Canis Canem Edit (AKA Bully) (PS2)

...(which later became known as Canis Canem Edit when Sony objected to the original title).

GAME INFO.

Genre = Action adventure
Developer = Rockstar Vancouver
Publisher = Rockstar Games
Players = 1 Player
Online = No
Age = 15+
Released = 2006

STORYLINE

The player takes the role of Jimmy Hopkins, a 15 year old boy who has just been enrolled at Bullworth ...
...this dog eat dog (or canis canem edit, if you prefer Latin) world, but propel him to the top!

GRAPHICS

In the main, the graphics are pretty good. The people and places in the game are well drawn and some of the panoramic views available from certain positions on the game map, are really pretty impressive!

The only problem I have with the graphics is that, when on a bike or skateboard and hence travelling ... more

A number of years ago I played Grand Theft Auto on the PSOne and though I liked it, it wasn't until the PS2 incarnations of the game that I got really hooked. Given that I long since finished GTA: San Andreas, I was ready for another GTA fix when I heard about Bully (which later became known as Canis Canem Edit when Sony objected to the original title).

GAME INFO.

Genre = Action adventure
Developer = Rockstar Vancouver
Publisher = Rockstar Games
Players = 1 Player
Online = No
Age = 15+
Released = 2006

STORYLINE

The player takes the role of Jimmy Hopkins, a 15 year old boy who has just been enrolled at Bullworth Academy whilst his mum and her latest husband go on a year long round-the-world cruise. The school is like almost any American High School in films or on TV, with the jocks, nerds, preppies, etc., all in their own cliques. As the new boy, Jimmy is at the bottom of the food chain so, through a variety of missions, the player must not only help Jimmy survive in this dog eat dog (or canis canem edit, if you prefer Latin) world, but propel him to the top!

GRAPHICS

In the main, the graphics are pretty good. The people and places in the game are well drawn and some of the panoramic views available from certain positions on the game map, are really pretty impressive!

The only problem I have with the graphics is that, when on a bike or skateboard and hence travelling quickly, there can be some lag as the PS2 struggles to update the graphics fast enough. Although it's not often a problem, it can be very annoying if, in the middle of a chase or a bike race, you ride straight into an invisible wall!

SOUND

The soundtrack suits itself to the gameplay, with the continuous background music switching during action scenes or after curfew to reflect the mood.

The sound effects are strong too, with different surfaces giving different levels of sound when walked on or ridden over. All the pupils, teachers and townsfolk have their own voices too, all of which are fine. Car engines, fireworks, spud guns, screeching bike tires, it all sounds pretty realistic.

GAMEPLAY

Strong storylines and engaging gameplay are what the GTA franchise is all about and GTA's little brother is no different in that respect. For those not familiar with the GTA franchise, this game is a 3rd person fre-roaming adventure. The controls are simple and easy to get to grips with, with on screen control prompts when performing some action you haven't needed before, e.g. spraying graffiti or playing the carnival games.

To begin with, you are restricted to the school grounds themselves, of which there is enough to allow you a fair bit of exploration right from the off. As you progress through the game, new areas become available for you to explore, starting with Bullworth Town and the wealthier suburb Bullworth Vale, then the seedier side of town - New Coventry and finally Blue Skies Industrial Estate.

Missions:
More or less all the missions are based around Jimmy gaining respect from one clique or another, as with most 15 year old boys, Jimmy wants to gain the respect of the boys and snog the girls! The missions generally involve recovering lost or stolen items from one place/person or another, protecting somebody from bullies, jocks or whoever or targeting members of opposing cliques in various pranks and schemes. The missions are many and varied, so you never feel like you're repeating yourself.

Classes:
Don't forget though, that you're supposed to be at school to learn, so you'll have to attend classes too; English, Chemistry, Art and Gym to begin with, with Photography and Shop later in the game. Of course, it's possible to play truant, but there are school prefects around who, if they can catch you, will drag you to whichever class you're supposed to be in. Likewise, you'll be sent to your room if you're caught out after curfew. Each class is a mini-game, with success unlocking some bonus.

