This or That: Bully Vs. Grand Theft Auto

I like to think of this as a battle of aesthetic over gameplay. Bully and the Grand Theft Auto series are both made by Rockstar, and both have the same general gameplay. But while each game has you in open world environments, completing a series of missions, GTA has all the charm of a rock compared to Bully's ability to make you weak in the knees like Zooey Deschanel.

I bought Grand Theft Auto 3 and didn't play it. I bought Vice City and didn't play it. I bought San Andreas and got about halfway through before getting bored and giving up. I bought Liberty City Stories and Vice City Stories and have yet to play them. But when I bought Bully, I played that game straight through to completion before even thinking about playing another game.

So why does Grand Theft Schoolyard have so much more appeal to me than the series it's pretty much modeled after? Bully is Zooey Deschanel, and Grand Theft Auto is Paris Hilton. Sure, Paris is technically attractive, but she doesn't have the charm of Zooey.

The Grand Theft Auto series has always placed you in the feet of some low-life thug, be it in the 90s, 80s, or 2000s. You're usually tasked with working your way up the ranks of whatever crime organisation you work for, and while that can be fun, I've always found them to drag on a little bit too long.

Bully remedied that by keeping the world smaller, and the story more concise. And I can relate to a tale of school shenanigans much more than I can a mafia or gang-related one. So, is the aesthetic of a game more important than the actual gameplay?

I know a lot of people had problems justifying the level of violence in Grand Theft Auto 4 because they felt that the main character was a good person in a bad situation. Sure, not everyone is as worn out on the GTA series as I am — and that could be another reason why Bully went over better for me — but couldn't the seedy criminal underbelly type of stories give many people a much different view of the game than the fun school antics of Bully?

I believe the answer is a resounding yes. Just like in other forms of media, people don't like something just because it excels in one specific area. Any number of factors could turn someone off to a movie or album, and I think that's exactly what happened for me with the GTA series.

I've had plenty of fun acting like someone I would never fathom of being in real life while playing Grand Theft Auto games. I've smiled and enjoyed myself while fighting for gang territory in San Andreas, but it doesn't last for nearly as long as the game does. Eventually, I grow tired of the aesthetic of a virtual life of crime, and it takes me out of the story. With Bully, I enjoyed seeing what goofy pranks I'd be pulling next, and it made me even more invested in the storyline. So let's hope game developers get more creative about where they set their games, because I think people might be getting bored with the plight of the space marine.

You can read more of my writing on music, movies, and more at Cerebral Pop.