Post by vandersi16 on Dec 6, 2006 15:16:34 GMT
You play as young hoodlum Jimmy Hopkins, who's managed to get himself expelled from every school he's ever been to. Dumped at shifty boarding school Bullworth Academy, by his honey-mooning mother, Jimmy is left to fend against the thralls of bullies, nerds and teachers stalking the halls looking for fresh students to give a hard time.
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Just as GTAIII did with its sprawling metropolis, Canis's objective is to create a (cliché alert) "living, breathing" school - and Rockstar has done a good job. Everything you'd expect is there; the dorms, playground, football field, cafeteria and toilets that you'd rather fill your trousers than use.
But it's the students that bring a believable feeling to Bullworth's campus; it's a significant advance over what we've seen in Grand Theft Auto, as every student has their own name, voice personality and story to tell - and there are over a hundred of them.
This way when you spot someone in the halls you immediately know "that's the fat kid who whets himself," or "better dodge him - he's mates with the big lad."
Another thing redeeming the school day spirit is Canis' embrace of social segregation; something we remember well back when we were last picked for the after-school kick around. There are six social-groups in Bullworth Academy; jocks, nerds, greasers, preppies, townies and bullies. Help them out in missions and you'll gain their favour, and they'll save you with a few well-place rugby tackles when you're in a fight. Piss them off and you'll have the reverse effect.
The structure is similar to GTA, although admittedly less open-ended. At first you're free to run around campus and get up to whatever mischief you like, as a clock in the top left of your HUD (shock, horror) indicates the time. Missions are shown on your mini-map as yellow stars, some of which progress the story and other which are more like fun distractions.
One minute you could be escorting a nerd to the library, the next you're having a bike race with some preps, and then you're pot-shotting football players from a tree. One of our favourites is the Halloween mission which tasks you with performing various pranks around school campus. Complete them all and you're offered the chance to pull off the "big prank," which involves a dog, raw meat and a flaming bag of turds.
Canis Canem Edit also requires you to turn up to lessons like a good student. These show up on your your mini-map at relevant lesson times and if you bunk off them the prefects will haul you into class on first site.
But unlike the schoolwork we can remember, Canis' lesson comes in the form of rather-enjoyable mini-games, our favourite of which is the English class' 'make as many words as you can from these five letters...' challenges.
But it just wouldn't be a Rockstar game without some punch-ups; combat mechanics see punches executed using the square button, grabs with triangle and - when your opponent's health is low - taunt moves with circle, our favourite of which is the spit-on-hand-and-rub-in-enemy's-face manoeuvre.
In addition there's also an arsenal of playground weapons at your disposal. No shotguns on offer but think stink bombs, fire crackers, marbles and the ever-classic slingshot.
You can also learn new techniques from the crazed Vietnam tramp living behind the school bus - another of member of Canis' crazy cast of characters.
Cut-scenes are suitably amusing with plenty of witty dialogue and in-jokes liberally scattered throughout. Most of our favourite lines come from the preppies; "beat him back to the ghetto!", "After I beat your arse I'm gonna have your dad fired!" etc
Moving past the first chapter you're given access to the neighbouring town, which dwarfs the Bullworth campus entirely. There are plenty of things to see and do; a barber shop to get a new hair cut, a tailer, various shops and a boxing club to throw punches in Punch Out! Style mini-game.
While comparatively lacking in scope, Rockstar has taken bounds in making Canis' world more interactive than the sometimes-lifeless corners of GTA's locale. It's carefully stepped away from car-jacking and police chases, but there are bikes to ride, your own skateboard to pull-off tricks with and little touches that bring a pulse to the environment, like footballs to kick, playable 3D arcade games and spray-painting mini-games aplenty.
At the end of the (school) day, this is a fairly linear adventure. There's a breadth of things to see and do but gameplay freedom never quite reaches true sandbox gameplay, but then that's what lets Canis' plethora of personable features become a reality; a little confinement to bring a little personality and structure to the world.
Our main criticism is that despite having a solid social-system that lets you gain and lose respect with whichever groups you like, missions ultimately govern where your social points go as you're ordered to help out a nerd or beat up a jock to progress the story. We would've liked a little more freedom.