In Chemistry class, you must press the correct buttons as they appear on screen in order to complete the practical correctly, with success unlocking a chemistry kit in your dorm room, which allows you to make fire-crackers, stink bombs and itching powder, depending how many chemistry classes you've completed.

In English class you're presented with a series of letters, from which you must make as many words as possible in the time limit. Success allows you to become more eloquent and thus apologise for minor offences to hall monitors, prefects and ultimately the police.

During Art classes you play a mini-game where you control a cursor moving around a blank tile (think etch-a-sketch). As you draw shapes on the tile, they become filled in with portions of the picture you're "painted". To impede you, there are scissor icons and erasers moving around which, if they collide with you, cause you to lose a life. If you manage to complete enough of the painting (about 70%, I think) without losing all your lives, then you complete your picture of the rather attractive Art teacher, Ms. Phillips. Victory gains you a kissing bonus, whereby you gain bonus health when kissing girls, with a greater bonus and more passionate kisses resulting from each subsequent Art class.

Gym class involves performing wrestling moves, which you'll then be able to perform through the game, or playing dodge-ball, which increases your weapon accuracy.

Shop class is much like Chemistry, but with movements of the analogue sticks thrown in to complicate things. Completion unlocks sequentially better BMXs which are stored in the numerous bike lockers.

Photography class involves travelling to various locations, either around the school or elsewhere or the game map, any taking pictures of various sites or buildings of interest. All you gain for your efforts is greater storage capacity for pictures taken with your camera - I had none stored by the end of the game, so it was a bit pointless really!

Side Missions

There are many things to keep you entertained aside of the main missions. There are bike races, carnival games, go-kart races, boxing matches, arcade games and more. There are also jobs such as lawn mowing and paper rounds (anyone remember Paperboy on the Spectrum or Commodore 64?) and one-off errands to run for pupils, teachers and townsfolk all over the game map.

As with all GTA games, there are also a variety of things to collect, including:
- 75 rubber bands to be found, which unlock a rubber band ball that can be used as a weapon.
- 50 G&G (a non-copyright infringing parody of D&D) cards which unlock the Grotto Master outfit (utterly pointless as far as I can see)
- 6 transistors which are used to persuade the hobo to teach you new fighting moves
- 25 gnomes to smash which unlocks the gnome outfit (yes, another pointless one)

And still there's more...

There are a number (30 odd, from memory) trophies and mementoes to decorate your room with, many of which are earned as a direct result of completing certain missions or classes, but others which can be earned by e.g. smashing all the pumpkins and gravestones on Halloween or won at the carnival.

In short, though it's probably a bit late for that, there's lots to do!

MY OPINION

From playing through the GTA series, I've come to expect massive scope and game length, which CCE just doesn't deliver. Don't get me wrong, there is a decent amount of gameplay to be had for your money, as you'll probably have realised from reading the above, just don't expect GTA-like levels of scale and you won't be disappointed. Other than sheer size, CCE has all the things going for it that have made the GTA series such a massive success. The storyline is well written, with drama and plenty of comedy, as is generally the case with Rockstar Games.

Other than the graphical glitches there isn't much for me to criticise about the game. The only serious bugs are linked to the graphical lag and led to me plummeting into the water a couple of times when riding over a bridge that hadn't appeared yet! I also notices some slow-down when initiating kisses, which I can only assume irritated the ladies as much as it did me! ;-)

My only other gripe is that I felt that the difficulty level wasn't as high as it might have been. I rarely had to replay a mission more than once, I very rarely had to run away from fights even when I was heavily outnumbered and I never felt at all challenged in the boxing matches or bike races. Even so, it's not so easy that it really detracts from the game, but I suppose it would have helped with the longevity if it were slightly more challenging.

PRICE
The RRP is £39.99, but you ought to be able to find it much cheaper. I got mine in the 'Winter Blowout' sale at Amazon, for about £15, though currently it'll cost you £9.99 from there or from £14.50 from Amazon traders. From a quick look at Ebay, it looks like you'd struggle to do much better from there, with new copies going for £16.99 + £2 p&p and probably slightly less for used copies.

If you played the game intensely, you could certainly finish inside 2 weeks, but I got around a month of gameplay from it, which I consider pretty good value for my £15.

For more info check out: http://www.rockstargames.com/bully/home/
 

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