| Platform | OVERALL |
|---|---|
| Wii | 6.10 |
| Overall | 6.10 |
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Hey lets make a GTA like game but lets remove all the vehicles that make it fun! Hey lets also remove all the guns that allow you to cause chaos! Lets take away all the great music! Lets make a game with only the most boring kinds of GTA missions! Somehow someone thought all that was a great idea and so we got Bully. This is easily one of the most boring GTA like games I have ever played. And no its not really cause they changed the setting or themes its cause it all got replaced with things that are simply not that interesting. Bully takes place in a boarding school and in Rockstar fashion they try to make a satire based on high school flicks but for me it just didn't work. The game is basically rated PG-13 which takes away any of the edge any high school story can have. So what you are left with is the most basic of dumb fart jokes, juvenile insults, and general stupidity. Didn't seem like any kind of school I have ever seen, I know they go for the extreme but that works when you are covering violence (as its a way to make violence funny), here it makes it a cartoon. The story does have its moments by the end but most of the game is filled with boring uninteresting characters. The biggest failure of Bully is in its missions and game world as this is where any sandbox title earns its merit. Bully is filled with the worst kinds of fetch quests missions there is. About 70% of all missions simply have you going to a location, grabbing something (or performing a simple action) and coming back. Without fast vehicles traveling is far more boring than it has ever been. Also the lack of cars or a real police force removes all chance for an impromptu car chase that makes GTA so dynamic. Nope you never have to worry about crap in this game. Yes there are patrols but you are literally faster than EVERYTHING in this game, all you have to do is run in a straight line and no one will ever catch you. All these fetch quests become chores because the gameplay isn't dynamic enough to ever make the actual quest interesting, nothing surprising ever happens. Since this game is about high school students guns are obviously out, in its place is a melee system. Pretend this is a brawler GTA but the brawling is simplistic and offers zero challenge. You can learn a few basic combos as the game goes on as well as a few other skills but for the most part you will simply be spamming punches and grabs until everyone around you is defeated. There is basically no defense, your lock on auto blocks so that is all you have to hold, simply punch away. This makes almost all combat in the game a boring tedious affair. You do get some projectile weapons, stuff that stun enemies and a slingshot to shoot stuff from afar. The slingshot is used a lot in the other most popular kind of mission which is you simply arrive at a spot and shoot things with you slingshot over and over again. The game is filled with mini games which come in the form of classes Jimmy attends. Most of these are glorified QTE mini games, which of course means they are crappy. The best ones are question and answer kind of games as well as a few mini games like dodgeball. Out in the game world you have two jobs you can do, cut lawns (as boring as it sounds) or do a paper route which plays like a horrible version of paperboy but a bad version of paperboy is interesting in this game. There are bike races scattered around, basic standard stuff for a game like this. The best mini game by far is a Punch-Out like boxing game, I wish the real gameplay used this system. Outside of that there isn't much else to do, just a few scattered simply mini games here and there. Overall this game is much smaller in scale than any GTA game. It is not all bad though as the game comes alive in the last few chapters when you get introduced into weapons that are basically "guns". They game replicates a gun turret but with potatoes, you have all sorts of giant battles where you have to run around and shoot guys. It has the old GTA style auto lock on which is basic but at least the game comes alive with some neat ideas and interesting missions. One involving a mascot was really well done. The final mission is so over the top ridiculous that its hilarious. This game does not have licensed music so all the music comes from an original score that is unique to say the least. I don't even know how to describe the kind of music but its cool and fits the game. That said it repeats way too much, for the majority of the game you will simply listen to the same song over and over and over. This is why these games have mock radio stations, to avoid the repetition. Ultimately this is a good game that I just did not like. It plays well, its got good production values, its actually pretty funny. The formula still provides hours of fun but for me the quality level is way down in comparison to others in this genre. The setting did not capture me like it did others. It still all comes down to how poor I feel the majority of the games missions are and how the core combat system is quite crappy. When those two things are not done well the entire game suffers no matter how well done other aspects are. Not bad but boring. |
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Posted by Dvader Sat, 13 Apr 2013 20:52:41
Recently Spotted:
gamingeek (14s)
It would be kind of stupid to have school kids running people over and shooting people.
To me the GTA games aren't just fun because of the cars and guns - but in any case bully has shooting weapons and bicycle chases. To me the GTA games are fun because of the sandbox nature, push and pull mechanics.
You can cause chaos in Bully, if you attack the right group. But for me the fun in bully doesn't just come from shooting or riding. It's about the whole game, setting, charm, characters, unique events, humour etc.
You have done a few reviews now where you say it's a good game but not for me, I found it boring. Then given it like a 6/10 score or whatever. To me, if I play a good game that I don't like for whatever reason I can still recognise its' inherent quality despite that and give it recognition for it.
I have played many games that I thought were overated but you would rarely see me give a critically acclaimed game that obviously has many great features less than an 8.00, even if it wasn't for me or bored me. Because I can give recognition to the underlying quality of a game.
With you, you seem to be in this phase of loving or hating, trashing or praising. It reminds me of why I don't like some sites or magazines, everything is wonderful or a total turd.
I understand from what you've said that you being bored is the biggest crime a game can commit with you. People's tolerance levels and what they find boring or not differs obviously. So I have found that we obviously have our gauges set differently here - nothing wrong with that at all but it makes me take your reviews with a grain of salt. Your reviews are still insightful and packed with useful information and I'm glad you keep reviewing games so I can keep reading them.
But the score still needs to reflect my feeling, its my review, i dont work for a site.
This game has POOR missions, clear cut design choices that I feel are simply bad. Gameplay that is clearly very simple, not challenging. The gameplay simply does not compare to others in this genre. That above all is always the most important aspect of any game for me. I can see why people like it in terms of setting, the stuff you said, it can be enjoyable and people may like it more but I will never consider this game a great game. In my eyes it is simply not, it is a pretty average GTA clone at best from a gameplay perspective.