Critical response[edit]

Bully reception

Aggregate score

Aggregator Score

Metacritic 87/100[14]

Review scores

Publication Score

1Up.com A+[15]

GameSpot 8.7/10[17]

[16]
GamesRadar+

IGN 8.9/10[18]

[19]
X-Play

Bully received "generally favorable" reviews from critics, according to review aggregator Metacritic.[14]

Hyper's Daniel Wilks commends the game for its "clever script, some novel missions, and well
constructed characters". However, he criticised it for "time dilation, dodgy camera, and generic mini-
games".[20]
As of 12 March 2008, the PlayStation 2 version of Bully had sold 1.5 million copies according
to Take-Two Interactive.[21][22]

Remaster[edit]
Bully: Scholarship Edition reception

Aggregate score

Score
Aggregator
PC Wii Xbox 360

Metacritic 72/100[23] 83/100[24] 80/100[25]

Review scores

Score
Publication
PC Wii Xbox 360

1Up.com C-[26] A-[27] B-[28]

 GameSpot 6/10[35] 8/10[33] 7/10[34]

[32]
GamesRadar+ N/A N/A

IGN 7.8/10[29] 8.0/10[31] 8.7/10[30]

X-Play N/A 4/5[36] N/A

Bully: Scholarship Edition was released on 4 March 2008 for Wii and Xbox 360, and 21 October
2008 for Microsoft Windows. According to Metacritic, the Wii and Xbox 360 versions received
"generally favorable reviews", while the PC version received "mixed or average reviews".[23][24]
[25]
 IGN gave the Wii version an 8/10,[37] while the Xbox 360 version received 8.7/10.[38] 1UP.com gave
the Wii version an A- grade[27] and the Xbox 360 version a B- grade.[28] Gameplasma gave the Wii
version a 9/10.[39] The PC version, however, received mixed reviews ranging from a "Good" rating of
7.8 from IGN[40] to a C- from 1UP.com[41] who called it "[a] shoddy, untimely port that, inexplicably –
considering its ridiculously long port time – feels like a rush job." GameSpot later rated it with a "fair"
rating of 6.0,[42] calling it "[a] lazy porting job [which] hinders Bully's classic classroom hijinks".
The Xbox 360 version of Bully: Scholarship Edition was found to be unstable on some players'
consoles, resulting in glitches, crashes and performance issues. On 20 March, a patch was
released,[43] but there were reports claiming that the problems continued or worsened.[44] When
the Windows 10 version was released in July 2015, many users reported constant crashes and
errors; many of these problems were addressed by an unofficial patch released by a fan.[45]

Awards[edit]
 Won GameSpot's award for Best Original Music.[46]
 Finalist for GameSpot's Game of the Year 2006.[47]
 Gaming Target – 52 Games We'll Still Be Playing From 2006 selection.[48]
 In 2010, the game was included as one of the titles in the book 1001 Video Games You
Must Play Before You Die.[49]
 Bully: Scholarship Edition was nominated for the Best Voice Acting award for an Xbox
360 game at IGN's Best of 2008 awards.[50]
 The PlayStation 2 version of Bully received a "Platinum" sales award from
the Entertainment and Leisure Software Publishers Association (ELSPA),[51] indicating
sales of at least 300,000 copies in the United Kingdom.[52]

Controversy[edit]
Bully's title and gameplay features inspired controversy among parents and educators who noted the
adult content in previous Rockstar games, including the Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas Hot
Coffee minigame controversy. Groups such as Bullying Online and Peaceaholics criticized the game
for glorifying or trivializing school bullying, although they raised their objections before the game was
released to the public. The player may also choose to kiss select girls and boys in the game, which
the ESRB was aware of when rating the product.[53] Classification boards generally restricted Bully to
a teenage audience: the United States-based Entertainment Software Rating Board (ESRB)
classified the game with a T rating,[54] the British Board of Film Classification gave it a 15 rating,
the Australian Classification Board rated it M,[55] and the New Zealand OFLC restricted it to persons
13 years of age and over.
In 2007, Yahoo! Games listed it as one of the top ten most controversial games of all time.[56]
Censorship