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publisher: Rockstar Games, Rockstar Games

developer: Rockstar Vancouver

published: October 17, 2006

category: Action

players: 1

also for: Xbox

Rockstar's one of the best and most unique action-adventure game which is a aptly named as Bully. As the name suggests the game puts you in situation to handle the torments of bullies, learn to fight with them or even knock them down on their knees. The game has such a wonderful storyline which is a package full of plots and twists which makes Bully really exciting.

The game starts with a cutscene involving the protagonist of the game, a 15-year-old troublemaker Jimmy Hopkins. Jimmy ends up in a boarding school by her newly remarried mother and her wealthy husband. Actually, their idea is to leave him in the school and happily spend their entire year living free of troubles. The school is run by many small groups of people belonging to different sections. There are many students you will meet in the game. You become friend with Gary, a student who wants to take over the school. But, Gary removes his picture really early off the game leaving you behind the eyes of the authority.

The gameplay, storyline, and the setting of the game is really worthwhile. The characters are really well-made and you can expect nerds,greasers or even cheerleaders to roam around the school. Jimmy has strong character and is quite a smart kid. His excellent dialogues makes him away from any personalities in the game portraying his right character and importance in the game. Though being made by Rockstar the game really keeps up for its Teen ESRB rating and not being violent like most of the Rockstar games (For example - GTA, of course ).

The game has practically a non-linear storyline, but the options are specifically fixed on your first decision. At the start you're in a school and you're allowed only to attend about one class at minimum. You always wake up at 8 AM, and have classes to your accordances, each class has a specific day and time. So, if you accidentally miss a class you'll have to wait till the next week. For example- You go in class at 10 AM and you go for one more class at about 2 PM and if you want to go out night you might be breaking the rules of the school or even the city, if you're getting up at about 12 PM night, apparently you're attending a curfew ( Things get a little boring when you don't break rules ), you can be safe if you how to get rid of prefects in the school or the police in the city. The game time goes really fast, so you can do missions according to your speed. The problem is that you have limited in a day to get your things done.

You might get bored being at the school. But, you'll realize that the classes have a lot of benefits, each class gives you really strong bonuses that come handy throughout the game. Eg- If you do your gym classes well your fighting skills get concreted and your accuracy rapidly increases- The gym has 2 types of games one is the Dodge Ball that of course increases your accuracy and other is wrestling where you learn more stronger fighting tactics. In English classes, you are provided with set of letters and you have to find as much words you can before the time runs out. English classes have a very important bonus, if you get caught by the police you can beg/apologize to them and avoid getting busted. Chemistry class gives you bonus of keeping a chemistry set in your room so that you can make stink bombs and firecrackers. There is one garage that has one extra class in which you have to put together the parts of a BMX, which in return you can use after the class is over. Photography, which is the least essential in the game gives you an ability of using a camera. These classes are not so time consuming and you'll find that not even half way through the game you finished all the classes.

NOTE- The Scholarship Edition includes a new class that is Biology class. Since, I don't know more about it in detail you can find it out yourself on many sites.

Bully's storyline is made up into chapters. Each chapter will teach you about the different segments of the game. Eg- A mission tasks you to wipe out the Preppies ( bloody rich kids ) in their rings and teach them a lesson. Another mission tasks you to wipe out the Jocks ( Hefty, Bullies and Rugby players ) from a certain area to help the Nerds out. The game includes many naughty missions- Like, when you sneak into the girls dorm and take naughty pictures. During the game you'll also help out many teachers also. Like the psycho gym teacher asks you to panty raid or help out the alcoholic English teacher in his personal matters. All missions in the game are generally not to lengthy or difficult and all the missions have such suspense that they will keep you curious to know the end.

Jimmy learns many things as you voyage through the game. Later, Jimmy learns to interact with people .. you can greet them nicely or badly, start flirting with girls or even kiss them. These can also be used to hire bodyguards and bullies. The game has lot of strange,unusual and of course strong weapons- the slingshot, a bottle rocket launcher, itching powder, stink bombs and your most used weapons your hands and legs. As I said the really keeps up to its Teen ESRB rating- their no guns and weapons that would cause a death. The enemies in the game are as strong as strong as you because they can block your kicks or even fist attacks, the best way to avoid a long battle is to use a weapon. However, battling with a single person is manageable but fighting with a group of enemy can be difficult. The fighting system is quite nicely implemented in the game and even if the groups are too hard to fight, defeating a person drops many life restoring things and can be easy.

Looking from the point of graphics, Bully provides real-looking faces and has showcased graphics of which PS2 is capable of... it really makes them alive. Though the graphics really good but the frame rate not 100%. The voice cast in the game is fantastic, providing the suitable voices for each character.

The sound is also perfect but the sounds that play during the gameplay is somewhat taken from '' Harry Potter'' but these sounds really give a cinematic feeling.

