Bully (released in the PAL region as ; Latin for 'dog eat dog') is a 2006 action-adventure video game developed by Rockstar Vancouver and published by Rockstar Games. Set in the fictional New England town of Bullworth, the game follows juvenile delinquent student Jimmy Hopkins, who is involuntarily enrolled at Bullworth Academy, the town's prestigious boarding school. Over the course of a school year, Jimmy attempts to rise through the ranks of the school system to end bullying, while clashing with fellow students and authority figures.
The game is played from a third-person perspective and its open world can be navigated on foot, skateboard, motor scooter, bicycle, or go-kart. Players control Jimmy as he attempts to become more popular among the school's various "cliques", in addition to attending classes and completing various side missions. The Scholarship Edition includes a two-player multiplayer mode that lets two players compete for the highest score in different classes.
Bullys expected violence and sexual content were initially controversial. The game was released on 17 October 2006 for the PlayStation 2 to positive reviews, with praise directed at its missions, narrative, characters, and soundtrack. It sold over 1.5 million copies and received multiple year-end accolades. A remastered version, subtitled Scholarship Edition, was developed by Mad Doc Software and released on 4 March 2008 for Xbox 360 and Wii, and on 21 October 2008 for Windows. Bully was re-released for the PlayStation 4, available via the PlayStation Network, on 22 March 2016. An updated version of the Scholarship Edition, titled Anniversary Edition, was developed by War Drum Studios and released for Android and iOS on 8 December 2016.
Gameplay
Bully is an action-adventure game set in an open world environment and played from a third-person perspective. The game's single-player mode has the player control a high school student—teenage rebel, James "Jimmy" Hopkins. Throughout the story, Jimmy progresses through six chapters and through the ranks of various school groups; archetypes include Bullies, Nerds, Preppies, Greasers, Jocks and Townies. Players complete missions—linear scenarios with set objectives—to progress through the story. Missions reward the player with cash, new items, and increase/decrease the respect of certain groups. If a group holds Jimmy in high regard, they will act friendly towards him (and have the option of being hired as "bodyguards" or "muscle"); if a group despises Jimmy, they will attack him on sight. Outside of missions, the player can freely roam the game's open world, consisting of the fictional town of Bullworth, and has the ability to complete optional side missions.
When not performing missions, the player can attend classes, presented as minigames. Each course has five classes, which increase in difficulty, and passing all five will result in the player passing the course. Classes reward the player with new clothing items or abilities; for example, English allows the player to apologize to authority figures after violating rules, Chemistry allows players to create their own throwable weapons, Geography highlights special collectibles on the game's minimap, and Gym unlocks new fighting moves. Not attending classes when they are available is considered a violation of rules, unless they have been completed, in which case they become optional.
The player can use melee attacks and weapons to fight enemies. The weapons available include slingshots, bags of marbles and itching powder, stink bombs, firecrackers (including bottle rockets), baseball bats, planks of wood, and spud guns. Jimmy can run, jump, swim, climb, or use vehicles to navigate the game's world. The vehicles featured in the game include a skateboard, scooters, bicycles, and go-karts. The player can also grab onto the back of a moving car while on a skateboard, but cannot drive cars themselves. Bus stops located in various locations around the town allow the player to quickly travel back to Bullworth Academy. Should the player take damage, their health meter can be fully replenished using multiple methods, such as drinking sodas, which can be obtained from vending machines or dropped by enemies, and kissing certain NPCs after interacting with them. When the player's health is entirely depleted, gameplay stops and the player respawns at the nearest medical centre.
If the player breaks rules while playing, the game's authority figures (prefects, policemen and orderlies) may respond as indicated by a "trouble" meter in the heads-up display (HUD). The levels displayed on the meter indicate the current level of severity. Authority figures will attempt to grab and subdue the player, who may fight back. The higher the severity level is, the harder will authority figures try to catch the player; at the maximum level, the player can no longer fight back, as they will be instantly "busted" should they be grabbed. If the player is busted, they respawn at the nearest police station or the school principal's office and all their weapons (excluding the slingshot, skateboard, and camera) are confiscated. If a class is in progress, the player will instead be taken to it and forced to attend (even if they have already completed it). Authority figures can subdue other students as well, should they cause trouble.
The game's multiplayer mode, exclusive to the Scholarship Edition on Wii and Xbox 360 and the Anniversary Edition, has two players compete to gain the highest score in the same minigames used for classes. One player controls Jimmy, and the other Gary Smith.
Synopsis Setting Bully takes place in the fictitious town of Bullworth, situated in the New England region of the United States. After being expelled from seven previous schools, the game's protagonist, 15-year-old James "Jimmy" Hopkins, is sent to the town's prominent private boarding school, Bullworth Academy, for a year while his mother and her new husband go on their honeymoon. The school campus is designed in a neo-Gothic style, similar to private schools and colleges in the United Kingdom and New England, such as Fettes College in Edinburgh. The school itself is the game's primary setting, while the rest of the town is gradually unlocked as the story progresses.
