You could say many things about the new Rockstar game “Bully.” But describing it as “the ‘Sims’ with wedgies” seems about right.
While most of us were happy to get out of high school in one piece, Rockstar thought it would be a blast to relive the days of Indian burns and chemistry exams. But while critics feared the game would provide a road map for school violence, Rockstar just wanted to provide an open-ended simulator filled with jocks, preppies, auto-shop toughs, nerds and, of course, bullies. No, this wasn’t going to be a happy-go-lucky, interactive “Grease.” Then again, it wasn’t going to be a dreary “Basketball Diaries” either.
At Bullworth Academy, players take on the role of Jimmy Hopkins, a 15-year-old pugilist who has no particular reason to take any push without returning a shove. And since you’ve been dumped into this private-school compound for the next year, your days and nights play like an episode of “Oz,” if the writers for National Lampoon had gotten hold of the script and rewrote the lead for John Belushi.
So, along with the brutality and unpleasant violence of bigger kids lording over smaller kids, you get satire, slapstick and a little sophomoric humor thrown in for good measure.
What is missing, oddly enough, is the interesting transgressive behavior that put Rockstar on the cultural map. Gone is the “Grand Theft Auto” larceny and excessive vice. Sure, you can rumble with other playground troublemakers. But there’s no blood involved. Yes, you might enter a fray by the auto shop with a baseball bat. But you’re more likely to do your fighting with stink bombs and itching powder.
If you can get past the idea that Rockstar toned down its iconic style of game play into a wry, after-school special, then you can start to appreciate just how weird this game really is.
In an industry filled with space monsters, Nazis and the living dead, it’s funny to think that skateboarding, racing to get to class, learning fighting moves from the hobo who lives behind the school, harassing townies and running a protection racket for nerds can hold a gamer’s attention. Even when you sneak into the girls’ dorm in search of new missions, you are reminded that “Animal House” offered more salacious thrills than you get here.
In a way, “Bully” succeeds because it offers a toned-down game where you can’t be too bad, and a heroic deed is as simple as retrieving a classmate’s homework from some bully.
“Bully”
VIDEO GAME|For PlayStation 2|$39.99|Rated T for Teen
