DP Challenge 29/100 - Bully: Scholarship Edition

Game: Bully - Scholarship Edition

Ranking: 39/100

Score: 83.13%

Remember those halcyon school days; the bruised knees, the taunting, the smell of toilet water? Presumably the people at Rockstar had teenage years which smacked more of ‘Clueless’ than ‘Grange Hill’, as they released a game which purports to be a Bully simulator to a demographic which is traditionally associated with being on the receiving end of such treatment. So, get ready to recreate that traumatic experience all over again with Bully: Scholarship Edition.

'Bully'. A title that seems to fit most of the characters in this game.
(Source: wiimmgm.com)

Intro

The opening cutscenes and credit sequences nicely set up both the premise and the tone of the game; a stereotypical angry kid with abandonment issues is packed off to a boarding school that generates more criminals than the Mafia. However, the humour and over the top characterisation make it perfectly clear the game won't be taking itself too seriously. The use of comic book panels through the loading screens and menus add to this effect and creates a strong identity for the game before you even start playing. The manual avoids dense text and is neatly laid out; it also ties descriptions of the gameplay elements neatly with the overall theme of the game, as everything is explained in terms of your school activities.

One problem I have with the introduction is that it also introduces you to the noticeably long loading screens. At one point after creating a save game file I began to wonder if my machine had crashed. As entertaining as I found the starting cutscenes, they do convey an ambiguous message. On one hand, you're a mean kid who talks back to your mother and stepfather (also, the cutscene seems to imply she deserves it due to her make-up choices); on the other hand, as your character is being dumped so his mother can go off on honeymoon, he outright states, "I just finish what gets started." which suggests that he's a good kid who's a victim of circumstance. This serves to make the goal of the game unclear. Am I supposed to rise above the horrible school or am I supposed to be the meanest kid on campus? Perhaps it doesn't matter, but at this point in the game I haven't a clue and the intro has merely made things more confusing. The menu also has a big problem. It consists of a pale blue background with dark blue sketched panels overlaid by menu options in what colour? If you guessed dark blue, you are correct and probably shouldn't be let near any UI design.

I would like to see the goals made clearer in the intro, or at least not so deliberately muddied. Perhaps if the cutscene suggested whether the choice would alter gameplay or not, it would help? A quick visual introduction to a couple of kids and their statuses in the school could be used to display whether one was more desirable or if it didn't much matter. Also, the menu colour scheme would greatly benefit from the use of contrasting colours so I can actually read the options.

There was always one. At every school. Always one...
(Source:n1ntendo.nl)

Getting Going

The tutorial elements are built into the game, gradually introducing the player to new aspects of gameplay as the progress. This works well as the player is neither bogged down with too much information at once, nor left to figure out what they have to do in impossible circumstances. At the same time, you can perform acts outside of the tutorial, such as beat up fellow students even if the tutorial doesn't direct you towards such behaviour, so there is still an element of freedom. This makes the hints work as a guide and not as a completely prescriptive list of actions. Once you are shown how to do something, you're not prompted to do it again (unless you have to start a mission over), gradually reducing the player's reliability on said prompts as they go.

On the other hand, the fundamental goals of the game are not made clear, beyond telling you where each mission is. After two to three hours of playing I knew how to run, fight, pick locks, make stink bombs, hide in dustbins and how to unlock extra fighting moves, but I didn't know why. Am I supposed to terrorise the school? Am I supposed to knuckle down and be good? Does it matter at all? Sure, there is a cutscene involving the clearly dodgy headmaster telling my character to behave, but this is a school of criminal alumni and this man - like all the adults - is clearly bonkers. By this point in the game, I feel I should know what my main objective is.

A little detail in the tutorial sections about this aspect would have gone a long way, even just your guide (who, again, is clearly sociopathic) informing you of useful alliances, rather than just stating who all of the school cliques are in a 'Mean Girls' style monologue without the satire. As the game seems to focus on social status, as a player I need some clue as to what status I should strive for and why I should care. If I shouldn't care, then I should be shown this, and early on.

Who hasn't idly wished they could sit in a tree and pick off everyone who gives them lip?
(Source: cheatcc.com)

Fun

There are lots of fun elements to this game; it has a mission structure, as well as several submissions and mini-games to play. All of these game modes fit within the school structure set up, as you have classes that take the form of mini-games, students you can run errands for in return for their lunch money, and also the main missions themselves. The school day actually has an impact on missions; if you're trying to complete one when you should be in class, you will have to avoid or hide from the prefects on top of everything else. The missions start out simple and become increasingly complex, which allows you to get to grips with the game without feeling too much like you're stuck in a tutorial. They are also fairly varied; from theft to escort missions, they are more complex than just hitting things repeatedly. You can also unlock 'weapons' by completing chemistry class, and gain extra hand-to-hand combat moves by collecting transistor radio pieces for the hobo that lives near the old school bus (did I mention this game was tongue in cheek?). Another nice touch is that you eventually get some help in speeding up the trek around the school in the form of a skateboard given to you in thanks by another pupil. I had been getting fed up with the tedium of jogging slowly to each area of the school just as this item arrived in my inventory, which suggested the makers had put some thought into easing that aspect.

