It’s been a long strange trip for the Xbox 360 version of Bully: Scholarship Edition.  Unable to use the engine from the PS2 version of Bully, developer Mad Doc Software had to write a brand new rendering engine from scratch that would allow the game to run on the Xbox 360.  All looked well until reports of crashes and other irregularities caused Rockstar and Mad Doc to bust out a patch pronto.  We’re a patient lot here at X-Play, so while we did in fact encounter numerous crashes, we figured it would be better to wait and see if the promised patch did the trick.

Go to the Head of the Class

Let’s get the pleasantries out of the way.  Bully: Scholarship Edition is a welcome update to the excellent PS2 version.  It’s still the same great boarding school sim, but now with more classes, more missions, and better graphics. The new missions are sprinkled throughout the game and include a humorous encounter with a surly Santa. The school curriculum has been expanded to include four new classes including a Trauma Center-esque biology class, a rhythm game for music class, as well instruction in math and geography.  Controls for these new classes work well, although personally, I wish the shop class control scheme had been revisited as it’s a frustrating as the PS2 version. The new multiplayer modes are, however, pretty much a complete waste of time.

Interior Decorating

The biggest change to Bully for the 360 is the revamped graphics.  The bump to a higher resolution is nice, but it’s the total reworking of many of the textures and some nice dynamic lighting that really helps the game look good; certainly much better than the PS2 version which wasn’t much of a looker even back in the day.  And hey, it’s an improvement, so we’re not complaining.

Virtual Wedgie

Crashes, of course, are something to complain about.  We’re happy to report that since applying the patch, we have not encountered any more crashes.  There are some minor irregularities that continue to creep up including a noticeable drop in framerate when you’re tooling around the town.  Also, the music and sound occasionally skips just before or after you hit a loading screen.  Speaking of loading, the unacceptably long load times from the PS2 version unfortunately made the transition to the 360. In the end, what we loved about the original still shines through the rare bumps in the translation.

Bully: Scholarship Edition is a safe bet, especially if you haven’t played it before.  Heck, even if you have, Bullworth Academy is a nice place to re-visit… but I’m not sure I’d want to live there.

Review by: Greg Bemis