Stage 1: Impressions |
Stage 2: Analysis |
Stage 3: Evaluation |
Poor Jimmy Hopkins. He just can't stay in one place. Not only is he bouncing from one reform school to another, but he is jumping consoles as well. Bully, the controversial PlayStation 2 game, makes its way to the Wii in Bully: Scholarship Edition, but does Rockstar's last-gen hit make the grade on Nintendo next-gen console? Time to find out.
Bully incorporates Grand Theft Auto's mission-based gameplay into a boarding school setting while greatly toning done the overall theme to achieve a "T for Teen" rating. The environment is smaller in scope than GTA, but still open-ended; Jimmy can wander around at his leisure. Well, maybe not at his leisure. Like any boarding school, students find a time and place for everything. There are two class sessions each day as well a curfew at night. Time moves quickly in Bully, with in-game minutes equaling seconds in real-time. Between the class schedule, curfew, and building access, Jimmy's day can be fairly hectic.
Pull the fire alarm or attend class? Check your day timer!
The initial missions in Bully are generally mischievous, although not always exciting. Taking shots at football players with a slingshot from a tree is fun, but not very imaginative. Neither is escorting a scared nerd to his locker for money or delivering a package to some girl across campus.
Early in the game, these seem to be the extent of the activities in moving the story forward, but the game also has a large amount of non-mission-related activities. Exploring the campus, going to class, finding colas to rebuild health after fights, discovering rubber bands (which Jimmy likes to collect), as well as brawling with bullies are enough to keep the game interesting through mission dull spots.
"Oh, hey, Suzie. We were just sharing man hugs, really!"
Thankfully, gamers won't have to fight the game's controls thanks to the Rockstar's easy-to-use scheme. The analog stick moves Jimmy, while the Z button toggles actions like opening doors. C button targets other individuals for interaction or grabs them in fight mode. While interacting with others, the gamer can either choose a friendly salutation or an intimating taunt; the person being addressed determines the reaction. Jimmy can attack others by targeting with C and then punching outward with the Wii Remote or Nunchuk. Early in the game, Jimmy can do little more than jab, but more moves become unlocked as the game progresses. Players can rotate the camera by pressing left and right on the d-pad, which feels awkward considering the d-pad's positioning. Up and down zoom in and out from a first-person perspective, although the usefulness is unclear at this point in the game. The B button shoots and throws objects and pressing A rapidly makes Jimmy sprint while moving. Overall, the controls feel natural in implementation. When the game requires motion controls, such as in classroom mini-games or shooting with the slingshot, their usage seems appropriate for the action.
Look what I learned to do at school, ma!
Rockstar's trademark truckload of overacting and cheesy dialogue shines through, however. Close your eyes and you may feel like you've been transported to a high school production of Grease sans the singing. This is not necessarily a criticism, as the humorous script and shallow characters add to the game's charm.
School continues on in Stage 2 as we tackle campus politics, class room exercises and determining if Jimmy plays well with others in multiplayer mode.
Stage 1: Impressions |
Stage 2: Analysis (coming soon) |
Stage 3: Evaluation (coming soon) |