Bully is not like most of the game, it's perfect storyline, gameplay and sound are really memorable and is one game that every gamer should give it try despite having some minor problems. Pesonally, it's one of my best game on PS2.

Presentation – 10/10 – the game is presented neatly, and it's nearly difficult to find faults in it. Besides, the storyline really suits the game well and gives one unique experience.

Gameplay – 9/10 - The game is really good. But, still you might get in a confusion while learning the basic gameplay of the game. The game's fighting system is different from other games and merely gives you a complaint.

Graphics – 8/10 – The graphics are really good, the faces are charming to look at and the environment feels really nice and remembers you of your childhood. The main problem comes between the perfect graphics is the a little unusual frame rate.

Sound – 9/10 – The sound is also nice and brings the game alive. The sounds are good and soothing to hear.

Replayability – 9/10 – It's fun to play the game again...

Full description

You're not going to take it anymore. From edgy publisher Rockstar's Vancouver development team comes this dark comedy set in the most vile and sadistic setting yet in a Rockstar videogame: the schoolyard. As a troublesome schoolboy, you'll laugh and cringe as you stand up to bullies, get picked on by teachers, play pranks on malicious kids, win or lose the girl, and ultimately learn to navigate the obstacles of the fictitious reform school, Bullworth Academy.

Publisher:  Rockstar Games
Developer: Rockstar North
Release Date: April 29, 2008
Category: Action, Adventure, Racing, Third-Person
Players: 1-16
Also for:Xbox 360

Entering the Liberty City at the start of GTA IV recalls you you of CJ(''Carl Johnson''- The GTA San Andreas protagonist) landing on Los Santos,you can tell that Rockstar is ready for one more heck of a ride and the game has to offer something special. Yes , be ready for another GTA game and some extraordinary action and hunting criminals or cops down, but I bet it's more than that. GTA IV is a game with testing and nonlinear storyline, a game with a great protagonist who you can't resist to love and with extraordinary online features. Though it's not a flawless game but still it's the best GTA ever.

One of the main things that made GTA IV really special was the Liberty City, which I would prefer to say '' New Liberty City'', which has a better urban environment than its predecessors. Niko is surprised to see the diverse people who are not aware to the crime going on in the city , when he understands that his cousin Roman got sunk in fatal gambling debts. Niko's military experience makes him a player for employers in the business of killing or assassinating  each other and gives him confidence to complete his own mission.

Actually, it's not pretty straightforward it's entirely on you than blindly following instructions in missions . You don't necessarily kill the target , you might don't know his presence may come useful to you in future , or even have work for you in bonus missions. Warning : you might miss some of the most interesting feature of the game and you'll likely fall in playing the game again.



GTA IV can be likely beaten in 35 hours, and there are so many optional missions and side missions to take part in comfortably. Majority of missions in the game task you to kill the people. The easiest thing in the game are missions than the previous games because Niko is such a aggressive and a strong killer than any GTA protagonist, and the cops have more busy things like eating donuts than catching Niko assassinating people around. Some really unique missions in the game include kidnappings, a bank heist and a job interview. The excellent cinematic cutscenes are superbly presented. The characters have been greatly animated, great voice acting, and extremely life-looking faces. There are always problems when you fail a mission, you have to go long distances in order to that mission again but the new ''replay mission'' option is really helpful.

New abilities in Niko's including scaling fences and walls anywhere, cover behind objects, so on. Ability to cover makes the targeting and gunplay system really efficient in GTA IV and with a new targeting system it's just awesome. The enemies are not smart enough to hit when you are in cover. Locking on the targets on their torso or on their legs by default takes long time in killing the enemies, but you can hit with the use of your right-analog button to kill more efficiently. I think the only flaw with the targeting system is that there is no more lock-on feature which makes it difficult to kill, instead you will have to master the technique so that you can blindly hit the enemies either from the cover position or free.

After realizing you are giving to much trouble to the city, it's sure that the cops have to stick their nose in your business, but this time they are really easy to deal than the other GTA's. First, because they are really slow while persuading you. And second, because they don't even bother to block your ways. It's so easy that even if you destroy the whole city you'll come back alive. You have one more advantage, the GPS- it helps you to show the exact locations of the patrol cars and even the policemen strolling around, and brushes the area where they are heading and also the place where they are in search of you. To escape, you just need move outside the brushed/highlighted mark. The easiest thing you can do is to just stand at one place and find your way out until the police car is out of sight this. This is very easy trick when your wanted level is low and the brushed mark is small.

When you are getting bored of doing missions, racing or even destroying the city. Eventually, you will find that their to many things for your fun like- you can watch television or listen to many of the amusing radio stations, being a audience in many comedy clubs and best thing to do is the in-game Internet. GTA IV's Internet has diverse kinds of websites. Mainly you find them in searches or spam e-mails. You can find computers in ''TW@'' Internet cafes.



