Here is a complete and honest review of this GTA style spin off, Bully Scholarship Edition

A unique spin off from the Grand Theft Auto Series involving Jimmy Hopkins, the college life, Bullworth Style

Overview of Bully

Ah, don't you miss the good ol days of High School and/or College? Remember taking classes, going to dances, joining various clicks (whether it is being a Jock, a prepy, nerd, etc)? And then you had the school bullies who just want to make the lives of their victims miserable for the duration of the high school or college career. Welcome to the world of Jimmy Hopkins, a high school drop out who winds up at Bullworth Academy, the infamous school in the town of Bullworth. As Jimmy Hopkins, you play as a unique student in a school of nerds, bullies, jocks, children, girls, overzealous prefects, teachers who have their own unique storyline, as well as a huge world to explore outside of Bullworth Academy. This game has plenty of GTA style elements (it is made by Rockstar after all), including the open ended world game play, prefects functioning as police offers (they will try to bust Jimmy when they catch him doing devious behavior), and all. In addition, there is a huge story line where you do missions for various clicks (i.e., nerds, teachers, etc) and guide Jimmy up the social ladder that exists at Bullworth.

Watch this youtube video of Bully, submitted by matrixandria. It shows off the first mission from Bully Scholarship Edition

Review of Bully

I recently beat this game during the summer of this year, and so I will share my thoughts of this game. If you are into the GTA style genre, you will like this game. Bully is an open ended game similar to those in the GTA series, where you play as Jimmy Hopkins, a high school drop out who has been sent to BUllworth while his parents are away vacationing. You can either make him into a school bully, a nerd, a jock, a ladies man, or whatever you like. There is a lengthy storyline that you might like, where you complete missions for various clicks, learn about the various characters that Jimmy interacts with, gain respect from various clicks (the click system is similar to the gang system you will find in GTA games like GTA San Andreas, where there are rival clicks at Bullworth Academy, if Jimmy has a high respect rating with them, the clicks will try to be your friend and respect you, whereas if your respect score is low, they will try to pick fights with Jimmy on sight, and the respect level will be affected as Jimmy completes missions. The class system will add some extra entertainment to the game, during the school day, Jimmy is to attend school and take classes (which function more like mini games than real classes). Some classes are fun (such as Gym where you do wrestling matches as well as dodgeball, and Biology, where you get to disect things). On the flip side, you will find some classes as chores (such as Music). Note one change to Bully from the GTA series is that there is a time system, where the time of day will affect what Jimmy does. At Bullworth Academy, the first class starts at 9 am. After that, there is a one hour lunch period and then the 2nd class starts at 1pm. The classes that Jimmy takes each day does rotate. Classes Jimmy will take includes: Biology, Music, English, Art, Gym, Photography, Geography, and Math. After the second class, school is dismissed and Jimmy can do as he pleases (such as doing missions, finding collectible items, etc). If Jimmy tries to skip class (unless if he has complete all 5 levels of that class), authority figures (i.e., prefects, cops, teachers, etc) will try to bust Jimmy and will send him straight to class if they manage to capture Jimmy. At 5 pm, the school closes, and Jimmy will be tresspassing if he remains there after that. After 11 pm, curfew is in effect, and if Jimmy is out after that time, authority figures will try to bust Jimmy on sight and send him to his dorm room (you can stay out of sight of course). When the town opens up and Jimmy acquires safe houses, he can also sleep in them without having to worry about getting caught too. Also, if Jimmy stays up after 2 am, he can pass out. If this happens while Jimmy is swimming, he will "drown" and go to the nurse's office after passing out. Also, if this happens on the street or where other people are around, he can get robbed in his sleep (you will lose some items if this happens. Besides classes and missions, Jimmy can also do jobs (such as doing a paper route once you open up the town after completing the freshman year missions) as well as running errands for people.

