A great game for the end of the holiday season is “Bully Scholarship Edition” for the Wii.
As my previous article illustrated, buying any newly released games is a gamble these days. You have waited and suffered the whole year for them. The publishers booted them out early to take advantage of the worsening economy. Most of them only delivered half of the expected contents (think of this as the post-strike TV shows).
There is an easy remedy for this problem, buy an earlier released game that combines simple and addictive game play, coupled with a top-notch story.
No other game is a better choice than “Bully Scholarship Edition.” Although it has been nearly two years since Rockstar Vancouver released “Bully” for Playstation 2, all the parts of the game you have enjoyed on PS2 are effortlessly ported to the Wii to adapt to its controller action-dominated gameplay. Better yet, with added exclusive Wii contents.
“Scholarship Edition” retains Rockstar’s popular legacy of character-driven gameplay within a storyline heavy with satire.
“Bully” revolves around a sharp-tongued teenage rebel, Jimmy Hopkins, as he overcomes endless harassments from the bullies and social groups in his dilapidated and corrupt academy. Eventually, Jimmy manages to win the favor of the various social cliques, including the nerds, preppies, greasers and jocks, and becomes everybody’s friend.
The story introduces some of the most memorable and relatable video game characters as the story unfolds, including a techno-wizard nerd president with a huge dose of sadism; a megalomaniac psycho pal; an unhygienic lunch lady, who says her boogers “add flavor”; a prep who proudly proclaims “first cousin is legal”; an unreasonable and autocratic principal, who encourages violence within the student body; the principal’s ever-besotted secretary; and a surprisingly neurotic and human cheerleader, who’s also the “bitch” of the school.
It is surprising that these silly teen characters resonate with the players so much in an entertainment medium that constantly relies on the sight of blood, gore and cleavage shots. Because “Bully” is not an extravaganza of shallow content, (it’s not a patchwork of the bare minimum), it is a solid piece of story-appropriate entertainment that people of all ages can play and enjoy. There’s something for almost everyone and enough jokes for different age groups to smirk at.
“Bully” offers simple, yet addictive gameplay that immerses the players in various activities, from riding around town on a bicycle, to sneaking out at night past patrolling officers, or participating in classes. The entire town is open to you, from your brooding schoolyard to the carnival and the snobby yuppie mansions beyond. It’s a living world and you are free to plan and travel however you want.
It’s incredibly empowering to actually live as the daring bad boy in a high school (in case you are a boring drone). The experience almost parallels Harry’s exploits in Hogwarts. If you ever fantasize about Harry or the Harry Potter experience, this game comes richly (and eerily) close. Besides the free-roaming mechanics, the lessons from the various wacky professors can significantly stimulate your mind (trust me, you will definitely think as hard and intensely as your real high school classes) in animal dissections, P.E classes, word scrambling, timed geography, math, shop and much more. These classes has been specially adjusted for the Wii, so now whenever you enter one of the class sessions, you have to actually perform the corresponding action with the controller.
This makes certain part of the game from the PS2 version easier, while making others more difficult and time-consuming.
But to put the whole experience succinctly: It’s still great fun, play “Bully Scholarship Edition” on the Wii. It’s same experience you have enjoyed on the PS2, plus it shows you what a game can accomplish as an entertainment medium. If you haven’t played this precious gift before, now is your time. “Bully” will keep you entertained until better time dawns.