Bully (video game)

Bully
North American PlayStation 2 cover art.
Developer(s)	Rockstar Vancouver (PlayStation 2) Rockstar New England (Xbox 360, Windows) Rockstar Toronto (Wii)
Publisher(s)	Rockstar Games Bethesda Softworks (Japan)
Writer(s)	Dan Houser Jacob Krarup
Composer(s)	Shawn Lee
Engine	RenderWare (PlayStation 2) Gamebryo (Wii, Xbox 360, Windows)
Platform(s)	Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 2, Wii, Xbox 360, PlayStation 3
Release date(s)	PlayStation 2 NA 17 October 2006 EU 25 October 2006 AUS 27 October 2006 JP 24 July 2008 Wii & Xbox 360 NA 4 March 2008 EU 7 March 2008 AUS 7 March 2008 JP 24 July 2008 Microsoft Windows NA 21 October 2008 EU 31 October 2008 JP 4 December 2008 PlayStation 3 (PSN) NA 18 December 2012
Genre(s)	Action-adventure, open world
Mode(s)	Single-player, multiplayer (Wii, Xbox 360 only)
Media/distribution	DVD-ROM, Wii Optical Disc, DVD-DL, download

Bully, also known as Canis Canem Edit (Latin for dog eat dog) for the PAL region PlayStation 2 version, 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.

The game was re-released as Bully: Scholarship Edition on 6 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. On December 18, 2012, the game was available for download on the PlayStation Store on PlayStation 3.

Gameplay

Bully is an 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 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 is a button pushing minigame which rewards Jimmy with the ability to create firecrackers, stink bombs, and other items at his chemistry set in his room at the dorm. He can learn new fighting tricks and can play dodgeball in the Gym class. In the Art class, he has to unveil a painting of Ms. Philips, being wary of the bombs and explosives in the minigame. He can make new bicycles in Shop class and has to complete photography missions in Photography classes. In the scholarship edition, four new subjects- Biology, Maths, Music and Geography are added. He has to dissect animals in Biology, solve multiple choice questions in Maths, press the buttons according to the beat in Music and put the flag to its corresponding country in Geography.

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 culminates 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 (and possibly detention), 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 motor 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.

Plot

The game begins with Jimmy Hopkins being dropped off at Bullworth Academy by his mother and stepfather. Once there, he is given a warning by the strict headmaster Dr. Crabblesnitch to behave, as Jimmy has a history of causing trouble in many other school's and finds himself getting the unwanted attention of the lead bully, Russel Northtop.

On his first day, Jimmy befriends Gary Smith and Petey Kowloski. While Gary is wildly erratic and open about his plan to take over the school, Petey is more friendly and timid and a victim of Gary's harassment. Gary decides to take Jimmy under his wing as a protoge. Jimmy spends his time befriending some of the nerds and fighting Russel's friends. After Halloween, Gary takes Jimmy to an isolated area called "The Pit" and is revealed to have been telling Russel rumors about Jimmy. It turns out Gary wanted Jimmy only for is amusement and grown bored of him. In the fight that follows, Jimmy beats Russel and talks to him about how Gary lied to him and how Russel is being a jerk to everyone. Russel apologizes without further aggression.

In late fall, Jimmy has become more popular having beaten and befriended Russel. He gets respect from Tad Spencer, one of the rich kids, called the "preppies". Afterwards, Jimmy saves a teacher named Mr. Galloway from being fired by the child hating Mr. Hattrick. In retaliation, the preppies invite Jimmy to egg Hattrick's house. Gary shows up and tells Tad that Jimmy was spreading Slander about his family. Now a target of the Preppies, Jimmy finds himself constantly fighting them. As winter rolls in, Petey tells Jimmy that the abuse Jimmy is receiving from them is no worse the the abuse they are receiving from their families, and the best way to beat them is to prove to be a "better man". Jimmy challenges a preppie named Biff Taylor to a fair wrestling match. Jimmy wins but Preppie leader, Derby Harrington refuses to admit Jimmy is the better man, forcing Jimmy to chase down and fight Derby until he gives in.