One minor niggle I had was that you couldn't stop and start a mission - once you had started, you were in until you completed it or gave up. For example, I attempted to enter a classroom while on a mission to do a quick mini-game, only to be faced with a game message stating I had to abandon the mission to do so. This seemed a shame - especially as actually going to class would be a good way to throw off an authority figure's attention, and this broke the school simulation feel or the game, along with the 'you can go anywhere and do anything, so long as you don't get caught' ethos. The other niggle I had was with the lack of a static indoor map. You have a radar style map in the corner of the screen that shows the immediate surroundings for navigation, and when you're outside there is also the option to view an overall map of the outside which shows mission locations, save areas and the like. There is no such feature for the indoor locations; I found myself failing missions predominantly because it was difficult to tell on the radar where I was supposed to be heading.

The one thing this game really needs is a proper indoor map. Making the main challenge of a mission navigating the HUD doesn't feel like fun gameplay to me. A static map which can be zoomed in and out of for all areas (not just outdoors) would be enormously helpful in this regard.

Oh, map. Why are you only useful when I'm outside? *image not Wii version*
(Source: mobygames.com)

Visuals

The art design succinctly captures the look and feel of a US style boarding school (although this makes the UK English localisation a little jarring). It's also clear what NPCs and objects the player can interact with by the use of brightly coloured highlighting to indicate doors which can be opened, lockers where the locks can be picked and so on. NPCs who you can run errands for have a conspicuous blue arrow above their heads when you are nearby, and pupils who may attack you or can be attacked have a circular health bar beneath their feet; this makes the act of trying to figure out who is a threat and who is helpful is fairly hassle-free. The HUD is dynamic, so you are usually shown a prompt for controls when you are faced with a closed door or a book where you can save your game (this tends to happen for buttons that perform more than one function depending on the interaction). All of this makes navigating and interacting with the environment a straight-forward process.

I've already mentioned the problems that occur as a result of not having a full map of the indoor areas, but another minor niggle with the visuals is the use of colour coding to indicate from a distance if a locker has to have the lock picked, or if you can hide in it. A red circle indicates the former and a blue circle indicates the latter. This seems perfectly reasonable, but of the player suffers from CVD (colour vision deficiency) then this could put them at a distinct disadvantage.

The CVD issue is solved at close quarters, as the HUD shows you whether the Z button will instigate the lock picking function or allow you to hide. From a distance, this could be improved by using different shapes along with the colours; for example, a red cross on the floor could indicate a locked locker door, and a blue tick (or circle) could indicate an open locker which the player can hide in. As per the 'Fun' section, a full functioning map for the indoor sections would be a huge benefit.

During classes, you can learn all about chemistry...
(Source: ebgames.com.au)

Intelligence

The NPCs tend to behave fairly sensibly; authority figures such as prefects will actively seek you out if you cross their path when you're breaking curfew, but leave you alone if you're not in trouble and expected to be wandering the school grounds between lessons. Pupils will randomly attack you, but this makes perfect sense within the context of the game. One good aspect is that you don't have to stand and fight, as you can outrun any attackers or authority figures if you choose. Amusingly, if you try to attack any authority figure such as a prefect, usually several others rush to their aid; this tends to make it in your best interests to escape their grasp and run away or hide, rather than face them head on. Having only played the game for a few hours (as per the DP rules), I'd be interested to see if this changes as you gain experience, weapons and manoeuvres. Another nice touch in the game is that the NPCs say random things as they wander about the school; during a mission, they will say different things if you encounter the same NPCs during a replay of a mission.

On escort missions, the NPCs can be a little erratic. As they tend to follow you from behind, you have to keep double-backing on yourself to check if they're still following you. After a while, I cottoned onto the fact that if you just raced ahead, the escortee tended to simply rubber-band to your position, which seems to defeat the purpose of having an escort mission in the first place. Of course, sometimes this would backfire and leave you rushing after them as they were being beaten up well behind you, but all of these behaviours made it difficult to figure out how best to approach the situation.

The simplest way to have handled some of these escort missions would be to have the character walk slightly in front of you, and shout out if you raced ahead. This would encourage the player to keep in sync with their escortee and lessen the chances of them abusing the rubber-band AI.

