Bully: Scholarship Edition Review

I didn't get Bully when it first came out last year on the PS2 because...well because it was a PS2 game, which is just a crime. I don't know why they still insist on putting out PS2 games, They have the PS3 just make games for that system! Come on! That is why there is only two good games for the PS3 still (Heavenly Sword, and Uncharted: Drakes Fortune)

Anyways, I was going to just rent Bully through gamefly, but when I got two other games instead because they didn't have any available and I didn't want to wait, I just traded in my copy of Rainbow Six Vegas 2 (Which I only got 30 bucks for) and got Bully.

I wasn't really expecting much from this game, but all the reviews said that it was good if you didn't already play the one released on PS2... Thank God I didn't...lousy PS2. Anyways, I threw the game in and started unlocking 360 Achievements left and right. Most of them were real easy and the game played alot like Grand Theft Auto (It should seeing as its made by the same guys) but it was a little more watered down, for the kids I guess.

You play as Jimmy Hopkins and are left at some crappy boarding school that your mom and her new husband sends you to. You arrive and start getting hassled right away and its up to you to make friends and own the school and rule it with an iron fist.

I really liked this game, but again, it took me only a few days to complete the game 100% (which you can look at my gamer score and verify) One of my favorite parts of the game had to be taking the classes. Each class was like a little mini game and you had to do five different mini games with harder difficulty for each class. The main reason why I liked the classes were because they all had unique games for them. E.G. Music class was like a Guitar Hero-esq game, Biology class was like Trauma Center, English class was like scrabble....it was really fun and kinda brain challenging.

Since the game was a Rockstar game there were various "hidden packages" to collect around the world and also Cops and "Prefects" trying to bust you when you would do something bad, like be out of uniform, hit girls, run people over on bikes and go-karts.

Another great part of the game was just the funny stuff that you could do, from putting Kick Me signs on people's backs or give wedgies to kids. And the Carnival with even more mini games and a Freak show was just a little different than most games that have random mini games stuck in them, because these games were actually fun to play. Collecting the different clothing wasn't that great, but whatever, it rarely ever is. But once I got my awesome Tuxedo Suit complete with Top Hat in the game, I thought I was the cat's pajamas!

Another Kotaku style Review

Likes

Open-ended Grand Theft Auto sandbox play and control scheme (Pick up and play without having to learn moves)

Classes and Carnival Mini games were neat and fun to play

The atmosphere of the school makes you remember high school but makes it fun and makes it a little more entertaining and tolerable

Dislikes

No difficulty settings, so it was pretty easy, some of the classes get harder, but you don't have to complete the classes to beat the game.

As much stuff that there was to do in the game, it didn't seem like enough to keep you playing for more than a week, No replay value in the game after beating it. Maybe the Carnival and Arcade games....but even then it wouldn't be worth putting the effort in to put the game in and load it up.

Story wasn't great, but then again it wasn't bad. Just random start at the bottom and rise to become king of the school GTA/Scarface story

Took 2-3 days to complete 100%

Overall: Play! Now! but Rent it, don't buy