Some of the hardest pieces of media you can criticise are often your favourites. While I’m not interested in being objective in these pieces. I can often find sometimes that your favourite stuff can not only appeal to who you are now but they often tell you something about who you once were. It’s why most favourites can be a time and place thing and I do think that’s what a lot of my love for Bully can be wrapped around how it appeals to the bits of my angry teenage self that still lingers but I also think some of it just has solid design so without further ado lets dig into why Bully is one of my favourite games.
Chapter I: Welcome To Bullworth.
I kinda love how this game starts you play as Jimi Hopkins age 15 on his way to Bulworth Acadamy. You are in a car arguing with your steep dad and you’re an angry ass hole aka a Rockstar protagonist. Yet at the same time, the game can sell you on this weird sense of helplessness despite your rebellious nature, as you are drawn into the setting by ominous long shots of the school as you fight a losing argument.
I like this since it kinda enders you to the character and gets you interested in the setting. From the outset, you want to learn about it. Make a note of that verb it will come in handy later. The game leaves you with the principal assistant who is incredibly horny for him make a note of that. Who is dismissive of your completely and so you are left to go to the principals’ office alone.
Chapter II You’re Going to Learn.
After a lecture from the principal about how he is going to tame us. Note the theme of dominance throughout this game. We are set upon by a faction known as bullies and we are given our first taste of combat. I like it because it embodies the learning that a lot of this game is built around.
It is mostly based on single button presses that are simple enough to learn but it often builds upon its self the way that most of this game does. It is an open-world game that asks you to dominate and unlock stuff through learning and I think it’s a fun structure as it means the game can be designed around what we have to discover rather than all out of control. We constantly have to attend class to get upgrades which to build upon each other.
We have to learn how to deal with each new faction who have different leaders and different fighting styles. It’s a game that can feel very engaging to play and a world that is fun to inhabit even if it has its fair share of issues.
Chapter III: The 2000s.
When it comes to this game my least favourite part of it is the humour. While I’m not averse to this kind of mean spirited humour follow me on Twitter @Sheamcc21 to see me regularly defend South Park. I can feel that for every insight it can possess it often just squanders it on making mean spirited jokes about anyone who isn’t a cis thin man.
What I mean by this is that it can craft characters like the nerds who can use their meek diminor to get away with being assholes to women or prefects that just want authority to bully people. All of which aged beautifully btw it often falls on some old staples like the fat kids deserve to be bullied because they’re fat and ugly and that’s before we get to the female characters.
The game has an honestly skeevy view of them. Even by Rockstar standards, they are offered no interiority besides being floozy bimbos and at the best of times they can just be a trophy for the main character to conquer. Not to mention multiple missions where you are asked to perve on them and do panty raids and while it can be choked up to playing within the Animal house genre. It can often feel distasteful & gross.
It’s a shame that the game can offer no interesting pot shoots besides this because it does have those moments its just sad to see em wasted on targets that don’t deserve it or at least targets that feel like they needed more work.
Chapter IV Do I still like this game.
In all honestly, I do while I know this can be a cop-out I do think there is some genuinely good game design here and I do wish more people would make more open-world games structured around school. I just think it is one of those games where the best way to enjoy it is to skip the cut scenes and even then the 00s is unavoidable. I guess that’s the thing about ageing nothing is ever the same but some of it can be interesting to return to.
sheamcc2 