Skiving classes, you can learn all about... I'll leave you to make the inevitable joke.
(Source: gamespot.co.uk)

Immersion

On one hand, there are plenty of activities to keep your attention on the game. The story mode has some interesting intra-school dynamics, the mini-games are varied (I found myself particularly addicted to the simple anagram games), and there are errands you can run to gain money if you don't fancy doing any of the above. All of the additional elements unlock items of varying use, from different t-shirts to the ability to generate weaponry. For example, completing a chemistry class satisfactorily increases your range of weapons you can build (such as firecrackers or stink bombs), whereas doing well in English class increases your reasoning and apology skills. This also means that thought has been put into tying these extra sections into the narrative of the game. The missions themselves are varied, and you can find yourself escorting a fellow pupil in one mission, and stealing from someone's locker in another. The narrative itself appears to be going in an interesting direction, and the character who is initially set up as your friend is unlikely to end the game that way. All of these things combine to make you want to play on and get involved in the game.

On the other hand, there are quite a few little things that will pull you out of the game, too. the fact that you have to scout around to find a save 'book' is especially annoying; many a time I've needed to stop play and either spend fifteen minutes trying to navigate the woeful map to find a save point closer than the boys' dorm, failing and then traipsing across to your character's room just to save the game (NB - there is a save point in the reception to the Headmaster's Office. I'm still not quite sure whether this appeared at random after playing for a while, or it was impossible to find with the radar). The fact I can't take a class during a mission also throws me out of the experience a little, and I'm assuming the same must happen when you run errands. This spoils the open world element somewhat, as does the fact that the story is so prescriptive. For all the game's hints about different factions and how you can get certain groups to like you (as well as certain girls), the story forces you down a specific path that makes you wonder why you should even care about, for example, getting girls to be more amenable to accepting gifts.

Tweaking a number of minor issues would help greatly with the immersion. Autosaving would be a blessing, as there's no narrative reason to avoid doing this (except for during the class mini-games). A full-blown map for areas beyond the main grounds would also come in handy. I'd also like the game to remember progress at all states, so you can switch between missions, errands and classes without cancelling any out. Part of me also wonders if perhaps the story mode - as fun as it is - simply doesn't fit the open world nature of the gameplay. Should the story have been jettisoned so that the player could carve their own niche within the school by choosing missions based on who they would help and who they would be pitted against?* Showing this information on each mission (rather than a vague title), and then generating a new mission every time one was completed while allowing players to ignore some of the missions could fit the open world element and allow players to create their own narrative.

Form lasting bonds with your fellow classmates as you... or, you can just beat them up. Whichever.
(Source: theredshell.com)

Camera

The camera puts the game in a third person 3D perspective, and generally focuses on your character in a sensible manner by virtue of being positioned just behind him. There is also the option to view from a first person perspective and control the camera with the Wii Remote. This allows you greater control during sections where you need to aim projectiles, for example.

The main problem I found with the camera was less to do with its positioning with regards to my playable character and more to do with handling crucial NPCs. For example, it is very difficult to keep an eye on NPCs in escort missions, because they tend to place themselves behind you and the camera.

Either putting escort characters in front of your character, or pulling the character back slightly so it encompasses both the player and NPC in its view, would make these types of missions less frustrating.

The Solid Snake school of being a dick.
(Source: nintendo.com)

Controls

The controls are configured for the Wii Remote and Nunchuck fairly well. Most button mappings make sense, such as using the trigger B button for firing projectiles, A for running/moving and the D pad for climbing. Where a button is used for more than one action, the HUD helpfully prompts you with information on what action the button will do at that point. Another interesting feature is the optimisation of the motion controls; for example, the Music class mini-game makes use of this by getting you to shake the Remote and Nunchuck in time to the music. In combat, shaking the Wii Remote will cause you to shake off attackers.

There are a couple of minor issues, however. You have to hope you don't need to climb anywhere quickly, as it can be difficult to reach the D pad on the Wii Remote easily (especially if you have small hands), given the vertical positioning of the Remote. There are also no options to use any other form of controller, such as a classic or GameCube controller - if you don't have that Wii Remote/Nunchuck combination, you won't be playing this game. The most frustrating aspect for me came in accessing information on the controls. You helpfully have a menu option that shows you the basic controls, which is great. However, in this game you can unlock fighting moves by participating in Gym class or handing the hobo who lives near the school bus things he wants. The menu option allows you to see what moves you've unlocked, but does not show you how to perform them. Given that unlocking these moves was more a game of chance than skill when it came to following the prompts, this would have been very useful.

Any unlocked moves tend to be used infrequently enough that the player is likely to have forgotten how to execute them by the time they return to the game and want to use them. Showing the control mechanisms for each move under its entry in the unlockables menu would be useful, and allow players to use these moves without having written them down prior to unlocking them ( or looking them up online). It would also be nice if the player was able to map the controls themselves if they wished; this option appears to be absent from the menu.

