Bully: Scholarship Edition (Xbox 360)

Grand Theft Educational...
3/27/2008 12:00 AM | 1 Comments | Page 2 of 2

Sadly, some graphical issues and minor slowdowns serve to further pothole Bully on Xbox 360. Many players have also reported crashes and other gameplay glitches, so much so that Rockstar is preparing a patch, downloadable on Xbox Live, to fix the game's problems.

As for the rest, it lives and dies as Bully did. Players are free to go and do as they will, but are also forced to adhere to school rules: show up for classes, don't commit crimes in front of the authority figures, wear the school uniform, etc. As Hopkins progresses through the game, he's able to travel into town to take on new challenges, and Bully never fails in the options it presents. A day at Bullworth might include escorting a weak-bladdered nerd to the john, brawling like Mike Tyson, making out in the manner of Lindsey Lohan after a few wine coolers, a brief run through town to deliver newspapers, a paparazzi challenge to capture the school harlot in flagrante delicto (after a fashion), and a late-night trek through the girls' dorm to collect -- what else? -- panties for the school's perverted, dodgeball-loving gym teacher.

Smartly, Bully presents its challenges in bite-sized chunks, never miring its protagonist in the muck of extended missions. A wide variety of tasks ensures players will always find something cool to do, and best of all, the game never presses players to make haste or lose the plot.

Caveat emptor: Bully also features a series of stealth missions and these, simply, suck in the manner of a Hoover vacuum. They require the worst sort of trial-and-error gameplay to ensure Hopkins navigates his way through, say, an insane asylum. Hopkins is not given the chance to escape from a guard's steely gaze; if he's spotted, the mission ends and must be restarted from the beginning. This proves eminently frustrating, especially when the protagonist has to, say, steal five panties scattered across a series of rooms or trek through the asylum to find guard's clothes before an inmate can be liberated.

When the final bell rings, Scholarship Edition remains as formidable and toothful as its PlayStation 2 predecessor. It's a bold and sometimes brilliant adventure, one with brains and a sense of humor. This alone makes it worth playing. Those who've plowed through the school of hard knocks once on the PlayStation 2 might be better off renting this one, however.

The reviewer's version of Bully: Scholarship Edition was a production copy sent by Rockstar Games. It was played on an Xbox 360 Elite and featured no gameplay crashes.