Dating & socializing you'd love to do in girls. Like, when you are on the Internet  there is an interesting site where the women see your profiles and if they like it they might go with you on a date. Besides, you can make friends and get many important benefits. You'll waste a lot of time with them to impress them. Different people like to do different things, for example- some people like to eat, while some people like to play pool,bowling etc. Later, you will realize that dates are really frustrating at times... they get impressed according to various factors like whether you pick them at time, where you take them and several more detail factors like what you wear and how you drive. There many rewards you can get through socializing and dating –example- if you make friend with a nurse/doctor you can get health advantages.
     You can know more about them by a new GTA IV feature- the cellphone. This new feature so well implemented that this new feature really distances the other GTA's from GTA IV. With the help of the cellphone you can all many of the acquaintances and take calls even when you are driving. It's really easy to use the phone you just need to take up the friends phone number, it depends on whether the person takes the call or not. There's one funny thing with the cellphone whenever you're engaged in a gunfight or a mission you can expect majority of calls. You can also add new ringtones and themes for your phone from the Internet which represents the amount of detailing in the game.



Talking of details, Rockstar has made act of stealing more interesting, which still can be done by just a click of one button, but this time you can expect different things to happen. If the door is locked, Niko will smash the window with his elbow or even the foot. Once Niko is inside the car, Niko does hot-wiring in order to start the car. In some cases when you smash up the window the car may trigger a alarm, and it may attract the nearby policemen  to come after you.

To make GTA IV more easier than its predecessors, driving has become very loose which helps you in making stylish U-turns, skids and sharp turns easily. To make the driving really amusing the positioning of camera is very important which is done just perfectly in the game. Like , when take in hand of something fast the camera comes closer and shows the need for speed. But, there is one of the most important minor problem in the game is that it's really difficult to halt the car whether it is a stallion, dumpster, motorcycle, boat or even a helicopter.'

Getting online GTA IV couldn't be easier. You simply select the multiplayer mode from cellphone, choose the game you want to host or join. You certainly won't have to wait longer and get bored. The multiplayer mode offers about 16 players to do just anything around the city. To ensure that things don't get too friendly the weapons are scattered around the city.

The multiplayer mode offers many things for you to customize freely if you want to host a game session, you can customize various things such as police presence, traffic levels, friendly fire and so on. You can also choose where you want the game to be held. The multiplayer modes such as deathmatches  and race are amazing. You also task-based games similar to a single-player mode. The multipalyer mod e also offers many team-based games like – Turf Wars, Cops'n'Crooks and so on. The online mode offering upto 16 players to play all  together with a variety of modes to play is as compelling as the single-player mode. The GPS is also made to great use in the online mode, so that you can track the players objectives and engage their doings in certain situations.



If you're curious to what difference do the PS3 version or the X360 version have. Frankly speaking, they don't have much in difference. The PS3 version starts only after a crucial installation that makes the time taken by loading a little shorter.

The sound effects are really efficient in the game and impressive during gunfights. The soundtracks in the game are just amazing which has vast number great licensed songs. And if you are curious to know more about these songs, a song recognition service has been introduced that gives you full-proof information about these songs back on your cellphone.

GTA IV is a game with everything you ever wanted and in case you still don't have a copy of the game, get out and go to your nearest video-game stores. GTA IV has some really minute faults but still stands up to more than our expectation and is truly the best GTA ever created.

Presentation- 10/10 - The game is presented with ease and excellency and everything is an inspiration from the game. The storyline is really good and non-linear.

Graphics- 10/10 - The graphics just can't get better than that, GTA IV looks realistic at every side of the game. The streets, the water, the sky , the city almost everything looks real and gives the pleasure of playing the game in the superb urban environment.

Gameplay- 10/10 - The gameplay is really the backbone of the game respecting the the new cover system, great use of the GPS and the cell phone. Besides, all this the game provides an entirely new feature of in-game Internet and the television.

Sound -10/10 - The sound is just perfect and really brings Liberty City alive. The game has plenty of great licensed soundtrack which are extremely addicting.

Replayability - 10/10 - The game will be the same and amusing while replaying because as I said before the game has lot of alternatives and hidden things to be done.

Overall Rating - 50/50 - It's just the perfect game you want and if you are real gaming fan you'll surely have to check this game out once in a lifetime.

Game summary

The fourth installment of the popular series by Rockstar features improved graphics, new features, and new gameplay. Players take on the role of Niko Bellic, a rough-around-the-edge chap from Eastern Europe. Niko has arrived in America, in Liberty City -- a land full of promise and opportunity. His cousin convinced him to emigrate, to join him in his mansion and life of luxury, but as soon as he steps off the boat, Niko discovers the truth about the American way. Still, the wealth, the comfort, the bliss of the good life, it all really is here ... And it's all for the taking.

GTA IV reinvents the series with a renewed version of Liberty City detailed to the last pothole and rooftop vent. There are now four boroughs to explore plus extra area outside of Liberty City proper. With the ability to climb obstacles, drive cars, steer boats and pilot helicopters, the world of GTA is more accessible than ever before.