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Hello and welcome to the eleventh instalment in Game Diary: Bully, the ongoing journal of my experience with Rockstar's controversial boarding-school sandbox game Bully.
In the previous instalments I bullied my way to the top of the school's social hierarchy, declared everyone equal, and then got knocked off my perch by some mysterious events. Each of the various cliques was quick to turn against me, marking poor ol' Jimmy as a social pariah. Today things escalate further.
To read about my many amazing adventures in and around Bullworth Academy, hit the links below.
3 April 2010
I got 60 bucks for exposing a scandal that involved a teacher selling answers to tests (through one of the preppies). This involved more camera espionage, and really didn't affect me beyond giving some closure to the story of the drunken English teacher (who tipped me off about this indiscretion).
For some insane reason I decided to enter another bike race. I have no idea what was going through my head, because I hate the bike races. This was no exception, but after a little under two minutes of mashing the X button I came out victorious. That’s another $20 I’ll never use.
Then I went to bed, since it was getting late and I don't want to risk passing out in the street from fatigue again. I woke up to an announcement that I am a “little monster,” and must visit the Principal’s office. Obligingly, I wandered over there — I only started one fight on the way, too. Apparently, the Principal doesn’t like me, so I’m getting kicked out of school as soon as they can contact my mother, who is still on the cruise she dumped me here to go on. The decision appears to be linked to the Principal’s observation that “even that fat child who wets himself is more popular than [me].” I’m no longer allowed to wear the school uniform or attend classes — not that I was anyway. And my good old buddy Gary is responsible… probably.
I took a little break from responsibilities to go out on a date… and smash things. Yes, the lady took me to a warehouse and challenged me to rack up more damage to the merchandise than her. Needless to say, it was fun. The simple pleasure of breaking things was here combined with the challenge of competition, the security of a scoring system, and the delight of winning (money, the challenge/competition, the girl). Why aren’t missions like this more common in video games?
As an added bonus I got to destroy 19 (or was it 18?) tombstones, for the grand prize of an “Edna Mask” — Edna being the lunch-lady at Bullworth Academy. I tried it on for fun right away. I think it has a certain charm.
Next stop was the dropouts hideout. The long journey there was accompanied by some great music. Once I got past their barricade the music changed to something equally delightful, with a funky upbeat bass guitar loop and some electronic music backing. It made the boring and repetitive nature of the level much less of an issue for me. I wasn’t bothered much by having to run from point A to point B, pull a switch, then run on to point C (and so on) because I enjoyed the music; I was in the moment.
This led me inside a chemical plant, with more cool electronic music. At one point I thought I was playing Final Fantasy 7 because of the dark industrial atmosphere and sudden introduction of a fixed camera setup that required me to walk atop massive gas cylinders of varying sizes. I would have actually preferred if a fixed camera system had been implemented for the fight scene that followed. I lost that fight on the first attempt because of the same camera troubles that have plagued me in every busy/fast-paced moment in the game. It really detracts from an otherwise enjoyable experience. I wish Rockstar had put some more time into polishing that camera interface.
It seems I can now hire townies to roll with me. Or, to be more precise, a townie. It seems like I can only get some guy who wears a singlet and is called Henry, but I only ran up to half a dozen people in the area, so I’m not sure. This could have interesting effects on my next rampage, assuming I’m willing to pay the dollar it costs for Henry’s assistance.
Random quote of the day: “I only date older men or junkies. They’re so…romantic.”