During the Christmas season, Jimmy meets Johnny Vincent, leader of the Greasers. Johnny is suspecting his girlfriend Lola to be cheating on him. They learn this is true and Lola is cheating on Johnny with his friend Gord. Jimmy later helps lead Gord into a trap and beat him up in retaliation. The Preppies are angry at Jimmy for helping their enemies and but him on a test of loyalty and has him vandalize New Coventy, an area at Bullworth. This puts him at a bad standing with the Greasers, and Johnny suspects Jimmy of being sweet on Lola. In their conflict, Jimmy takes over the Greaser's turf and wins the unwanted affection of Lola. Jimmy decides to simply end the rivalry once and for all by personally fighting Johnny. Jimmy chases down Johnny on a bike chase and follows him to a junkyard. Jimmy, with Petey's help, manages to beat Johnny and the Greasers. Managing to calm him down, Jimmy assures him that he has no interest in Lola.

At spring, the Jocks are still giving kids grief, so Jimmy decides to stop them. Jimmy starts by gaining the trust of nerds, who have turned against him. Jimmy is forced to fight nerd leader Earnest Jones at the observatory. After beating him, Earnest decides to help Jimmy deal with the jocks by sabotaging a football game. After a series of pranks during the game, Jimmy is forced to fight all the jocks on the field, beating their leader, Ted Thompson. Petey tells Jimmy that now that he beat the jocks in front of the whole school, he practically runs the place.

During his popularity, Jimmy is put up to pull a big prank, by spray painting "Bullworthless" on the town hall. Afterwards Jimmy is framed for various pranks throughout the school and comes to the conclusion that a gang of dropouts called the Townies are behind it. As a result, Jimmy is expelled for his prank on the town hall. It turns out Gary had told on Jimmy to further his betrayal. It gets worse when Gary convinces Crabblesnitch to make him the head boy.

During his time in expulsion, Jimmy hangs out in the town where he is targeted by the Townies. However, he befriends one of them named Zoe, a girl who was expelled from Bullworth when she told Crabblesnitch about the gym teachers, Mr. Burton sexual harassment on her. Having fallen in love with one another, Zoe helps Jimmy finds Townie leader, Edgar Munson. With the help of the still loyal Russel, Jimmy finds and beats Edgar. Having earned Edgar's respect, Jimmy becomes one of the Townies.

Later, Zoe tells Jimmy about how Gary runs Bullworth - with anarchy and chaos, and with all the cliques fighting each other. Jimmy decides to put a stop to all of it. With Edgar and Russel's help, Jimmy breaks into Bullworth academy, and Jimmy is forced to fight the clique leaders once again. Jimmy heads into the main building. Jimmy chases Gary to the top of the school's bell tower. Gary tells Jimmy he did what he did simply because he can and his arrogance gets the better of him saying he will win no matter what. Jimmy and Garry get into a fight and the two eventually fall through a damaged part of the school roof and into the main office.

Carbblesnitch, who was tied up in his office reveals he heard everything Gary said and has him expelled. He tells Jimmy that he is impressed with him and has him reinstated. Jimmy tells Carbblesnitch about the help he got, and about how Zoe was harassed by Mr. Burton and has him fired. Jimmy also convinces Crabblesnitch to reinstate Zoe and make Petey head boy. The game ends with Zoe and Jimmy kissing on their dorm step.

Setting

The game takes place at Bullworth Academy, a fictional independent boarding school in the state of New Hampshire in the New England area of the United States. Jimmy ends up enrolled in the school when his newly married mother and fifth stepfather go on a year-long honeymoon cruise. The school is located in the also fictional town of Bullworth, which resembles Connecticut (this would also explain the high prevalence of 'Old money' and 'Nouveau Riche' influences). The school itself is a classical neo-gothic design and is similar to many other public schools and colleges in the United Kingdom and New England, in particular Fettes College in Edinburgh.

