I’ve been looking forward to trying this one for a long time.  It’s true—this is the first time I’ve managed to get my hands on a copy of Bully: Scholarship Edition.

The biggest irony about this one is that it’s a next-gen update of a previous-gen release.  The first time I got my induction into the world of Bullworth Academy, it was back on the PS2.  But then, the tail end of 2008 comes along and, boom…Bully gets an update.  The Scholarship Edition comes packed with lots more new content, and frankly, is a whole new class by itself.

But just for a refresher course, in case you’ve already sampled this one back in the PS2 days, you play as Jimmy Hopkins, a young man with a lousy family life as his mother’s neck-deep in what seems to be a lifelong round of Wheel Of New Husbands.  Jimmy’s mom and newest hubby are about to head for a cruise ship for their year-long honeymoon, but something’s got to be done with Jimmy.  Jimmy’s new stepdad has just the concept—Bullworth Academy, a boarding school with plenty of problems.  Jimmy’s first meeting with one of the students is both opportune and problematic—he meets Gary, a kid with even more problems than Bullworth itself (he’s admitted to having ADD and being on medication that he’s recently stopped taking, and getting to know this scary bastard reveals that he’s got at least sociopathic tendencies.).  Gary’s given Jimmy an interesting idea, though—taking over the school.  But with four separate cliques in operation, and a whole town outside Bullworth Academy, such a feat won’t be easy for Jimmy.  And if Gary takes exception to Jimmy’s methods…well…Gary has the potential to make Jimmy’s life a living hell.

Who will win?  Who will lose?  And will Bullworth Academy be left standing?

This is about half of why I love Bully—the sheer epic of this storyline is fantastic by itself.  But when you add the OTHER half, couple in the spectacular variety of things to do in and around Bullworth, you get a game with all sorts of replay value.  I love how you gather new skills not by defeating enemies or collecting things, but by going to class.    Almost ironically, Jimmy is very much AGAINST bullying, and it’s his repeatedly stated goal throughout the course of the game to end it at Bullworth.  There’s a lot of unexpected fun in this game, and it’s especially worth mentioning as a result.

Sure, maybe the graphics look a little last-gen for a product developed so late in the season, and sometimes the game mechanics get a downright aggressively skewed in favor of screwing the player over—hypersensitive enemies, floods of enemies, you know what I mean—but none of this really gets in the way of a good time.  And that’s what Bully: Scholarship Edition will offer–a good time action game with an epic storyline and lots to do in between.

In no uncertain terms, this is a fun game.  I had literally hours of fun with it, and I gladly came back for more.  You may want to try the original first to appreciate the fullest extent of the additions and changes made, but it’s not strictly necessary.  The key take away?  You’ll have fun.  That’s what counts.