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Bully, also known as Canis Canem Edit for
the PAL PlayStation
2 version,[8]
is an action-adventure open
world video game released by Rockstar Vancouver for the PlayStation 2 on 17 October
2006 in North America, and 25 October 2006 in the United Kingdom. An Xbox version
was planned but cancelled for undisclosed reasons.[9]
The game was re-released as Bully: Scholarship Edition
on 4 March 2008 for the Wii and Xbox 360 and 24 October 2008 on PC (this name is
retained in the PAL releases). The PlayStation 2 version of the game is
also available in the United States as a special edition that includes a
limited edition comic book and a dodgeball
of the same style as the ones used in the game, with the word "Bully"
embossed on it.[10]
Contents[hide] |
[edit] Plot
Jimmy Hopkins is dropped off at Bullworth Academy, a boarding school in the fictional town of Bullworth, by his mother and new stepfather. A boy named Gary and another named Pete become friends with Jimmy and agree to show him around. Jimmy, near the end of the first Chapter, is betrayed by Gary because Gary views Jimmy as a liability in his quest to control the school.One by one, Jimmy beats the leaders of each school clique (Preppies, Greasers, Jocks, Nerds and Bullies) while Gary hides in the shadows plotting his next attack to make Jimmy's life more of a living hell. When Jimmy finally gets on everybody's good side, they all turn on him when Gary manipulates the Townies, a group of dropouts who used to or could not afford to go to Bullworth, and now are stuck in a trailer park. Believing the chaos that has recently erupted to be the work of Jimmy, the headmaster, Dr Crabblesnitch, expels him.
Jimmy makes peace with the Townies and falls in love with a townie named Zoe, who was expelled from Bullworth after complaining about Mr Burton, the gym teacher, hitting on her.
At the end of the game, Gary and Jimmy have a fight on the top of the school roof and Jimmy emerges the victor. Dr Crabblesnitch hears of Gary's plan (which was shouted by Gary at the top of the roof) and expels him. Dr Crabblesnitch then begins to see Jimmy as a good person. Using his newfound image to Dr Crabblesnitch wisely, he re-enrolls Zoe back into Bullworth and makes Pete the head student. It ends with Zoe and Jimmy kissing at the front of the school with everyone cheering them on.
[edit] Gameplay
Bully is a subtle action-adventure open world video game set in a school environment. The player takes control of teenage rebel James "Jimmy" Hopkins, who from the opening cutscene is revealed to be a difficult student with a disruptive background. The game concerns the events that follow Jimmy being dropped off at Bullworth Academy, a fictional New England boarding school. The player is free to explore the school campus in the beginning and, later on in the game, the town, or to complete the main missions. The game makes extensive use of minigames. Some are used to earn money, others to improve Jimmy's abilities or get new items.School classes themselves are done in the form of minigames, broken into five levels of increasing difficulty. Each completed class brings a benefit to gameplay. English, as an example, is a word scramble minigame, and as Jimmy does well in this minigame, he learns various language-skills, such as the ability to apologize to police for small crimes. Chemistry also an example, is a button pushing minigame, and if Jimmy does well, he gains the ability to create firecrackers, stink bombs, and other items at his chemistry set in his room at the dorm.
Jimmy has a multitude of weapons available, although they tend to run along the lines of things a school boy might actually attain, such as a slingshot, bags of marbles, itching powder, fire crackers, stink bombs, and, later in the game, a bottle rocket launcher and the spud cannon. He can pick up and use various improvised weapons like bats, sticks, or flowerpots. The weapon Jimmy uses the most are his fists and feet; as the game progresses, Jimmy will be able to learn new moves and combos. Fighting is an integral part of the game; each of the game's five chapters culminate in a battle against the leader or leaders of a given clique. Jimmy, however, has a health bar in which if it gets depleted, he becomes knocked out, causing the mission he is doing to fail and Jimmy to be sent to the nearest medical center. However, violence against girls, smaller kids, or adults and authority generally has swift and severe consequences. Jimmy can get busted by the prefects, teachers, police and even some townspeople after he commits crimes. If this happens, the mission he is doing automatically fails, and most of Jimmy's weapons are confiscated. Depending on where and when Jimmy gets busted, he gets sent to the headmaster's office, his dorm room, the classroom with a class in session, the Bullworth Academy front gate, or the police station.
Jimmy also has an assortment of vehicles to operate — mainly a skateboard, but also a scooter, a go-kart, a lawn mower (for money, and also to complete a detention and, towards the end of the game, some missions), and various bicycles. By passing shop classes, Jimmy can build increasingly high-performance BMX bikes, and use them in either races or a bike park. The player can alter Jimmy's physical appearance to their liking by purchasing new clothes, haircuts, masks, or even tattoos.
