Friday, October 27, 2006
Lunch with Tom - No one left to Bully
Using Gamefly is like taking part in a never-ending string of One Night Stands. Most of the time, I don't care what game I am playing. I just need something to play. After a few days go by I have thoroughly exhausted all there is. The game is too shallow or similar to other stuff out there. So back it goes in the mail while I await my next package. It's a cycle I have gotten used to for the most part. I am happy to see my games off and tear open another envelope. But sometimes I find a game that I don't want to get rid of. It's only been half a day, but I miss Bully already.
Bully is the most benign game since Night Trap to garner gallons of negative media attention. Bully is not Grand Theft Auto: High School. There are no guns. There are no hookers. There isn't even any swearing. Heck, even unwritten societal laws are strictly enforced. If you pick a fight with a boy of your approximate size, you are free to punch freely until a victor is clear. Punch a girl and you will find yourself taken to the principal's office immediately. Pinch a child's butt and feel the wrath of the Christian Right. Yes, this game includes choices and it is up to you how you react to your environment. You can hit on little kids if you choose, just like you can kill hookers if that is your desire in the GTA universe. The most egregious example of these choices: being able to kiss another dude. Gross, I know, but a perfectly plausible take on reality. The game never lets you partake in real crime or extreme deviant behavior, but it does give the gamer shallow choices like this. Good times all around, eh?
There is one glaring flaw in your ability to choose, though. I found out yesterday, in my final hours with the game, that I could give a wedgie to some weakly boy. I could go up behind him, hold down one of those pesky shoulder buttons, and select the picture of tidy whities. It was not an atomic wedgie, but it got my point across. I thought I would see how far this system of wedgies could go. I found a prefect, an angry gorilla of a man patrolling the school halls like a maximum-security prison, and circled behind him. Once again, an underwear icon appeared. Needless to say, he wasn't too pleased with the stain I caused, but it was worth the effort. And then I met a girl. Huh, the underwear looks different now. I guess women do wear different garments than men. So I select that and see my character, Bully, lazily reach out his hand. He clawed meekly at her butt. The screen flashed "Girls - Harassment" and I ran sheepishly away.
The final tally - you can kiss boys but you can't pinch their ass. And girls are immune to wedgies.
Other than "interacting" with my classmates, why did I get such a kick out of Bully? You may remember my frequent rants about San Andreas. The game bored me. Not many people know this but I actually got 100% in Grand Theft Auto 3. My roommate and I used to spend hours every day going through every inch of that game. We found all the unique jumps, did all the side missions, and even found all the packages. Just an endless amount of fun to be had in Liberty City. But I never got into Vice City because it was the same game in a different location. I was still stealing cars and killing hookers, but now it was sunny and I had 80s music blaring. It was fun, but I couldn't play more than a few hours. SA was the final straw for me. Undeniably great game, but I wanted some variety. I can only steal so many cars before I need something different
Bully is way different. Instead of stealing cars I was stealing bikes. Instead of standing on top of a car mowing down people with my Uzi, I was standing on a car nailing every person in sight with my slingshot. These may sound like insignificant differences, but the setting of the game made the experience ultimately feel much different. I was still running errands for people, but this time I was egging houses and stuffing people into garbage cans instead of sniping cheating boyfriends and running mafia bosses off the road. There was a level of variety lacking in the repetitive missions from San Andreas. With a combat engine that felt greatly improved (I believe it uses The Warriors fighting system) the gameplay was much more enjoyable that GTA's. In GTA, I would be bored when I had to actually use my legs. In Bully, I was having fun whether I was running and punching or cruising along in my go-kart. I'm sure I wouldn't be nearly as enthused if a new Bully appeared next year, but this game was a welcome breath of fresh air in a stale genre.
I have only two real complaints. First, it's short. I finished 83% in 18 hours. The only stuff I had left was collecting rubber bands scattered throughout the world, smash gnomes and race bikes. Whereas I could spend 20 hours in GTA just cruising around, Bully relies on its missions for fun. Obviously, they removed the taxi missions I so loved, but they didn't include anything new to replace it. Though this is still a free roaming game, it feels much more structured than GTA. You won't roam around aimlessly because it simply isn't fun. They should fix that if they are planning a Bully 2.
More importantly, and this could tie into the above complaint, the relationship feature is quite lame. Basically, when you do a mission for the nerds to hurt the jocks, you gain respect for one group and lose it with the other. That is the whole system. It doesn't matter what you do outside of missions. You can't just hang out with the jocks and make nice. They will beat you senseless whenever you come near their turf. I would have liked to make friends with people. To go on dates with girls (or boys) and gather followers. I would have liked to go around town with a gang of preppies. Or start a rebellion in Chemistry class. Basically, they need the wide-open structure of something like Fable. The ability to choose your own way through this game, instead of just following scripted missions, would have added a ton to this game. My dream Bully would have extended development for a few years.
