Jimmy Hopkins, a fifteen year old boy, lays on the back seat of the car with his feet up. He is a typical, rebellious adolescent. He throws some bitchy comments to his stepfather’s head (it could be his grandfather) and that’s where his mom gets in between. She says they will deal with him later, when they get back from their honeymoon, next year…

They drop Jimmy at the entrance of Bullworth Academy. He will be a student at this boarding school with a rigid social structure, where lots of cliques are formed. He better stays out of trouble this time, because he had been thrown out of every other school so far. Well, Jimmy may be though and strong, his heart is in the right place. If he gets in a fight, it’s only to protect the weaker students.

Your first mission is to find the boys dorm and get into your school uniform. When you’re in school, walking around without it isn’t tolerated. On your way over there, you meet Russell, the biggest bully in school. In the dorm, you make your first friend, Gary, a boy determined to take over the school one day. He shows you your room with your desk (to save), your wardrobe with all your bought and received outfits and your bed. Every night, you need to put young Jimmy in bed. If you don’t, his energy will drop and at midnight you will start getting blurry screens. Around two o’clock the poor boy is so tired he faints.

The game shows us the complete year and this way, every season passes by once. In the first of five chapters you spend a lot of time helping the Nerds, recognisable by their green shirt. Since they are too scared to do something there self, they hire you to be their bodyguard. Right from the start it’s clear that the violence in this game is very exaggerated. The fights look cartoony, without blood, dead students or whatever. You can strike, kick and grapple and this way you make combo’s. Your last punch can be a humiliating one. Think of making your rival whine with a chinese burn or spitting in your hand and rubbing it in his face. Your victims stay on the floor for a while and then run off. Moreover, there are not any real weapons in the game. Only object you normally expect in a school: a dust bin, a baseball bat, a cricket bat, balls,… To avoid you running around with a bat the whole game, the developers made it break after you hit five times with the object. There are some bully items like fire crackers, itching powder, a catapult and marbles. Things that remind you of Bart Simpson or Dennis The Menace, funny and pretty innocent.

You have two classes a day: first period at 9h, second period at 13h. There are six courses – chemistry, gym, art, metal, English and photography – with each five levels of difficulty. Actually, they’re minigames. In Chemistry, you have to push the right button at the right moment. In English class you get six characters and you have to form as many words as possible. If you have paid attention and done well in class, this gives you an advantage in the game. For example, if you passed chemistry level 1, you can use the chemistry set on your desk to make M-80s. To become better in apologizing, you’ll have to go to English class. It’s important to be in the classroom in time, otherwise there’s a chance they will catch you as a truant and then you’ll end up at the headmaster’s office.

At each side of the map, you have a meter. Left shows your life meter, right you have the trouble meter. Normally this is completely empty. As soon as you break a school rule, the meter starts to fill and changes colour. Minor things, like being late for class, shows up as a small yellow bar. Giving someone a wedgie is a little worse, so the meter will fill up a little more and turn orange. If you push it even further, for example by trying to kick a teacher in the nuts, then the meter will sky rocket and turn red. Every prefect in school will be after you (or the police when you’re not on school property). You can run, but the easiest thing to do is hide in a locker or dust bin until it’s all over. If you get caught, you will end up in principal Dr. Crabblesnitch’s office. He will take all your items except your skateboard and slingshot. On your third visit to his office, you will get a punishment. In summer, you will have to mow the football pitch (you need to do 80% in three minutes), in winter, you’ll have to shovel the cars out of the snow,… To avoid you turning into a real bully, the punishment stays the same throughout the whole season. In the beginning you might find it fun to act like a party animal and to discover what the punishment will be, but after a few times, it won’t be fun anymore.

However, there is no need to be a pain in the ass. You can interact with everyone you meet, but you always have the choice to be friendly or not. So, you can pinch a girl in her bottom or you can be nice and pick her some flowers. This way, she might even allow you to kiss her. More than kissing isn’t possible. The funniest mission we saw was Panty Raid. After chapter 1, you get access to the town. On one of your walks there, you see the gym teacher walking out an adult shop. You promise to keep it a secret and in return he gives you a great task: collect the laundry in the girls dorm. Not just any laundry, five girls panties to be precise. They are marked with yellow crosses on your map. Don’t think it’s possible to peep at those girls under the shower though. There is no nudity what so ever in this game. If you get to close to the shower, you just get caught.

Other missions vary from shopping for the disgusting cook (she even spits in the food), racing your bike to impress Lola, infiltrating in one of the cliques to destroy a certain plant,… Besides the bullies, there are five cliques in Bullworth Academy: the nerds, the jocks (surrounded by cheerleaders), the greasers (greasy hair, leather jackets), the preppies (rich, posh, arrogant) and the dropouts (found in the industrial part of town). Each mission will make you loose or gain respect points from the different cliques.