
Because blended in with the high-school off-color humor and violence are some very funny, sometimes awkward situations that only a high-school premise could possibly present. Put quite simply and loosely, I suppose you could equate Bully to "Grand Theft Auto at secondary school." To do that, though, would overlook a lot of the good things that Bully: Scholarship Edition has to offer. For a sandbox game to be any good, it's got to be exciting enough to keep you playing and open enough to ensure that you can play for a long time.Īnd fortunately, Bully manages to do just that. However, at the same time, there's obviously the often overlooked possibility of a sandbox game simply failing to engage you, and as a result being a complete waste of time. Sure, the potential for lots of limitless, unending fun is surely there. Sandbox games are by no means a new sub-genre of gaming, but most people would agree that they're not as easy to churn out as they would seem.


The premise for Bully: Scholarship Edition is part of what makes Rockstar such an incredibly popular developer (although the insane amounts of violence in many of their titles such as Grand Theft Auto may also have something to do with it): You play a role in rather typical boarding school and get into all sorts of school-related trouble and mischief.

And they may have been even more surprised that this game was actually a lot of fun. But the bullied must have all been shocked with the game simply titled Bully, released for the PS2. I'd imagine that anybody who had experienced being bullied, as "they" (whoever they are) like to call it, certainly wouldn't like to remember the experience, and there's no way in you-know-where that it could possibly be fun to relive such a nightmare. You know, roughed up a bit, having their money stolen, and nasty old stuff like that. DecemA lot of kids have probably been pushed around back when they were in school.