Characters

Artwork of Jimmy Hopkins, the main character (left) and Gary Smith, the main antagonist (right).

The game focuses on Bullworth's newest student, James "Jimmy" Hopkins. As he advances through his academic career at Bullworth Academy, he may interact with the school's students and teachers, as well as people from the neighboring town, many of whom will give him errands to complete. He is greeted by Gary Smith, a scheming, unstable sociopath, and Pete Kowalski, a shy student who has yet to make any friends. Throughout the first chapter, Gary has Jimmy doing all of his dirty work, while playing continuous mind games with him. Jimmy also has to navigate his way through the five cliques of Bullworth — the Bullies, Nerds, Preppies, Greasers and Jocks, as well as the Townie kids and the mostly corrupt prefects and faculty. Most of the cliques have a sole female member, with whom Jimmy can pursue a romance. There are also a number of students who are not associated with any clique. Unlike other games from Rockstar, no two characters in Bully are the same, and every character has a name and distinct personality.

Main characters

• Jimmy Hopkins: A 15 year old boy and the main protagonist of Bully. Jimmy comes from a troubled background, having been expelled from every school he ever attended, for a wide variety of offenses. His mother has just started her sixth marriage, this one with a man old enough to be Jimmy's grandfather. Unwilling to deal with Jimmy, they dump him on the steps of Bullworth Academy before leaving for a year-long honeymoon cruise. Stuck in a school where everyone wants to beat him up, Jimmy has no choice but to fight his way through all the cliques. Jimmy was designed to be an 'everykid'. Lead Producer of Bully, Jeronimo Barerra, claimed that what he wanted to do with Bully was to recreate the state of being a kid, and to make it fun. Parallels were also made between Jimmy and Holden Caulfield, the main character of Catcher in the Rye. Jimmy and Holden share a background of a difficult homelife and being thrown out of multiple private schools. Jimmy even uses Holden's favorite derogatory term, "phony", to describe his new stepfather.

• Gary Smith: The main antagonist of the game, Gary is described by other characters as a sociopath. He admits that he suffers from attention-deficit disorder. He considers himself smarter and better than everyone, and wants to run the school. Initially Jimmy's friend, he turns on him early in the school year and spends the rest of the game behind the scenes, manipulating the cliques into fighting Jimmy for him.

• Pete Kowalski: Pete, usually called "Petey", is a shy, smaller than average student who has trouble fitting in with any group and making friends. Pete is the second student to introduce himself to Jimmy, and becomes the closest thing to a friend Jimmy has at Bullworth. The two of them and Gary form a friendship of sorts, although Gary picks on Pete constantly. When Gary turns on Jimmy, Pete stays loyal to Jimmy and continues to for the rest of the school year. Although he doesn't have physical capabilities matching Jimmy's, he has a good tactical mind, and his advice helps Jimmy throughout the course of the game.

• Dr. Crabblesnitch: The pompous principal of Bullworth Academy and all-around killjoy, Crabblesnitch believes that "rehabilitating" problem children is his calling in life. Crabblesnitch was originally introduced as the main antagonist, a corrupt, authoritarian bully. The character was changed by the time the game was released, leaving Crabblesnitch more self-righteous and oblivious than malignant. Crabblesnitch refers to the bullying taking place as "school spirit". He refuses to hear ill of his staff, even expelling Zoe for complaining about the gym teacher Mr. Burton hitting on her. He does, however, take appropriate action when confronted with undeniable truth, and fires two different teachers for misdeeds and corruption over the course of the game.

• Russell Northrop: The leader of the Bullies clique. Russell isn't the smartest student at Bullworth Academy by a long shot. However, he is huge, very tough, and so strong that even the school's brutal and corrupt prefects are afraid of him. Early in the game, Gary manipulates him into fighting Jimmy. After Jimmy beats him, he becomes Jimmy's staunchest ally, assisting him with several important missions.

