"Yesterday, after all of the ranting and raving on all sides, I decided to give Bully a shot. Figure out for myself what the hell everyone's screaming about. So I'll be playing the game in full and jotting down just what is going on.

My first impressions of the game is that it finally looks like Rockstar finally made a game with decent graphics. The game boasts over 100 NPCs and they're exceptional. The only problem is that these NPCs are repeated throughout the campus and you'll see them a lot in the same room.

Second was the camera angles. Basically, you'll be running through the whole game. There's no point in walking as you have unlimited stamina. The only problem is that as you're pressing down on L3 to run, the camera will pan around based on this (though only the R3 button is supposed to) and make it hard to run around corners, especially when running away from things (like bullies).

The game's controls are exceptional and are what you expect from a Rockstar title. Very simple, easy to pick up. Only problem was what I mentioned with the camera angles and running.

Now for the actual game. You start off as Jimmy Hopkins, who has been exspelled from numerous other schools, being dropped off at Bullworth Academy so his mother and new, much much older step-father can go off and honeymoon. You walk into the school and are immediately confronted by a gang of bullies. You'll see them a lot as they're lots of them who all look exactly like these three in every room. I just ran away and went off like that. Cutscene to the principle, yadayadayada. Now for the actual meat of the game.

You'll be introduced to your dormmates, a wiseass who thinks he can run the school and his personal whipping-boy nerd. He'll lead you on various mischevious activities, like sniping the football practice with your slingshot. The mission in how you acquire your slingshot is a bit more mischevious and will no doubt send Jack Thompson and your local Fire Department up in arms.

In the second or third mission I believe, you're confronted by a bully. The way they lead you into the mission basically has you go and do the mission regardless. (Actually has you skip class for it.) So far from what I've played, this is as bad as it has gottten. The bully confronts you then runs away. You're then to chase him about outside the school building. You're led into a gauntlet of bullies, 4 or 5 I believe, all of whom you must beat up in order to get to the boss bully. Once you defeat them, one drops a couple of firecrackers. You'll pick these up as you need them for the next part against the boss. The boss is on a platform, I'd say about 10 feet high. He starts shooting you with his slingshot and there is no way to get up to him. This is where the firecrackers come in. You lock-on to him and throw the firecrackers at him. They hit him in the chest and he falls down. (Note: the firecrackers in the game are shaped like dynamite sticks) You hit him three times with the firecrackers and he falls down off the platform, dropping his, now your, slingshot. I should also note that if you hold the firecracker too long (about 7 seconds) it goes off in your hand. No limbs or blood spurted, just an explosion.

Another game aspect are the classes. They're essentially mini-games like word scramble, press the button as its in the box, wrestling, dodgeball, and an old pc game I forget the name of. They're pretty short and are used to give you bonuses in the game and new abilities (punch, kick combinations, etc). You can go through them easily, hardest I'd say is word scramble. This will give you the ability to dissuade bullies (not major ones though) and get out of trouble from the prefects (essentially school cops).

As for getting in trouble, there isn't any real discouragement from it. It took me three times of hitting prefects and female teachers before I was sent to detention. Here came the described mowing scene. I finished it in under 30 seconds and was back to causing mischief. I hit another prefect to see what would happen, and nothing did. I was just outside the principal's office with no punishment.

So far, I've completed 9% of the game. I'll post more as I go on through the game. These are just my observations so far.

EDIT: One other tidbit, the game is VERY addicting and hard to put down. It's a damn entertaining game and a good play for once." - PrJCtZrO