Xboxist

Bully: Scholarship Edition Review

Welcome back to Bullworth Academy students. Those of you that are first year students, we have a great orientation that will bring you up to speed on great new events this season. That is right students and faculty, welcome to the next gen version of Bully: Scholarship Edition for the Xbox 360. While class is in session please pay close attention; because this will count as 50% of your grade!

There have been some changes for the next gen version of Bully while still keeping the same storyline. You play as Jimmy Hopkins who has been bounced from school to school, while trying to survive his stepfather and mother. The worst part of it is you are actually better off at the academy then with your abusive parents, go figure? The setting is in a fictional New England town where of course you are the new kid in town pitted with dealing with a new school in which everyone practically hates your guts. This is where your adventure begins, getting to know the staff and faculty, learning the ropes of the campus and hopefully getting to chemistry class on time before truancy comes running after you.

We begin with the new features of the game. You have 8 new missions, 4 new classes (Biology, Music, Math, Geography), New unlockable items and clothing, 2 player offline mini-games, new awards and 360 achievements, cash for your character, new music by Shawn Lee and New ambient dialogue which I believe is important for an upgrade to the ps2 version. I know what you might be thinking since this is just ported to the next gen what is so different? You have new graphics, funny dialogue and new modes which kind of makes it a nice expansion.

The big thing that make this game so interesting is the fact that you get to relive school in a different fictional perspective. This is GTA with a school feel and since your too young to drive no worries about police activity, however you do have to worry about the faculty and truancy which will have the same effect if you get caught. The name of the game is choice and you can choose how you do things in this sandbox game. If you want to be mean you can be mean and if you want to be a hero you can be, but you will have to save a lot of nerds. The big kicker is your best friend Gary Smith, he can be your worst enemy, if you are not careful.

The game mechanics are pretty simple especially when you have to face off against bullies from time to time. Jimmy is able to taunt his opponents or give them a thumbs up, just by holding down the RB button that brings up interactive options. Now for the ladies men out there you can restore your health by making out with women you give gifts too, but nothing to do dirty you perverts. You get to cycle through different melee attacks or projectile weapons. You will be tested almost everywhere you go with bullies trying to beat you down every second they can get.

The downside of this game is there are some serious glitches in the game, however due to the fact that Microsoft is coming out with a patch I can dismiss this little factor. There is another bad point of the loads time, which is very annoying for a next gen title to have such huge load times when you walk into an area. That makes the game long for no reason in a way, but you can grab a sandwich in the mean time and come back to start some mayhem - just kidding of course.

All right test time class! Let us review on all the things we have learned today. So far we have an open world with a teenage boy just trying to be left alone and yet he is dragged into an anti hero role. Interaction with all the characters is always a fun factor especially when trying to develop a story. The addition of co-op play is pretty good, but it just seems like a quick add on. The camera angles can be annoying at times, but with some manual control you can set it right. All and all this game is a great way to kill a lot of time and enjoy a lot of interesting laughs, with the addition of giving next gen gamers the opportunity that they couldn't get when this game came out in late 2006. All right readers you get extra credit for sticking around so I give Bully: Scholarship Edition a 4 out of 5. Class is dismissed enjoy!