Electronic Theatre In-depth Review: Bully: Scholarship Edition

Wii owning long-time gamers make no secret of their discouragement thanks to a lack of maturely themed titles on the system. With SEGA making waves in 2009 thanks to the likes of House of the Dead: Overkill, MADWORLD, and The Conduit, you could very easily be led to believe that that’s where the adult-orientated packages end. However, amidst the early bandwagon releases for Wii was another title that seems to be overlooked in recent discussions of the rather grey area, RockStar Games’ Bully: Scholarship Edition.

As a remake of a PlayStation2 title (eventually released in Europe as Canis Canem Edit), the Wii port of Bully: Scholarship Edition was released along a wholly enjoyable, if somewhat visually dated, Xbox 360 conversion. Differing not only in horsepower, but also offering Wii gamers the advantages of gesture-based controls, the Wii release is a very different proposition to it’s PlayStation2 and Xbox 360 counterparts.

While the main game is essentially presented identically – within a generous open world the player must partake in classes, complete missions for classmates and other Electronic Theatre Image Non-Player Characters (NPCs) and generally run amuck in the local town, whilst remaining conscious of the progression of each day and being caught-in-the-act by figures of authority – the experience gained from play is quite different. Seemingly a test bed for the inventive motion-controls seen in the ultimately disappointing Manhunt 2, Bully: Scholarship Edition has done better than most in offering an entertaining Action-Adventure game that employs the unique capabilities of the Wii Remote and Nunchuk with an almost tangible connection to the game world.

Engrained into every activity the player will partake in, gesturing the Wii Remote forward initiates right punches, and holding the Z Button along with the motion will execute a grapple. Pulling the Wii Remote back towards yourself will block incoming blows. Similar motions with the Nunchuk will perform similar actions with your on-screen avatar’s left hand, and mixing between movements will deliver combos. When beginning, the confusion that comes from identifying when one gesture ends and another begins may make combat unnecessarily frustrating, but after a short amount of time using the system most players will find the in-game response to the correct gesture equally as accurate as that of a button press.

The Pointer capabilities of the Wii Remote are brought into play when aiming weapons and partaking in classes and other mini-games. Aptly replacing the Electronic Theatre Image Analogue Stick’s directional control, those familiar with certain objectives may feel that the direct interaction may simplify a handful of the mini-games far too much, though in actual play it becomes apparent that the development team had been aware of this and modified each to account for the new control system.

Bully: Scholarship Edition has received a lick-of-paint since its debut on PlayStation2, though has been surpassed many times since its initial launch at retail. Character Models, environments and objects are all displayed clearly and with character, though occasionally bland textures and a limited draw distance have left room for more recent releases to impress. The sound quality, however, remains comparable to even the most aurally capable games on the system, with some fantastic voice acting adding more depth to the game’s pigeonhole characters than the visualisation ever could.

While Bully: Scholarship Edition may not break any new ground, at the time of its release it stood apart from the “me-too” mini-game compilations gracing Wii retail shelves. And now being offered at a very wallet-friendly price, it still carves its’ own niche as a compelling adult-orientated experience. Bully: Scholarship Edition stumbles just as much as it’s PlayStation2 counterpart, but with Wii’s release schedule highlighting so few similar offerings, a little awkwardness can be forgiven for the sake of a unique and entertaining adventure. Electronic Theatre Image