Bully: Scholarship Edition (2008)
Improve your health with boy-kissing
The next game in my series of boy-on-boy-love video games is originally from 2006, but it’s never to late to recommend something good. This is originally a PlayStation 2 game entitled “Bully” (renamed as ‘Canis Canem Edit’ in the UK), ported in March 2008 to Xbox 360 and Nintendo Wii as Bully: Scholarship Edition. A PC version has been announced for October 2008. Rockstar Games is known for Manhunt and Grand Theft Auto franchises, while Bully has some of Grand Theft Auto elements – it’s a sandbox game with a main story and a number of side-quests.
You play as Jimmy Hopkins, a problem kid from a dysfunctional family – after being expelled from a number of schools, his mother dumps him at Bullworth Academy, a private boarding school. Throughout six chapter of the main story, Jimmy is trying to deal with a psychopathic student, at the same time attending (or skipping) classes, doing various odd-jobs around the town and school in the form of mini-games, helps out people, has fun, gets involved in pranks and trying to find his place in the new surrounding.
The six chapters of the game span all four seasons, the in-game weather is dynamic, and so is the day/night cycle. An average weekday for Jimmy includes classes he has to attend between 9 a.m. and 11:30, and 1 p.m. to 3:30 p.m., according to a schedule – if he cuts classes, the prefects will (try to) catch him and send him to class.
During lunch-break and in the afternoons, Jimmy is free to go anywhere he wants at school or in the town, and do whatever he wants. The town itself is quite large and has everything – there’s a funfair, beaches, mountain roads, an insane asylum on the hill, a rich neighbourhood, a poor neighbourhoods, an industrial district, and each of the districts has shops where you can dress Jimmy up, get his hair done, and in each of the parts of the town Jimmy can fight for his own HQ where you can save the game.
You can move between the parts of the town on foot, on skateboard (Jimmy always has it with him) or by bike (which you take from one of your garages or steal borrow from passers by, GTA style). When it’s time to fight, Jimmy can use his fists (you’ll do a lot of waving around like an idiot on the Wii when Jimmy has to box), his slingshot, itching powder, bottle rockets, eggs and similar school prank paraphernalia. However, it is noteworthy that the game will not incite or force violent behaviour, Jimmy has to defend when some of the other kids attack him, but there is nothing that will force him to bully other kids. Actually, if you do bully kids younger than yourself, you’ll get caught, send to the headmaster’s office and probably end up doing some work as punishment. If you attack people in the streets or steal bikes, the police will chase you down.
Snogging is good for your health in the game, Jimmy can make out with his schoolmates and earn a health power-up. Rockstar Vancouver spiced things up by including boys into this, so Jimmy can smooch boys and get the same benefits. And if you hang around town log enough, you just might meet a gay couple, walking around town, holding hands! Shock! Disbelief! Yes, this video game shamelessly promotes homosexuality! It’s the faggotized GTA! Grand Theft Bike: Gay Town! Ban this filth immediately! If this was television, we’d be looking at a sensationalist reporter, dead serious, talking about the latest game coming from the States, which enables the simulation of homosexual acts with underage kids and glorifies bullying. But luckily, this is not television, just good ole hyperbole.
So what did Rockstar Games do about this? Well, the Xbox 360 version of has an achievement which gives you 20 gamepoints if your Jimmy gets 20 kisses from boys. Just to annoy the achievement-whores. And the world did not explode, nor have millions of gamers become gay or bullies. Most of the criticism of the game was unfounded anyway, published way before the game was even published, and the game itself was rated 13 or 15 worldwide.
When you get your copy of Bully, you’ll probably need instructions how to make a move on your schoolmates. Jimmy can kiss only certain, open-minded boys, who are a minority (isn’t that realistic, now…) – there’s one in every clique (bullies, nerds, jocks, preps, greasers), six in total if we count in a townie, he’s the last one you can fool around with. The main condition for kissing anyone is that Jimmy successfully went to Art class; by increasing the number of art classes Jimmy attends (to a total of six), your health power-up increases. When you get that sorted out, dress up Jimmy (so that the other kids don’t make fun of him), get some flowers ready, find the right boy in a clique that doesn’t beat you up, chat him up, give him the flowers and he’ll give you a kiss. You have to go through all this every time you want to kiss someone to improve your health, only the girls will kiss you without giving them flowers when you attend all the art classes. If you feel like being naughty, you can kiss several schoolmates one after the other – this will make them jealous and they’ll fight each other.
In short, I recommend Bully: Scholarship Edition wholeheartedly. It’s a well thought-out game, it works great, it is quite funny and you’ll probably enjoy the 20+ hours you spend with it.
Žvaljakanjem do zdravlja
Sljedeća igra u mojoj seriji recenzija muškoljubavnih video igara je iz 2006., ali nikada nije kasno za dobru preporuku. Radi se izvorno PlayStation2 igri ‘Bully’ (preimenovanoj kod prvog objavljivanja u Velikoj Britaniji u ‘Canis Canem Edit’), koja je u ožujku 2008. portirana na XBOX 360 i Nintendo Wii pod naslovom Bully: Scholarship Edition. PC varijanta najavljena je za kraj listopada 2008. Izdavač Rockstar Games otprije nam je poznat po franšizama Manhunt i Grand Theft Auto, a u Bullyja su prenijeli osnovu Grand Theft Auta – sandbox igru s okolinama po kojima se možete slobodno kretati, glavnu priču i velik broj izbornih zadataka.