• Zoe Taylor: A townie girl who was expelled from Bullworth Academy by Dr. Crabblesnitch for complaining that the gym teacher was hitting on her. In addition to serving as a primary love interest for Jimmy in the game, she helps him carry out an important mission near the end. After Jimmy defeats Gary, she is re-enrolled at the Academy.

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 player can still control Jimmy to bully helpless students, however.

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 personality. Although the PlayStation 2 version has a slightly better engine, the PC still runs on the same as the San Andreas game does.

Reception

Reception
Aggregate scores
Aggregator	Score
GameRankings	87.32%
Metacritic	87/100
Review scores
Publication	Score
1UP.com	A+
GamesMaster	90%
GameSpot	8.7/10
IGN	8.9/10

Bully received highly positive reviews from critics. The game received ratings of 8.9/10 from IGN, 9.0/10 from Games Radar, a perfect 10/10 from 1UP.com, 8.7/10 from GameSpot, 5/5 from JIVE Magazine, 8.75/10 from VGRC.net, a 5/5 from X-Play, and made the Top 10 Games of '06 in PlayStation Magazine.^{[citation needed]} Canis Canem Edit also got 9/10 from OPS2 Magazine. Critics generally praised the game's storyline, while they complained about particular stealth missions, as well as the camera.^{[citation needed]}

As of 12 March 2008, the PlayStation 2 version of Bully has sold 1.5 million copies according to Take-Two Interactive. 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".

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

In 2010, the game was included as one of the titles in the book 1001 Video Games You Must Play Before You Die.

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 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.

Sexuality

Sexuality is a present theme throughout Bully, with missions involving a panty raid and photographing a girl in the shower. Jimmy can kiss boys and girls in the game. The ESRB stated that they were fully aware of the bisexual content when they gave it a T rating.

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." 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. 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.

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.

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, the game was released rated 15. 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. 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.

Brazil

Bully was banned in Brazil. In April 2008, Brazilian justice prohibited the commerce, import and availability of the game in Brazilian houses. 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.

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.

Rockstar Games first announced the game on 19 July 2007. 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. 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. 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]}

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. On 28 April 2009, a patch was released to address issues with the game not running properly on 64 bits PCs with more than 2 GB of memory.

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, while the Xbox 360 version received 8.7/10. 1UP.com gave the Wii version an A- grade and the Xbox 360 version a B- grade. Gameplasma gave the Wii version a 9/10. The PC version, however, received mixed reviews ranging from a "Good" rating of 7.8 from IGN to a C- from 1UP.com 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, 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 10 March 2008, however the patch was delayed due to Microsoft Certification. On 20 March, a patch was released via Xbox Live (v1.03), but there are reports which claim the problems have continued or worsened after patching. 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, a full point lower than the Wii version, which received an 8. 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. However, these issues were addressed in a later patch.

Awards

• IGN Best of 2008:
  • Nominated: Best Voice Acting (Xbox 360)

Sequel

In November 2009, The Gaming Liberty interviewed musician Shawn Lee, who scored Bully, and was asked if he was scoring any more games in the near future; he responded, "Yes. It looks like I will be doing the soundtrack for Bully 2 in the not so distant future...".

In November 2011, in an interview with Gamasutra, Rockstar executive Dan Houser revealed it may return to it for a sequel once Max Payne 3 is released. "Contrary to a lot of people, we like to take a little bit of time at the end of a game before starting a sequel, so we can wait for the excitement or disappointment and everything else of the experience to shake down and really see what we should do in the next game," he said. "So we knew that we didn't want to start doing the Bully sequel instantly at that second with those guys – even though it is a property that, like Max, we adore and might come back to in the future. There was just no impetus to do that then. So we said, 'You can do Max, and then we will see what we can do with Bully."

However, the original developer of Bully, Rockstar Vancouver, became defunct in 2012, meaning that any sequel to the game would have to be developed by a separate Rockstar studio.

External links

• Official Bully homepage
• Official Canis Canem Edit homepage
• Bully Wiki