This or That: Bully Vs. Grand Theft Auto

I like to think of this as a battle of aesthetic over gameplay. Bully and the Grand Theft Auto series are both made by Rockstar, and both have the same general gameplay. But while each game has you in open world environments, completing a series of missions, GTA has all the charm of a rock compared to Bully's ability to make you weak in the knees like Zooey Deschanel.

I bought Grand Theft Auto 3 and didn't play it. I bought Vice City and didn't play it. I bought San Andreas and got about halfway through before getting bored and giving up. I bought Liberty City Stories and Vice City Stories and have yet to play them. But when I bought Bully, I played that game straight through to completion before even thinking about playing another game.

So why does Grand Theft Schoolyard have so much more appeal to me than the series it's pretty much modeled after? Bully is Zooey Deschanel, and Grand Theft Auto is Paris Hilton. Sure, Paris is technically attractive, but she doesn't have the charm of Zooey.

The Grand Theft Auto series has always placed you in the feet of some low-life thug, be it in the 90s, 80s, or 2000s. You're usually tasked with working your way up the ranks of whatever crime organisation you work for, and while that can be fun, I've always found them to drag on a little bit too long.

Bully remedied that by keeping the world smaller, and the story more concise. And I can relate to a tale of school shenanigans much more than I can a mafia or gang-related one. So, is the aesthetic of a game more important than the actual gameplay?

I know a lot of people had problems justifying the level of violence in Grand Theft Auto 4 because they felt that the main character was a good person in a bad situation. Sure, not everyone is as worn out on the GTA series as I am -- and that could be another reason why Bully went over better for me -- but couldn't the seedy criminal underbelly type of stories give many people a much different view of the game than the fun school antics of Bully?

I believe the answer is a resounding yes. Just like in other forms of media, people don't like something just because it excels in one specific area. Any number of factors could turn someone off to a movie or album, and I think that's exactly what happened for me with the GTA series.

I've had plenty of fun acting like someone I would never fathom of being in real life while playing Grand Theft Auto games. I've smiled and enjoyed myself while fighting for gang territory in San Andreas, but it doesn't last for nearly as long as the game does. Eventually, I grow tired of the aesthetic of a virtual life of crime, and it takes me out of the story. With Bully, I enjoyed seeing what goofy pranks I'd be pulling next, and it made me even more invested in the storyline. So let's hope game developers get more creative about where they set their games, because I think people might be getting bored with the plight of the space marine.

You can read more of my writing on music, movies, and more at Cerebral Pop.

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Andrew Hiscock

April 22, 2010

BUlly is one of my favorites of all time. Not too interested in GTA from a content perspective, but Bully...man, they did so many good things with that game.

Gerren LaQuint Fisher

Bully fits I think into my slot for second favorite Rockstar Game. Taking their sense of humor into a school setting was pretty good. Only gripe not camera related maybe might have been classes....could have done more with that but otherwise I take it over most GTAs (really most open world games.)

Alex Gagne

I think Bully (and San Andreas) is proof that Rockstar games are better the sillier and less constrained by reality they are. I also think that having a smaller open world gives them the ability to make it much more detailed and content packed than they would be able to otherwise.

Coupling the above with sky high writing and voice acting -- and extremely varied missions -- Bully is my pick for best Rockstar game. So far, anyway.

Jonathan Sutyak

April 23, 2010

You say you are worn out on GTA but it sounds like half of San Andreas is all you've played. It was overwhelmingly large so half is a good chunk of play time, though it still doesn't seem like enough to tire of a whole series :) Bully does have a lot more charm which got me to play through the game on Xbox 360 even after completing it on PS2. Perhaps a grown-up Jimmy will one day make an appearance in GTA.

Alex R. Cronk-Young

April 24, 2010

@Jonathan - Yeah, I probably shouldn't have said worn out, but that they didn't draw me in. I played every one of the GTA games I listed as owning but gave up after only a short time, except San Andreas. I think I may have gotten to 20% or so in Liberty City Stories. So, it's more a case of them not keeping my attention or drawing me into their worlds like Bully did.

I guess I said worn out because at this point I don't really care to pick up another GTA after 5 of them failed to keep me invested until the end.

Kevin John Frank

May 02, 2010

Wow. When I considered doing this writing challenge these were the two series/games I was going to compare. I would have come to the same conclusion as well. I am glad someone here decided to "This or That" them.

Bully utilized the Rockstar formula in a more effective and ultimately more fun way than any of the GTA games although San Andreas comes closer than the others. I would buy another Bully-type game in a heartbeat. I can't say the same of GTA especially if the series continued to play like 4.