[edit] Setting
The game takes place at Bullworth Academy, a fictional independent boarding school in New England. The town is split into four separate boroughs plus the school, which are unlocked individually as the player progresses through the game. The town has different shops and has medical centres as well as police stations in the different boroughs of the town. There are some factories in the town like a tool factory, a meat packing plant and a chemical plant as well as a retirement home and an asylum. There are gangs all over the town, but they no longer become dangerous after the player wins their respect collectively. The town sits right next to an ocean inlet and an amusement park.
[edit] Development
Early information released by Take-Two Interactive seemed to indicate that the player would be taking the role of a bully, and screenshots printed in Electronic Gaming Monthly showed the player-controlled antagonist administering a "swirlie" and throwing a punch at another student. However, the tone of the final game was different, with the player in the role of a problem student who stood up to and fought back against bullies, in effect, bullying on behalf of the victims, or in self-defense.The PlayStation 2 version of the game uses an advanced Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas engine through Renderware. Rockstar Vancouver also decided to make every student in the school have a unique appearance and, within programming limitations, personality.
[edit] Reception
| [hide] Reception | |
|---|---|
| Aggregate scores | |
| Aggregator | Score |
| GameRankings | 87.32%[11] |
| Metacritic | 87 out of 100[12] |
| Review scores | |
| Publication | Score |
| 1UP.com | A+[13] |
| GamesMaster | 90%[14] |
| GameSpot | 8.7 out of 10[15] |
| IGN | 8.9 of 10[16] |
As of 12 March 2008, the PlayStation 2 version of Bully has sold 1.5 million copies according to Take-Two Interactive.[17][18] Hyper's Daniel Wilks commends the game for its "clever script, some novel missions [and] well constructed characters". However, he criticises it for "time dilation, dodgy camera [and] generic mini-games".[19]
[edit] Awards
- Won IGN's award for Best PlayStation 2 Action Game.
- Won GameSpot's award for Best Original Music.
- Finalist for GameSpot's Game of the Year 2006
- Gaming Target - 52 Games We'll Still Be Playing From 2006 selection[20]
[edit] Controversy
Bully has caused controversy among parents and educators. Criticisms are due to the adult nature of previous Rockstar games, in particular, the Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas Hot Coffee minigame controversy and certain aspects of the game including its title. Groups such as Bullying Online and Peaceaholics have criticized the game for glorifying or trivializing school bullying. Most of these criticisms were voiced before the content of the game was available to the public. In 2006, the United States-based Entertainment Software Rating Board officially gave Bully a rating of "T" (suitable for ages 13 and up), the BBFC gave Canis Canem Edit a 15 rating[22] and the New Zealand OFLC restricted it to persons 13 years of age and over. In 2007, Yahoo! Games listed it as one of the top ten controversial games of all time. The OFLC of Australia gave Bully an M rating (recommended for mature audiences) for moderate themes, violence and sexual references.[23][edit] Sexuality
Sexuality is a present theme throughout Bully. Jimmy can kiss girls or boys in the game. The ESRB stated that they were fully aware of the bisexual content when they gave it a T rating.[24][edit] United States
Prior to both the ESRB's rating and the release of Bully, Jack Thompson filed a lawsuit attempting to have the game blocked from store shelves in Florida. Thompson declared the game a "nuisance" and "Columbine simulator". He also argued this point on Attack of the Show! with Kevin Pereira on the opposite end on the show's segment "The Loop."[25] Thompson's petition, filed with the 11th Judicial Circuit Court, asked for Wal-Mart and Take-Two to furnish him with an advance copy of Bully so he could have "an independent third party" play the game and determine if it would constitute a public nuisance in the state of Florida, in which case it could be banned.[26][27] On 11 October 2006, Judge Ronald Friedman ordered Take-Two and Rockstar to provide the court with a copy of the game within 24 hours. On 13 October 2006, Friedman subsequently ruled in favor of shipping the game, noting that there was no content in the game that was not already on late night television. Thompson responded to the ruling with fiery speech directed at the judge, which began the road to disbarment for Thompson.[28]When given a preview build, the mainstream American media took a generally positive view of the game. Press coverage has described the game as free-form, focusing on building a social network and learning new skills from classes, with strictly enforced punishments for serious misbehaviour.[29]
[edit] United Kingdom
Whilst British Labour MP Keith Vaz argued that Bully be banned or reclassified as rated 18 in the UK before its publication and before the content had been finalized,[30] the game was released rated 15.[31] Currys and PC World, both owned by DSG International, said that they did not wish to sell the game in the UK because it is "not appropriate for Currys' family-friendly image". The official statement lists what Currys believes is "the explicit link between violence and children" as the reason behind the ban, and continues: "We haven't taken this decision lightly, particularly considering the excellent relationship we have with Rockstar." However despite this decision other high street retailers including Game, HMV and Virgin Megastores announced intentions to stock the game.[32] DSG stores still stock other Rockstar games including the GTA series, and other violent games like Manhunt, which both have BBFC 18 ratings, whereas Bully has a BBFC 15 rating.[edit] Brazil
