Based on last years’ FlatOut: Ultimate Carnage, the official PSP demo for FlatOut: Head On has been released on the Playstation store. Head On comes equipped with three distinct game modes: Carnage Race, Deathmatch Derby, and one of the classic ragdoll stunts. Each game mode offers a unique play experience that is sure to keep you entertained.
Featuring some of the most destructive hi-octane anarchy in any handheld racing game to date, Head On was released earlier this month for the PSP.
Return to Rockstar’s Bullworth Academy in this update to their 2006 open-world schoolyard adventure. Bully is the story of 15-year-old Jimmy Hopkins, a troublemaker with a penchant for fighting, throwing stink bombs, tripping kids with marbles, stuffing nerds into lockers, and kissing as many schoolmates as possible. His story perfectly embodies what many of us with high school could have been: fun regardless of what class you’re in, who you’re talking to, or what’s going on in the surrounding town.
Bully, like Grand Theft Auto II and its sequels, is a third-person sandbox adventure game. Unlike GTA, however, Jimmy has more to do than run missions for rival gangs. He’s also got to deal with nigh on invincible authority figures like teachers, prefects, and police officers and attending classes. Jimmy’s schedule is pretty full, too. Morning classes run from 9:00 to 11:30 while afternoon classes run from 1:00 to 3:30. By game’s end Jimmy will have attended five session each of Chemistry, English, Gym, Math, Biology, Shop, Geography, Photography, Art, and Music. As each class session is passed Jimmy is rewarded. Passing chemistry nets Jimmy the ability to make firecrackers and stink bombs in his room while performing well in gym results in new fighting moves. Each class is played out as a minigame. Art class is a quick game of Qix, English is a word jumble, and biology is comprised of arcade dissections. The variety is appreciated, and each class ramps up in difficulty enough that you’ll have a genuine sense of accomplishment (and some free time in your day) for completing all five English classes.
While he’s not attending classes Jimmy can take on various missions to advance the story. These missions affect the school’s various cliques’ respect for Jimmy. This affects just how safe it is to walk around certain areas of campus. Lose too much respect with the Greasers and the auto shop area will be full of punches and kicks instead of wrenches and gasoline. On the other hand, if you’re in good with the bullies then they’ll have your back when you get in a fight near the boys’ dorm. Missions are varied in scope and difficulty, but if the mini map marker is a gold star then it serves to advance the narrative. You’ll find RPG character sheets for nerds, recover a stolen diary, clear out a line at the movies, run errands for the lunch lady, and get into plenty of fights along the way.
Jimmy is fairly adept at combat. Even still it’s nice to learn new and more powerful moves. Passing gym classes and making deliveries to the school hobo (ex-Army) will result in Jimmy learning new fighting techniques. When the adventure begins Jimmy is fairly restricted – just punches and grapples. Within a few hours though, he’ll be grappling, hitting twice, driving an opponent to the ground, punching twice more, kneeing the groin, pulling his opponent up, and then delivering a wedgie. Nobody dies, but the loser sure is embarrassed at the end of a fight.
When you’re not in the mood to either advance the story or go to class there are various errands and side jobs to run. These range from breaking into lockers to hide chocolates from a secret admirer to mowing lawns for the residents of Bullworth town. Every errand has a reward, and every side job results in a cash payment. There’s plenty to do in Bully and it’s all worth doing. And if you don’t want to make extra cash you can always hang out at the carnival or find one of the town’s arcade games to whittle away the time until curfew.
Bully: Scholarship Edition is an easy recommendation for fans of sandbox and action games. The writing is good, the mechanics are sound, and regardless of what your task is it’s always fun. Those that played the PS2/Xbox original will find new content and souped up graphics, but this title really shines for those of us that missed out on Jimmy’s adventure the first time.
When Bully was released on the PS2 in 2006, it unleashed the maelstrom of controversy that only a Rockstar-devloped game could. Now, the company has released Bully: Scholarship Edition, an enhanced version of the title, and it carries with it all the provocative content of the original.
The game centers around Jimmy Hopkins, a 15-year-old delinquent, as he settles into life at Bullworth Academy. The Grand Theft Auto-style open world allows players to choose to attend class, head into town or start fights with just about anyone. The “goal” of the game is to climb Bullworth’s social ladder. This can be done by defending nerds from jocks and getting good grades, but it can also be done by beating up more nerds and skipping class with the greasers. Inevitably, though, most situations devolve into a fight.
Bully‘s original graphics are basically passed onto the Wii version, but the title was originally gorgeous and detailed by 2006 standards, so it holds up well. The new motion controls were obviously intended to make Bully an immersive experience, and work well for the most part. They become most prominent during fights, as there’s a Wii Sports-esque system of punching. Sometimes movements aren’t as responsive as they should be, and some actions that would make sense with movement have instead been mapped to buttons. Nevertheless, it does feel like being in a fight, without the obvious danger.
Rockstar has put a lot of work into Bully‘s voice acting, and as a result, the storyline is engaging and funny. Chatter by even minor characters makes the world feel lived-in, and even repetitive dialogue is fairly tolerable.
The classes are presented as minigames, and these have become much more enjoyable with the Wii port. Each consists of a stereotypical class activity, like dissecting a frog or doing simple arithmetic. New classes use motion controls, and though simplistic, they make sense and provide a challenge. Also added are new adventures, including some with a holiday theme.
An obvious issue in many Rockstar games is the lack of polish. The team throws in as much as possible, and little is done to tweak what’s there. The same is true in Bully, but with the sheer volume of content, it’s largely forgivable.
Bully: Scholarship Edition is by no means good enough for Bully owners to buy it again. However, for older Wii owners who missed the 2006 original, it should help make the wait for GTA 4 a bit easier.
Japanese RPGs are becoming harder and harder to find – and with good reason. The RPG genre has moved past many of the traditional eastern mechanics found in JRPGs for no reason other than tradition. Lost Odyssey forces the player to seek out save points, features a horribly clichA
Take Bomberman and cross it with Mario Party and you’ve got Bomberman Land Touch! 2 for Nintendo’s dual screen portable. Adventure Mode, the meat of this title, is shallow and easy. The player moves his bomber around the Bom Bom Kingdom, an amusement park for Bombermen, in order to play minigames against the computer to win coins and other assorted tokens to open up new areas of the park to play new minigames against the computer. Thankfully, Hudson hasn’t forgotten Bomberman’s roots and a classic Battle Mode is included.
Battle Mode is great. It is made even better by Bomberman Land Touch! 2‘s support for single-card multiplayer. As long as your friends each have a DS you can play four-player Bomberman with only one copy of the game. Also featured is Attraction Mode, where you and your friends can play the minigames unlocked in Adventure Mode.
Bomberman Land Touch! 2 looks like a SNES title, and it serves the game well. Bomberman isn’t supposed to be bump mapped and bloomed. Those things detract from the pure, unadulterated fun of blowing up your friends with cartoon bombs. There’s no story, there’s no character development, there’s just bombs, power bombs, and kick boots. And that’s why the Battle Mode is immeasurably more fun that the Adventure Mode. I don’t care about Bom Bom Kingdom. I bought a Bomberman game to blow up Bombermen, preferably controlled by my friends.
Bomberman Land Touch! 2 isn’t Bomberman. The Battle Mode is Bomberman. If you’re looking for a single-player Mario Party knock off then Bomberman Land Touch! 2 is the game for you, but if you just want to play Bomberman then dust off your SNES and plant bombs like you did in years past.
