This is the real way school should be.
You play as Jimmy Hopkins, a reckless 15 year old kid that has been expelled from every school he has been sent to for multiple things. Jimmy is dropped off at Bullworth Academy by his mom and his new stepfather, who are going on their honeymoon for a year, dumping Jimmy off at school. Here he is constantly pushed around by the schools many cliques. They consist of the Nerds, Jocks, Preppies, Greasers, Bullies, and the Townies, and Jimmy, determined to make it to the head of the school, must fight his way through the cliques to claim the top spot, but many complications arise throughout the course of the game. The story is really good here, and truly brings out the school and its many inhabitants into a plot that fits the schoolyard spirit it's striving for. It's easy to get past the main storyline in about 15-20 hours, and with a ton of collectibles to find, sidequests, and other things to do will tack on another 15-20 hours at least.
The gameplay is truly fun, and plays out like Rockstar's other games. Jimmy is able to go into hand to hand combat against people, and can learn many different moves from people around the school to help find off bullies. The weapons are creative here, ranging from a Slingshot to a Bottle Rocket Launcher, or to anything that he can simply pick off the ground like a brick or trash can lid. The controls aren't too bad to get the hang of, and it's easy to switch to a different weapon and hand to hand combat. There are a total of 6 classes to attend, English, Chemistry, Shop, Photography, Gym, and Art, and each one helps Jimmy out, like new wrestling movies in Gym, to making better and faster bikes in Shop, and each fit into the game extremely well.
The graphics are pretty good and it's easy to make out most things, but sometimes can be quite blurry to see unless in cutscenes. The sound is good, but can sometimes cut out after exiting a building, and then come back in a few seconds later, and it happened quite a few times throughout the game.
The A.I. is pretty good, although I can't say the same for the friendly A.I. Most of the enemies will come charging at you, while others will just stand still leaving them as sitting ducks towards Jimmy. Some of the people you can team up with later on can also be a pain as they will hardly help you in a fight, and things can become complicated.
Overall, Bully is a great and fun game that shouldn't be missed by anyone looking for a good story and decent gameplay. After completing the game there is plenty of more things to do that will add a little more replay value for a 2nd playthrough, this past one being my 3rd, and the game just simply never gets old, and it's always fun to be a bully towards the other students. A great game. An 8.5 out of 10.
-horrorboy