tasks only available that day may happen such as pulling a prank on the Gym teacher.
Yes, there are girls in the game. It's limited to what you can do with them as you can't go in the girls' dorm and they are quite mean. The most you can really do with them is harass them or kiss them. But you need to give them flowers in order to kiss them, every time.
The multiplayer may not attract you as much as the story mode. I myself had no interest in it whatsoever.
Bully is a great sequel to the PS2 edition, but where does it come flat? Well, the multiplayer may entertain some, but not as much as the story mode. Especially when there is no online play. There also is not much interaction with the girls. Stare all you want, you dreamers. Also, a big pile of things need to be unlocked. The moves, the weapons, the town. If you only have a day to play this, don't expect too much.
Bully: Scholarshop Edition is a fantastic, well put together game that marks a great sequel for the original. It is very funny, especially in the boys dorm. Jimmy is also a likeable character most of the time. Not as in friends, but as in you know the kind of guy he is and you think he's pretty cool. You probably won't be drawn to multiplayer, but many of the things in story will be amazing enough that it won't matter. If you are a fan of free roam sort of adventure/action games, this would definently be the game to add to your library.