You can't have a game called 'Bully' without action like this.
(Source: gamesradar.com)

Ideas

There are a lot of interesting aspects to this game. The whole school-yard feel is kept consistent, and the fact that all of the teachers appear to be barking mad also adds a touch of humour to proceedings. One nice touch is the way pupils talk to each other, your character or themselves as you pass them; there are a wide range of randomised comments which offer amusing insights into the NPCs’ mind-sets. The missions themselves are suitably diverse, and there are plenty of opportunities to deviate from the main game to play a number of mini-games, sub-missions, or just to explore. The fact that there is a purpose to exploring makes it all the more appealing - there are a certain number of items such as rubber bands hidden around campus, and finding additional transistor radios can allow you to unlock more combat moves. A lot of effort has gone into making the world believable, yet playable. There's also plenty of scope to unlock items such a t-shirts to customise the look of your character.

As I was playing, I began to think that the game was sorely lacking a choice of a female character to play as. I soon changed my mind, not because I don't want the option, but because it would completely change the nature of the whole game. You think playable character Jimmy and his sociopathic mentor are horrible? Their female equivalents would result in psychological trauma. The pecking order and techniques of keeping this in place differ vastly between girls and boys; I mention this because it seems to have been missed in the game. There is one particular cutscene where a nerd girl is being taunted by a lone Queen Bee who has stolen her diary - no Queen Bee would be torturing any girl without an entourage to reinforce the isolation and humiliation. Given that the girls and boys do interact, and the girls are very much an 'other' concept to the playable character, it would have been nice to see those differences to highlight this.

Although creating an entirely different game style to accommodate a female character is somewhat impractical, it would still be nice to see the female characters have more of a pack mentality and that they tend to pass on information between themselves. This could have been achieved simply by having girls approach your character with a ground giggling at you nearly, or by having girls react to your character based on how you had behaved towards other girls; for example, if you'd been mean to a nerd girl, all girls in her associated group would shun you (and even one or two outside of that group whom she had got friendly with). Another minor thing that would be good is a slower clock. the timing in the game works out at roughly one second equalling one minute, but time passes so quickly it seems impossible to get the chance to do any of the additional tasks the game likes to put your way. If this scaling could be made a little less dramatic, the player would have more chance to explore the world; given it has so much detail and extra features packed into it, that was clearly the purpose of the environment.

Eww! Girls! But if you help them out on challenges like this, they might give you money.
If only they'd give you an indoor map...
(Source: gamespot.co.uk)

Memory

The game creates a heightened, humorous encapsulation of a nightmare boarding school experience, with a number of interesting characters that you are curious to find out more about as you play the game. There is clearly a distinct narrative, which the player follows as they complete missions, yet there is still scope to perform additional tasks outside of this. the gameplay itself is mission based, which breaks up all achievable goals into manageable chunks, and there are plenty of awards available in the form of unlockable weapons and fighting moves, as well as customising items such as clothing; all of which can be obtained outside of the main story. The fact that the missions are varied and involve different types of gameplay adds to the fresh feel of the game.

My ultimate frustration with this game is the awkward map with I have mentioned on several occasions. the fact that the entire indoor map function is reduced to a small radar in the top right-hand corner of the screen turns navigation into a significant part of the mission mode gameplay, and that feels like a frustratingly artificial way of increasing difficulty, rather than a fair and organic level of complexity. The other big area that niggled is how the environment and gameplay seems set up for open world exploration, with the ability to choose your alliances and targets, yet the actual narrative of the story mode is completely prescriptive. They player has to complete every mission presented to them before they can access any others, regardless of whether they think the objective is something they want to accomplish. You can choose to run errands for a jock kid or beat up a nerd, but in the end it doesn't seem to affect the game in any significant way.

The one thing that would have been nice to see in this game (besides a decent indoor map) is a marrying of the narrative and gameplay style. If the game is going to be open world, make it fully open works; have all missions optional so the player can choose their own path based on the alliances they want to form (and the enemies they want to make). If the game is going to follow a prescriptive story, take out the references to choosing alliances and don't have options where the player is nudged to make such decisions unless it matters to the story (and the stats table on the menu screen doesn’t count, unless those stats affect the in-game narrative). Both styles are fun and have their merits, but mashed together they can make for uncomfortable bedfellows.

Biology lessons help protagonist Jimmy to gain a deeper understanding
of the wonders of nature. And also murder. (source: eurogamer.net)

All in all, Bully: Scholarship Edition is a fun game with lots of unique features that both increase the variety of gameplay and the immersion into the world of nightmare schooling. However, its mismatch of narrative and game style can make the experience a little off-kilter.

*Some reviews of the game suggest things might open up a lot more after you've played for fifteen plus hours. As the whole point of the DP challenge is to judge on just a few hours of gameplay, I shall never know...