With everyone hyped up on Grand Theft Auto IV right now I thought I’d jump back a bit and yammer on about a Wii game from the same company: Bully – The Scholarship Edition

Take the core game play concepts of the Grant Theft Auto games where the flawed lead character has to fight his way to the top to succeed, remix it into the microcosm of a run down private school and it translates surprisingly well. Our bitter, eternally scowling hero, Jimmy, is dumped at the gates of Bullworth Academy and is immediately faced with fight or flight decisions.

Graphic violence? Check. Smart alec writing? Got it. Misogynistic portrayal of women? Certainement! Minigames that take the best of Cooking Mama, Wii Sport and Big Brain Academy and tie them in seamlessly with the story/game action? Yes!Yes!Yes!*

Would I let my 14 year old kid play it? Not without a stern talk beforehand. Any younger, I’d probably balk at it. But that’s where my parenting skills come into play, I guess. Yes the game glorifies violent behaviour, but by 14 you’ve been exposed to a lot worse on TV. Let alone in the school yards we send them off to… Ultimately I don’t have kids and the average age of gamers these days is 33, so this whole argument is moot to me and how I conduct myself in public.

I’m glad they fixed the glitches found in the Xbox versions and added smart Wii controller integration (nunchuck/Wiimote combos that are unlocked as you interact with the school’s freaks and geeks), but the graphics are definitely not sumptuous. But it’s the Wii – it’s forgiven for highly interactive game play.

And take this as you may, either homophobic of homocapable, there is school boy on school boy action, nicknamed “Mild Tea” (a nod to the Hot Coffee hack in GTA San Andreas):

*Zanta reference.