Characters of note

: Jimmy Hopkins: he is the protagaganist in this game. You will play as him. He is the high school drop out that was sent to bullworth by his parents.
Dr Crabblesnitch- he is the school principal at Bullworth. Most of the time you will not see him unless if Jimmy gets busted too often as he likes to give naughty students like Jimmy detention (Jimmy gets to either mow the lawn or shovel snow) if busted too often.
Gary Smith- he is a townie that initially becomes friends with Jimmy (when he arrives at Bullworth). However, Gary is actually the main villian in this game and eventually turns on Jimmy.
Clicks: instead of having a gang system in this game (which can be found and many GTA games), the developers have adopted a click system in the game, where Jimmy Hopkins will encounter various clicks. How clicks react to Jimmy will depend on what their respect rating of Jimmy is. If the respect level is below 50, they will try to fight Jimmy on sight, whereas if they have a high repect level, say above 50, they will like Jimmy. The repect levels are only affected by the game missions and will be affected as you progress through each stage in the game:
Bullies- these are the students that like to pick on other students. Initially they will be hostile towards Jimmy, but after the Freshmen year, they start liking Jimmy.
Nerds- these are the geeks you see around campus.
Jocks- these are the football players and cheerleaders you see around campus. They usually hang out in the football field and near the gyms
Preppies- these are the rich kids that Jimmy encounters throughout the game. They can usually be found near the Harrington House and in town.
Greasers- these are the kids in leather Jackets and can usually be found near the Shop class as well as old town.
Townies- these are the Bullworth drop out students and are hostile to most students on campus. You will not encounter most of these folks till the final chapter of the game.
Other characters- Prefects, cops, nurses, cooks, teachers, etc- these are the authority figures that Jimmy encounters at Bullworth both on campus and off campus. They enforce all of the rules in place in this game, and will try to bust Jimmy if he becomes deviant. They also watch for tresspassers (as is the case at the Asylum, that opens up later on in the game)
Girls- What is high school like without girls? In Bully, Jimmy will encounter an assortment of girls throughout the game. Unlike most RL girls, most girls in Jimmy's world have a crush on Jimmy and will try to kiss him (their attitude towards Jimmy gets affected by the Art class). Girls come in all shapes and colors, including nerdy girls, a fat chick (Bernice?), cheerleaders (one will officially become Jimmy's girlfriend upon completing Chapter 4), and hotties. Warning: never try to pick a fight with girls, since doing so will max out Jimmy's wanted meter and authoritiess will try to bust Jimmy almost instantly. Hit them at your own risk and peril.
Kids - Unlike most traditional schools, Bullworth basically runs from K to 12, and so there are lots of kids around campus. Warning: like girls, never try to pick fights with them, since doing so will max out your wanted meter and authorities will try to bust you on sight.

Hints and tips in Bully: - Feel free to disregard the dress code, since depite the dress code rule, prefects do not actually enforce it (they taunt Jimmy when he wears non school clothes, but Jimmy can get away with wearing just about anything, even if it is something silly like the halloween costume he gets after the "Big Prank Mission"
- Consider completing all of the classes early on in the game if possible. Not only do they give you huge bonuses, but once Jimmy completes all 5 levels for a particular class, he never has to take that class again (prefects will not try to bust Jimmy for classes he has completed fully). This will give you lots of extra time to complete other missions, explore Jimmy's world, etc as the game progesses.
- If Jimmy gets in trouble, never try to fight the authority figures head on because all they have to do (especially if the wanted meter is red) is grapple Jimmy and it's over for Jimmy. Instead, you will have to run and hide. Of course, if you feel like you need to fight the authority figures, you will need to get Jimmy to a place where they can't bust Jimmy.
- If there is a tough class that you are struggling on, one trick I used was that you can actually save just before going to that class. This way, if you fail the class, you can simply try again right away. Otherwise you may have to wait a few in-game days before attempting the same class again.
- Sometimes, Jimmy will find himself in a fight (especially if you go near a click that is hostile towards Jimmy). When that happens, you will have to fight back. The only downside is that if authority figures are close by, they may try to bust Jimmy, and so you will need to bear that in mind when fighting back. Ideally, if you must get in a fight, two strategies I use are 1) luring the hostile opponent to an area where no authority figures are close by and then fight, and 2) fighting them from a distance with a good weapon (such as a sling shot or potatoe gun). You can also elude your opponents as well if Jimmy is in a situation where he is at a disadvantage.