But yes - it's excellent. The combat system is wonderful, the characters are as compelling as ever and there's a running theme of incest amongst the upper classes. You couldn't ask for much more from an adventure game, really
__
If u like GTA i advise u to get this game its Brilliant
Advertisement:
Just as GTAIII did with its sprawling metropolis, Canis's objective is to create a (cliché alert) "living, breathing" school - and Rockstar has done a good job. Everything you'd expect is there; the dorms, playground, football field, cafeteria and toilets that you'd rather fill your trousers than use.
But it's the students that bring a believable feeling to Bullworth's campus; it's a significant advance over what we've seen in Grand Theft Auto, as every student has their own name, voice personality and story to tell - and there are over a hundred of them.
This way when you spot someone in the halls you immediately know "that's the fat kid who whets himself," or "better dodge him - he's mates with the big lad."
Another thing redeeming the school day spirit is Canis' embrace of social segregation; something we remember well back when we were last picked for the after-school kick around. There are six social-groups in Bullworth Academy; jocks, nerds, greasers, preppies, townies and bullies. Help them out in missions and you'll gain their favour, and they'll save you with a few well-place rugby tackles when you're in a fight. Piss them off and you'll have the reverse effect.
The structure is similar to GTA, although admittedly less open-ended. At first you're free to run around campus and get up to whatever mischief you like, as a clock in the top left of your HUD (shock, horror) indicates the time. Missions are shown on your mini-map as yellow stars, some of which progress the story and other which are more like fun distractions.
One minute you could be escorting a nerd to the library, the next you're having a bike race with some preps, and then you're pot-shotting football players from a tree. One of our favourites is the Halloween mission which tasks you with performing various pranks around school campus. Complete them all and you're offered the chance to pull off the "big prank," which involves a dog, raw meat and a flaming bag of turds.
Canis Canem Edit also requires you to turn up to lessons like a good student. These show up on your your mini-map at relevant lesson times and if you bunk off them the prefects will haul you into class on first site.
But unlike the schoolwork we can remember, Canis' lesson comes in the form of rather-enjoyable mini-games, our favourite of which is the English class' 'make as many words as you can from these five letters...' challenges.
But it just wouldn't be a Rockstar game without some punch-ups; combat mechanics see punches executed using the square button, grabs with triangle and - when your opponent's health is low - taunt moves with circle, our favourite of which is the spit-on-hand-and-rub-in-enemy's-face manoeuvre.
In addition there's also an arsenal of playground weapons at your disposal. No shotguns on offer but think stink bombs, fire crackers, marbles and the ever-classic slingshot.
You can also learn new techniques from the crazed Vietnam tramp living behind the school bus - another of member of Canis' crazy cast of characters.
Cut-scenes are suitably amusing with plenty of witty dialogue and in-jokes liberally scattered throughout. Most of our favourite lines come from the preppies; "beat him back to the ghetto!", "After I beat your arse I'm gonna have your dad fired!" etc
Moving past the first chapter you're given access to the neighbouring town, which dwarfs the Bullworth campus entirely. There are plenty of things to see and do; a barber shop to get a new hair cut, a tailer, various shops and a boxing club to throw punches in Punch Out! Style mini-game.
While comparatively lacking in scope, Rockstar has taken bounds in making Canis' world more interactive than the sometimes-lifeless corners of GTA's locale. It's carefully stepped away from car-jacking and police chases, but there are bikes to ride, your own skateboard to pull-off tricks with and little touches that bring a pulse to the environment, like footballs to kick, playable 3D arcade games and spray-painting mini-games aplenty.
At the end of the (school) day, this is a fairly linear adventure. There's a breadth of things to see and do but gameplay freedom never quite reaches true sandbox gameplay, but then that's what lets Canis' plethora of personable features become a reality; a little confinement to bring a little personality and structure to the world.
Our main criticism is that despite having a solid social-system that lets you gain and lose respect with whichever groups you like, missions ultimately govern where your social points go as you're ordered to help out a nerd or beat up a jock to progress the story. We would've liked a little more freedom.
But yes - it's excellent. The combat system is wonderful, the characters are as compelling as ever and there's a running theme of incest amongst the upper classes. You couldn't ask for much more from an adventure game, really
__
If u like GTA i advise u to get this game its Brilliant