Bully was banned in Brazil.[33] In April 2008, Brazilian justice prohibited the commerce, import and availability of the game in Brazilian houses.[34] The decision was taken by judge Flávio Mendes Rabelo from the state of Rio Grande do Sul based on psychological findings by the state psychology society which claims that the game would be potentially harmful to teenagers and adults. Anyone caught selling or even owning the game would face a daily fine of R$1,000.00.[35] Such a decision, which is not a conclusive one, generated many controversies though, as in Brazil, such a decision could be qualified as censorship, which is prohibited by the Constitution of 1988.[edit] Bully: Scholarship Edition
Bully: Scholarship Edition was released for the Wii and Xbox 360 on 3 March 2008. The game features exclusive content which is unavailable in the PlayStation 2 version, including 8 new missions, 4 new characters, 4 new school classes (Biology, Music, Math and Geography) and new unlockable items and clothing. Some small script changes have been made. The random NPCs also have more lines. In addition, single system 2-player competitive multiplayer minigames have also been added, along with Achievements for the Xbox 360 version and Wii Remote and Nunchuk motion and pointer controls for the Wii version. All ports of the Scholarship Edition use the game engine Gamebryo, rather than Renderware which was used for the PS2 version.[3]Rockstar Games first announced the game on 19 July 2007.[36] On 6 August 2007, RockstarWatch.net reported on the release of the Australian Bully: Scholarship Edition box art which included artwork of the protagonist, Jimmy Hopkins, and the school principal, Dr. Crabblesnitch.[37] On 3 February 2008, Rockstar announced the game's upcoming release on 4 March 2008 and posted the Scholarship Edition launch trailer at the Bully homepage.
Bully: Scholarship Edition was released in the PAL region under the original Bully title, and not Canis Canem Edit (Latin for "dog eat dog"), as the original game was renamed.[37] The Japanese Xbox 360 version excludes Scholarship Edition from its title. Some retail outlets in Australia have received recall notices for the game on both Wii and Xbox 360. No reason for the recall has been given, but stores have been asked to remove stock from shelves and return it to the distributor.[citation needed]
[edit] Windows version
The Microsoft Windows port was developed by Rockstar New England, the same developers that ported the game to the Xbox 360. The port includes the original soundtrack (created by Shawn Lee) for Bully which was released on CD in 2006. The port was released on 21 October 2008 in the US and 24 October 2008 in the UK.[38] On 28 April 2009, a patch was released to address issues with the game not running properly on PCs with more than 2 GB of memory.[4][edit] Reception
Both the Wii and Xbox 360 versions of the game generally received both positive and mixed reviews with IGN giving the Wii version an 8/10,[39] while the Xbox 360 version received 8.7/10.[40] 1UP.com gave the Wii version an A- grade[41] and the Xbox 360 version a B- grade.[42] Gameplasma gave the Wii version a 9/10.[43] The PC version, however, received mixed reviews ranging from a "Good" rating of 7.8 from IGN[44] to a C- from 1UP.com[45] who called it "[a] shoddy, untimely port that, inexplicably -- considering its ridiculously long port time -- feels like a rush job." GameSpot later rated it with a "fair" rating of 6.0,[46] calling it "[a] lazy porting job [which] hinders Bully's classic classroom hijinks".The Xbox 360 version of Bully: Scholarship Edition was found to be unstable on some players' consoles, resulting in glitches, crashes and performance issues. Rockstar promised to have a patch addressing these issues by the week of March 10, 2008, however the patch was delayed due to Microsoft Certification.[47] On March 20, a patch was released via Xbox Live (v1.03), but there are reports which claim the problems have continued or worsened after patching.[48] The problems included audio issues, animation issues, and inability to complete Music classes due to differences between the Wii and Xbox 360 controllers. The most prevalent and common problem with the game is the unexplained freezing of the console, but not music being played on a connected MP3 player or hard drive. GameSpot, a game review website which bases its reviews on the initial public release, took the glitches into account and marked the 360 version of the Scholarship Edition down to a 7/10,[49] a full point lower than the Wii version, which received an 8.[50] The UK magazine NGamer gave the game 90%.[citation needed]
The PC version of Bully: Scholarship Edition was criticized by many, being found by end users to contain problems including textures which were either disappearing or were slow to load, memory leaks, and an endless loop after the initial cut scene in which player speaks with the headmaster when the player had more than 2 GB of memory.[51] However, these issues were addressed in a later patch.[4]