Ok, so Bully isn't long and isn't particularly deep. But it is fun. It's really fun. I love the story. I love the mini game challenges that comprise your classes. I love breaking into lockers and running cops down on a go-kart. I really had a blast with this game. I really wish it could have lasted longer. I'm cold and lonely and may end up playing some sleazy game now. Bully, come back!
Bully is the most benign game since Night Trap to garner gallons of negative media attention. Bully is not Grand Theft Auto: High School. There are no guns. There are no hookers. There isn't even any swearing. Heck, even unwritten societal laws are strictly enforced. If you pick a fight with a boy of your approximate size, you are free to punch freely until a victor is clear. Punch a girl and you will find yourself taken to the principal's office immediately. Pinch a child's butt and feel the wrath of the Christian Right. Yes, this game includes choices and it is up to you how you react to your environment. You can hit on little kids if you choose, just like you can kill hookers if that is your desire in the GTA universe. The most egregious example of these choices: being able to kiss another dude. Gross, I know, but a perfectly plausible take on reality. The game never lets you partake in real crime or extreme deviant behavior, but it does give the gamer shallow choices like this. Good times all around, eh?
There is one glaring flaw in your ability to choose, though. I found out yesterday, in my final hours with the game, that I could give a wedgie to some weakly boy. I could go up behind him, hold down one of those pesky shoulder buttons, and select the picture of tidy whities. It was not an atomic wedgie, but it got my point across. I thought I would see how far this system of wedgies could go. I found a prefect, an angry gorilla of a man patrolling the school halls like a maximum-security prison, and circled behind him. Once again, an underwear icon appeared. Needless to say, he wasn't too pleased with the stain I caused, but it was worth the effort. And then I met a girl. Huh, the underwear looks different now. I guess women do wear different garments than men. So I select that and see my character, Bully, lazily reach out his hand. He clawed meekly at her butt. The screen flashed "Girls - Harassment" and I ran sheepishly away.
The final tally - you can kiss boys but you can't pinch their ass. And girls are immune to wedgies.
Other than "interacting" with my classmates, why did I get such a kick out of Bully? You may remember my frequent rants about San Andreas. The game bored me. Not many people know this but I actually got 100% in Grand Theft Auto 3. My roommate and I used to spend hours every day going through every inch of that game. We found all the unique jumps, did all the side missions, and even found all the packages. Just an endless amount of fun to be had in Liberty City. But I never got into Vice City because it was the same game in a different location. I was still stealing cars and killing hookers, but now it was sunny and I had 80s music blaring. It was fun, but I couldn't play more than a few hours. SA was the final straw for me. Undeniably great game, but I wanted some variety. I can only steal so many cars before I need something different
Bully is way different. Instead of stealing cars I was stealing bikes. Instead of standing on top of a car mowing down people with my Uzi, I was standing on a car nailing every person in sight with my slingshot. These may sound like insignificant differences, but the setting of the game made the experience ultimately feel much different. I was still running errands for people, but this time I was egging houses and stuffing people into garbage cans instead of sniping cheating boyfriends and running mafia bosses off the road. There was a level of variety lacking in the repetitive missions from San Andreas. With a combat engine that felt greatly improved (I believe it uses The Warriors fighting system) the gameplay was much more enjoyable that GTA's. In GTA, I would be bored when I had to actually use my legs. In Bully, I was having fun whether I was running and punching or cruising along in my go-kart. I'm sure I wouldn't be nearly as enthused if a new Bully appeared next year, but this game was a welcome breath of fresh air in a stale genre.
I have only two real complaints. First, it's short. I finished 83% in 18 hours. The only stuff I had left was collecting rubber bands scattered throughout the world, smash gnomes and race bikes. Whereas I could spend 20 hours in GTA just cruising around, Bully relies on its missions for fun. Obviously, they removed the taxi missions I so loved, but they didn't include anything new to replace it. Though this is still a free roaming game, it feels much more structured than GTA. You won't roam around aimlessly because it simply isn't fun. They should fix that if they are planning a Bully 2.
More importantly, and this could tie into the above complaint, the relationship feature is quite lame. Basically, when you do a mission for the nerds to hurt the jocks, you gain respect for one group and lose it with the other. That is the whole system. It doesn't matter what you do outside of missions. You can't just hang out with the jocks and make nice. They will beat you senseless whenever you come near their turf. I would have liked to make friends with people. To go on dates with girls (or boys) and gather followers. I would have liked to go around town with a gang of preppies. Or start a rebellion in Chemistry class. Basically, they need the wide-open structure of something like Fable. The ability to choose your own way through this game, instead of just following scripted missions, would have added a ton to this game. My dream Bully would have extended development for a few years.
Ok, so Bully isn't long and isn't particularly deep. But it is fun. It's really fun. I love the story. I love the mini game challenges that comprise your classes. I love breaking into lockers and running cops down on a go-kart. I really had a blast with this game. I really wish it could have lasted longer. I'm cold and lonely and may end up playing some sleazy game now. Bully, come back!
// posted by Tom @ 11:49 AM 
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