Review: Canis Canem Edit game

They say that school is the happiest time of your life. They, of course, are usually your parents, and as with Father Christmas, the Tooth Fairy and the Easter Bunny, they are lying.

In all probability they hated school just as much as you did, and just want to get you out of the house so they can have some fun themselves.

That is where Bully, renamed Canis Canem Edit to hide from the controversy it stirred up in the USA, comes in with its very simple premise: making school fun, and it succeeds with aplomb.

You play Jimmy, a pug ugly Wayne Rooney clone who’s been expelled from every school he’s ever been to. Dropped off by his newly-wed absentee mother at Bullworth Academy, a kind of finishing school for teenage delinquents, and given a whistle-stop tour of the grounds by Georgey, an ADD affected sociopath 11-year-old, it’s up to you to survive.

Whether you choose to turn up to lessons, help or hinder the various warring cliques, or just concentrate on getting into the kind of trouble that would make David Cameron think twice about that hug, it’s all up to you.

Playing like a sort of GTA meets Grange Hill; your arsenal consists of stink bombs, fire crackers and a slingshot. With bullies waiting around every corner and prefects and teachers on the prowl to spoil the fun you’re trying to have, you’ll need to have your wits about you if you want to end up being the biggest fish in the small pond.

Furthermore, the open-ended gameplay is somewhat restricted by the daily timetable, complete with lessons and curfews.

The lessons themselves are surprisingly good fun, each a different mini game that enhances your in game skills, although we found ourselves fraught between turning up or skiving until we got busted and sent to detention. That’s right – in CCE even detention is fun (and not at all how we remember it).

Other nice touches, like the ability to talk to other kids in the school using the L1 button and the joy of just bombing it around on your skateboard make a nice distraction from the hectic mix of lessons and extra-curricular missions, but there’s no avoiding the fact that it’s all a bit easy

In the tutorial, for example, we were introduced to Russell, the toughest bully in school, who to our surprise we were able to beat the stuffing out before we’d even gone to pick up a uniform.

Other letdowns include the music, which is frankly appalling, and there’s no denying that the shadow of GTA looms heavy through the not only the style of CCE, but also its controls, missions and even loading screens.

Despite those slight let downs CCE does remain a real joy to play. A decent storyline and a boundless playfulness means that you never get bored at Bullworth (unlike at real school) and although the 15 hours it takes to complete the game feels a little lightweight there is no avoiding the fact that this is another excellent piece of work from Rockstar.

The PS2 might be an old dog, but with Canis Canem Edit it shows that it’s still got tricks to teach, and with no GTA out this Christmas CCE deserves to clean up with kids of all ages.

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