Bully: Scholarship Edition - 8/10

Bully: Scholarship Edition Wii

Intro
Here is my first review, of hopefully many to come. Any feedback, positive or negative is highly appreciated.
Please know that my overall rating is not the traditional "10/10 is perfect game." There's no such thing as a perfect game. Instead, follow my guide as "1/10= don't bother buying, and 10/10= an absolute essential to any game library."

Story- 9/10
You play as Jimmy Hopkins. The bad boy expelled from various other schools and dumped into Bullworth Academy by you slutty mother before she goes on yet another honeymoon with another husband you dislike. Being the new kid, you make a name of yourself, and befriend a sociopath who stopped taking his medication. The resulting story is very clever and original, and is full of witty and humorous dialogue.

Gameplay- 8/10
The gameplay is your typical sandbox adventure RPG. Run around completing missions for people. You can bully students by simply beating them up, or even humiliate them with indian burns the occasional swirly. You can flirt with girls (and guys) to hopefully result in a nice big smooch which gives you a useful health bonus. For every rule you break, your trouble meter goes up. The lower it is, the easier it is to break free of a Prefect/Teacher/Officer holding you. Once it reaches red, there is no escape if you are caught. I also loved the inclusion of Go-Kar, but was disappointed that it was confined only to races. It is the free-roaming, do what you feel like gameplay that I really enjoy.

Controls- 7/10
Instead of trying to explain all the controls, here is a scan of the on foot controls found in the manual dl.getdropbox.com/ (It's too big to be displayed in the body).

It is tricky to get used to, especially aiming and rotating camera, but after about a half hour, it should all be good.

Graphics- 7/10
The graphics are where you think twice about the game. The models are very blocky, and the facial features on many characters look smudged. You will notice many visual bugs and glitches throughout the game, but very few affect how you play the game. All in all the games graphics are although playable, are quite a disappointment.

Content- 10/10
There's so much contest. where do I start? There are plenty of missions to keep you entertained, thousands of possible looks thanks to the enormous range in clothing. The streets are littered with bits and bops which you can pick up and through at people. Various menial jobs to perform as well s races. You cannot go passed the content of this game for a different thing to do every time you power on.

Replaybility- 9/10
There is something about this game that makes you keep coming back so as to reach the fabled 100.00% milestone. Made by the same team behind the infamous Grand Theft Auto series, I found it both frustrating to complete the game 100%, yet I was just compelled to do it. Think of it as a very special personal achievement. And with dozens of outfits and hairstyles to mix and match, I continued playing even after I completed the game.

Multiplayer- 3/10
Yes, that's right. Multiplayer. This game contains multiplayer, but not how you would think. Instead of being co-op in the streets, or snowball fights or something, it is a collection of the various arcade games you can play in the story mode. However, this poor excuse for multiplayer isn't on my hot list.

Value- 10/10
Bully is a value title, retailing $69.98 at JB-HiFi, however you can probably pick up a copy for much cheaper (around $45 if i remember correctly) at the numerous sales that pop up every week. And for such a low cost, you can treat yourself with at least 15 hours worth of gameplay, if not more. It even comes with a Map of Bullworth and a Poster.

Final Thoughts
This is so far my favourite single player game to have been released on Wii. I hope this review has given some insight to any of you who are deciding on getting this great title.

~Silence

Silence 27/07/2008

Kudos: 18161  Mates: 69

Show More Info on Bully: Scholarship Edition