Canis Canem Edit (or “Bully” as it is known in America) is a game made by Rockstar after their great success with Grand Theft Auto. It is similar in gameplay and content to Grand Theft Auto and also in its controversial aura. Rockstar where fairly smart in the development of this game – not trying to make a game that would try to have the almost-impossible task of surpassing their previous release, but also using this as an opportunity to create a fun, alternate game which could have also been used to develop ideas and developments for their future number one game, Grand Theft Auto.
The game starts when the main character, troublesome student, Jimmy, is dropped-off at a boarding school by his parents and is forced to attend. Here the story begins to unfold and in the beginning of the game you have missions which you can go to and progress with the storyline with the theme of this game you are forced to go to lessons at certain times, which is monitored by a clock in the corner of the screen.
The different classes are a nice touch, for instance; in Chemistry class you must press the right buttons in the current sequence as shown on screen to make the right formula, in Art class there is a popular mini-game which helps you create a beautiful painting, in Gym class you play dodge ball which is a good mini-game in itself and when you unlock the ability to leave the school grounds you can go to the town gym and play my favourite mini-game; the boxing match, these are just some of the great features of the game.
When you are out of lessons and roaming around the school grounds you find yourself interacting and sometimes even confronting different stereotypes of students; the Geeks, the Bullies, the Jocks, the Townies, the Preppies the Greasers. As you find yourself in situations with these characters you will quite frequently find yourself in fights with groups of these.
Up until now the fighting system in the Rockstar Games (Grand Theft Auto in particular) has always been somewhat below-par, especially in comparison to the rest of the game, but in Canis Canem Edit the fighting/combat system is great, I might even say my favourite of all Rockstar games and in my opinion even rivals that of the newest Grand Theft Auto 4.
In this game you have so many possibilities when fighting as well as learning new combos, you can punch, kick and grapple, you can also attack when running, mount and attack someone on the floor and grab and throw attackers into the wall or into each other with realistic impact. The students you have brawls with also give you a real sense of getting into a fight with them, as they aren’t push-overs as in some other Rockstar games and put up a formidable brawl.
All of this and I haven’t even discussed the storyline – as you would expect from a Rockstar game the storyline is solid as well as lots of nice features and their own brand of humour, nice graphics, unique and wacky characters, as well as a different mission awaiting your character at every turn.
Although Canis Canem Edit maybe a one-off game and doesn’t try to live up to live up to it’s more successful counterpart, it can still be considered a fun game to have along side Grand Theft Auto – which due to it’s vast success, maybe the game that all Rockstar games are compared to.
How helpful would this review be to a person making a buying decision? Rating guidelines
As a troublesome schoolboy, you`ll laugh and cringe as you stand up to bullies, get ... more
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...
Postage & Packaging: £1.95 Availability: Usually dispatched within 1-2 business days...
Advantages: Great fun, excellent controls, superb characters and scripting, enjoyable missions Disadvantages: Slight graphical issues, not as long as previous Rockstar games
Jul 28th, 2009
very helpful by (100%):