Igra vas stavlja u ulogu Jimmyja Hopkinsa, problematičnog klinca iz disfunkcionalne obitelji kojega majka, nakon što su ga izbacili iz više škola, ostavlja u akademiji Bullworth, privatnoj školi internatskog tipa. Kroz šest poglavlja osnovne priče, Jimmy pokušava izići na kraj s jednim psihopatskim učenikom, a uz to pohađa (ili markira) nastavu, obavlja raznorazne posliće po školi i gradiću Bullworthu u obliku mini-igara, pomaže drugima, zabavlja se, radi spačke i traži svoje mjesto u novoj sredini.
Šest poglavlja igre protežu se kroz sva četiri godišnja doba, vremenske prilike su dinamičke, kao i smjena dana i noći. Prosječan Jimmyjev radni dan sastoji se od nastave koju je obvezan pohađati od 9:00 do 11:30 te od 13:00 to 15:30 po određenom rasporedu – ako nije na nastavi u to vrijeme, školski redari će ga (pokušati) uloviti i poslati na nastavu.
U pauzi između nastave i nakon završetka nastave, Jimmy je slobodan kretati se školom i gradićem i raditi što god ga volja. Gradić je zaista velik i sadržajan – ima lunapark, plaže, planinske staze i ludnicu na brdu, bogatašku, siromašnu i industrijsku četvrt, a u svakoj četvrti imate prodavaonice, možete pronaći različitu odjeću, promijeniti Jimmyjev izgled i u svakome dijelu grada Jimmy se može izboriti za sjedište u kojemu možete snimiti igru.
Između tih dijelova grada i škole krećete se skejtom (kojega Jimmy stalno ima uz sebe) ili biciklom (kojeg uzmete iz svojih ‘garaža’ ili jednostavno u GTA stilu ukradete posudite od prolaznika). Kad se treba tući, Jimmy na raspolaganju ima šake (na Nintendo Wiiju ćete se dobro razmahati kad god se Jimmy treba boksati s nekime), praćku, prašak za svrab, jaja i slične rekvizite za školske psine. Treba, međutim, napomenuti da vas igra ne potiče ili tjera na nasilje, Jimmy se mora braniti ako ga netko napadne, ali nitko ga ne prisiljava na maltretiranje druge djece. Štoviše, ako Jimmy maltretira mlađe od sebe, završit će na razgovoru kod ravnatelja i društveno-korisnome radu. Ako iz čista mira napada ljude po gradu ili krade bicikle, lovit će ga policija.
Po pitanju žvaljenja koje je korisno po zdravlje, Jimmy se može ljubakati s ostalim učenicima u školi i time zarađuje bonus zdravlja. Rockstar Vancouver je taj dio dodatno zapaprio skandalom tako što je u igru uključio mogućnost da Jimmy ljubi i dečke s istim povlasticama. Ako se dovoljno dugo budete motali po gradu, vjerojatno ćete sresti i jedan gej par koji se, zamislite skandala, slobodno šeta gradom, držeći se za ruke! Šok! Nevjerica! Da, ova igra besramno promiče homoseksualnost! Pederska varijanta GTA! Grand Theft Bike: Gay Town! Hitno zabranite ovu prljavštinu! Kad bi ovo bila televizija, sada bi nas Hrga, ozbiljna ko prase u cekeru, izvjestila o najnovijoj kompjuterskoj igrici iz Amerike koja omogućava simulaciju homoseksualnih činova s maloljetnicima i glorificira školsko nasilje. Ali na sreću, ovo nije televizija, već samo hiperbola.
I što je Rockstar Games napravio pitanju ove kontroverze? U Xbox 360 varijantu dodao je achievement koji vam donosi 20 bodova na profil ako vaš Jimmy dobije 20 poljubaca od tipova. Tek da lagano naživcira one koji igraju igre i moraju skupit’ sve! I svijet nije propao, niti se su se milijuni igrača iznenada popederili. Ili postali nasilnici. Većina kritika ionako je bila neosnovana, objavljena prije no što je igra uopće izašla, da bi po izlasku igra bila proglašena neprikladnom tek za djecu ispod 13 ili 15 godina.
Kad se budete dohvatili Bullyja, vjerojatno će vam dobro doći i upute kako zavoditi druge učenike. Jimmy može ljubiti samo određene slobodoumne dečke koji su u manjini – u svakoj kliki (nasilnici, šmokljani, sportaši, bogataši, greaseri) ima ih po jedan, ukupno šest ako ubrojimo i jednog gradskog dečka. Osnovni preduvjet za bilo kakvo ljubljenje jest to da je Jimmy uspješno odslušao najmanje jedan sat likovnog odgoja, povećanjem broja sati (do maksimalno 6) povećava se zdravstveni bonus. Kad ste to riješili, Jimmyja lijepo odijenite i nafrizirajte (tako da mu se ne rugaju ostali klinci), pripremite cvijeće, potražite pravog dečka iz klike s kojom ste dobri (odnosno koja vas ne mlati čim vas vidi), pročavrljajte s njim, dajte mu cvijeće i dobit ćete pusicu ili će vas zažvaliti, ovisno o broju sati likovnog. Istu proceduru morate proći svaki puta kada želite nekoga poljubiti iz zdravstvenih ili drugih razloga, jedino će vas cure ljubiti bez cvijeća kad skupite dovoljno sati likovnog odgoja. Možete malo biti i zločesti, kad uzastopce poljubite više učenika (ili učenica), postat će ljubomorni jedni na druge i potući se.
U zaključku, suvišno je napomenuti da vam Bully: Scholarship Edition preporučam, jer je to osnovna svrha ovog bloga. Radi se o dorađenom i nadasve igrivom uratku uz koji ćete vrlo lako ubiti dvadesetak sati u neobaveznoj zabavi punoj duha i humora.
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