Bully: Hands-On Preview

Extensive playtest of Rockstar's latest, as we question the controversy and get to the bottom of what this promising school adventure is all about. New videos, too.

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Full missions throughout the game are as varied as they are rewarding; whether you're racing your bike against other pupils, or retrieving the chocolate bullies stole from the fat girl, you'll be rewarded with experience in different areas, like the ability to intimidate more effectively or calm a situation down, better flirting skills, or perhaps some old fashioned cash. As you might expect, your money throughout the game is as vital to keep an eye on as your health - which can also be topped up, naturally, with a visit to the soda machine.

Attached to the health meter at the top-right of the screen is a trouble meter, that will let you know how deep you're in, how close you are to landing in the principal's office and whether you're nearly off the hook as the meter depletes if you hide from a prefect inside a locker. Whether you're trespassing at night, bunking off your lessons or causing vandalism (pretty much anything can be smashed up), keeping the right balance of mischievous fun and harsh consequences is an integral part of the Bullworth experience, and it's a balance that might feel familiar to anyone who's ever been to school.

We've not even touched on the myriad of other cool things in the game that all go to make things more solid. There's the Micro Machines-style playable arcade game, Future Street Race 2165, which you can put coins into and enjoy at length; lockers, which you can pick and steal from, perhaps adding a few items to your wardrobe; Jimmy's customisable look, which isn't as dynamic or thorough as the control you get over CJ in San Andreas, but is nonetheless impressive and perhaps now a standard to expect across the genre; the lunch canteen or indeed the many varied situations and relationships Jimmy quickly finds himself stumbling into.

It's worth noting that Bully is a fantastically good looking and sounding game. All the voice acting is superb and humorous, while over 100 original music tracks are in the game, with all the underscore and action-based themes we've heard so far having a very impressive film-like production quality to them and an appropriateness to whatever situation is playing out on the screen.

Visually, things seem to be running from a modified San Andreas RenderWare engine of some description, which means a solid technical quality to the environments. While the characters clearly don't match what you'd expect on newer consoles today, their voices, design and personalities shine through, making the school's community a believable and dynamic one. The environments, both indoor and outdoor, look very polished at daytime or night, and best of all, contribute to the tangible sense of being at school - frankly, the game does an excellent job of making you feel like you NEED to be getting on with your education here, and the risk of getting into trouble with other students or an authority figure feels like a real one from the word go, making this one of the most immersive adventure games we have played on PS2 in ages.

The only gripe we had with this near final build was that sometimes it was confusing to navigate to your next task; the layout of the school strikes the right balance in that it's not overly complex abut not boring or repetitive to walk around in, but the on-screen radar that signifies where your lesson is taking place often seemed to mess up, telling us that it's one way and then telling us it's back where we just came from - but this was probably either us being a spaz or just some bug that'll be ironed out in the final game.

We can't wait to venture outside of the walls of Bullworth to see what else the game has in store, especially having been teased with the game's four trailers so far (the latest is added today, just below) and with over fifty hours promised in a normal play through, it's apparently going to be a meaty adventure for your money as well. We're looking forward to seeing how Jimmy is getting on once his year at the Academy is through - and you should be too. The game is released tomorrow (October 17) in North America, and next week (October 27) in Europe. Now get back to work!

Adam Doree
Director, Kikizo.com

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