Bullworth consists of four main districts: Bullworth Town, the commercial borough; Old Bullworth Vale, a suburb area where the town's mansions, beach, and funfair are located; New Coventry, a run-down, urban-poor borough consisting mainly of tenement housing; and Blue Skies Industrial Park, an industrial borough comprising factories, industrial buildings, the town docks, and a trailer park. There is also the Happy Volts Asylum, a psychiatric institute located between the Blue Skies Industrial Park and Bullworth Academy. Because the game's story spans an entire school year, Bullworth's appearance changes between chapters, most notably during the third chapter, which takes place around the Christmas season.
Plot After being dropped off at Bullworth Academy, Jimmy Hopkins (Gerry Rosenthal) meets the principal, Dr. Crabblesnitch (Ralph Gunderman), who warns him against misbehaving. He soon befriends fellow students Gary Smith (Peter Vack) and Peter "Pete" Kowalski (Matt Bush) and works with them to assert their dominance over Bullworth's various "cliques": the Bullies, Nerds, Preppies, Greasers, and Jocks. However, an increasingly paranoid Gary eventually betrays Jimmy and pits him against Russell Northrop (Cody Melton), leader of the Bullies, in an underground fight. Jimmy defeats Russell and persuades him to stop picking on others, earning the Bullies' respect.
Over the following months, Jimmy, aided by Pete, attempts to extend his influence by taking over the other cliques. He starts with the Preppies, but just as he begins to win them over, Gary turns them against him. In response, Jimmy challenges Bif Taylor (Andrew Rannells), the Preppies' second-in-command and Bullworth's boxing champion, to a boxing match. Despite his victory, the Preppies refuse to accept Jimmy's dominance and fight him together; Jimmy defeats them, including their leader Derby Harrington (John Lavelle), and asserts his position as the new leader. Turning his attention to the Greasers, Jimmy helps their leader, Johnny Vincent (Rocco Rosanio), expose an affair between his girlfriend Lola Lombardi (Phoebe Strole) and Preppies member Gord Vendome (Drew Gehling). However, the Greasers turn on Jimmy after he is forced to make amends with the Preppies by vandalizing the Greasers' territory. After Gary tips Johnny off on Jimmy's growing closeness to Lola, Johnny lures Jimmy into an ambush at a junkyard; Jimmy defeats Johnny and makes amends with him, securing leadership of the Greasers.
To take over the Jocks, regarded as the most powerful clique, Jimmy seeks the assistance of their main rivals, the Nerds. When they refuse to help, Jimmy confronts their leader, Earnest Jones (Jesse Tendler), and earns the Nerds' respect by promising they will never be picked on again. To ruin the Jocks' reputation, Earnest has Jimmy take inappropriate pictures of the school's head cheerleader, Mandy Wiles (Elena Franklin), which are then spread across town. However, this only ends up angering the Jocks and saddening Mandy, so Jimmy defends the Nerds' hideout from a Jock attack and removes the pictures out of pity for Mandy, earning her affection. Eventually, Jimmy humiliates the Jocks by sabotaging their big football game and defeating their leader, Ted Thompson (Alexander Cendese), in a fight in front of the entire school.
Having united all cliques under his rule, Jimmy basks in his newfound glory and respect, unaware that Gary is plotting to overthrow him. Gary convinces the clique leaders to pressure Jimmy into vandalizing Bullworth's town hall, and recruits the "Townies," a group of former Bullworth students seeking revenge against the school, to play a series of dangerous pranks on the cliques. The cliques, blaming Jimmy for the pranks, turn on him. Amid these events, Jimmy befriends Townies member Zoe Taylor (Molly Fox) and helps her exact revenge on Bullworth's predatory sports teacher Mr. Burton (Michael Boyle), who had Zoe expelled for accusing him of sexual harassment. Crabblesnitch is informed of Jimmy vandalizing the town hall by Gary, who is appointed head boy while Jimmy is expelled.
Although Jimmy initially accepts his defeat, Pete encourages him not to give up. With the aid of Zoe and Russell, Jimmy storms the Townies' hangout and confronts their leader, Edgar Munsen (Jan Milewicz), explaining to him how they were both manipulated by Gary. Having earned the Townies' respect, Jimmy returns to Bullworth, learning that Gary has sparked a full-blown war between the cliques. Aided by Russell and the Townies, Jimmy finds and defeats each clique leader to restore order, then confronts Gary, who has tied up Crabblesnitch as part of his plan to "take over" the school. Jimmy chases Gary to the rooftop, where they have a fight that culminates in both boys falling through a window and into Crabblesnitch's office. After Jimmy frees him, Crabblesnitch expels Gary, fires Burton for his predatory acts, appoints Pete as head boy, and reconciles with Jimmy by readmitting him and Zoe. Outside, while his friends and teachers cheer on, Jimmy shares a kiss with Zoe.
Development Bully was developed using the RenderWare engine. Rockstar announced the game in May 2005 for the PlayStation 2 and Xbox, with an original expected release date of October 2005.