This review contains spoilers
For personal reference more than anything else.
Fourth time playing through this game (third time playing the original version and second time playing it on PS4).
I love this game, I was pretty sure of that going in and this playthrough truly solidified it. Starting was a little awkward as I noticed that the camera was pretty bad and Jimmy felt a little awkward to control, I almost considered leaving it and waiting to get Scholarship Edition again as I felt that might not be as bad but within a couple of hours I had already come back to it as I figured that I would get used to it and I mostly did. Bike races were sort of painful to do as the tracks were quite narrow and I straight up could not see where I was supposed to be going at times because of the camera but everything else felt fine.
This is one of my favourite worlds in a game as it feels sort of alive, there's a ton of stuff to do and interact with (with the majority of it being fun) and the characters that populate the school are memorable due to their distinct appearances, quotes and even the fact that they have names. While I don't know literally everyone, I do know a fair chunk of them and it felt so cool just being able to see characters out and about and be able to go "oh look at Algie trying to pick a fight with Trent" and that's another thing, this feels like one of the few games I've played where NPCs feel like they can basically do half of what you can do (using items like firecrackers, making out with each other and getting into fights). I can just be wandering around the school and usually come across some interesting event to watch.
And one of the funniest things to me is that I barely even register about half of the world, once New Coventry opens up I don't really care as much about the new areas, even the towns aren't the biggest deal to me but I do admit it is fun to go doing whatever in a town while Jimmy's supposed to be in class. The school is not really that big compared to a lot of areas in other games but it doesn't need to be, the characters make it and then the ways you can interact with it only adds to it, starting food fights in the cafeteria, shoving students and prefects in lockers and creating panics when pulling the fire alarm. It feels difficult to me to say the world feels truly alive as it is common to hear repeated lines, see glitches and all that but even those aspects I kind of enjoy as they can usually be quite fun, but other than those the world does feel alive for a game world I think.
Classes are another aspect to the game which could've probably sucked but just don't and not only are mostly enjoyable but also really impacted how I played the game as I would lightly plan doing missions around classes and even play truant some times just to get that experience. I think something I've noticed is that while this game is an action-adventure or whatever, I think it manages to hit the simulation genre as well as the whole going to school and doing school things aspect was really good. As for the classes themselves though, I think that basically all of them are at the very least decent whether that comes from the minigame attached or the reward for doing them. English, Chemistry and Shop were probably my favourites as the first two were really fun and it felt great to get better and better bikes from doing the shop classes. Art is kind of weird and I'm not entirely sure that I like the minigame but the rewards are useful, Photography is kind of dull to me and most of the rewards don't matter to me but I do quite like the yearbook thing and Gym is kind of fun if a little easy when doing the dodgeball matches (I think I was a lot more into it when I was younger) and I like the wrestling classes as along with the 'A Little Help' missions its quite useful to learn new combat moves in this game. I will say that its something that SE improved but I do think there only being six classes in this game was maybe a little too low and I did wish that there were more.
Speaking about combat though, its kind of boring to begin with but as Jimmy learns new moves it gets better even if its mostly just a case of hitting square a couple of times, holding it and then just kicking whoever when they're down. It feels kind of slow almost and I actually quite like it. Its not as though melee is the only way to fight enemies in the game as there's various items to use that are mostly fun to use, throwing a firecracker at something will never get old to me, putting down marbles while being chased is useful and fun and its a special moment anytime I get one of those firework volcano things.
Now the story was something I think I was paying more attention to then usual this time around and its fine but not particularly paced well I think, things just happen and a bit too quickly most of the time. It gets pretty bad in the last two chapters as Chapter 4, while mostly decent and kind of neat to see two cliques focused on for once just felt like it sped by and didn't focus on the jocks enough. Chapter 5 on the other hand was trying to do too much in one chapter and I think it would've been better if it had been split into two chapters with Jimmy being top of the school and his eventual downfall leading to his expulsion being Chapter 5 and then him getting to know Zoe and the townies, then him taking the school from Gary being Chapter 6.
Most of the chapters are good though as they usually give a bit of insight as to how each clique works but something I think could have really worked was if there were more missions that allowed you to get to know various members of the cliques as optional content. As it stands, optional missions seem to cover the Galloway & Hattrick storyline, two missions for each girl from a clique and certain characters getting a mission or two (Algie, Edna, Ms Phillips). I think too much of the focus on each chapter is spent on the leader of the group and then like one or two other members which makes sense but I think more time with other characters could have gotten the player even more attached to the characters in the game.
The main characters are another weak point for me as Jimmy is kind of interesting and I like his 'fighting for the little guy' thing and the fact that he's not a completely moral character but I think the game doesn't really know what to do with him as his level of intelligence doesn't really feel consistent throughout the game. It seems like one aspect of his personality is that he's easily manipulated and in that respect kind of dumb (him thinking that Gary was actually his friend until the end of Chapter 1 is... interesting), but he also feels like he's supposed to be a little smart with some of the plans he comes up with and how he views the people and world around him. Gary isn't a great character and the game stating that the reason he is the way he is is just that he has A.D.D and is off his meds is kinda shit. But I think he's such an entertaining arsehole and I kinda love that his reasoning for why he does what he does is just 'because I can and its funny'. Petey feels kind of true to his character as he fades into the background, unfortunately though that's not great for a character to me and I just didn't really care about him or even really remember him when he wasn't on screen. The rest of the characters are a mixed bag with some of my favourites being, Algie, Christy, Beatrice, Johnny, Lola and Trent.
This being a game from 2006 and a Rockstar game at that means that this game isn't really afraid to do and say what it wants. A lot of things can be chalked up to things being more acceptable at the time or making sense as this is a game filled with people who really aren't nice or good people, so of course they're going to do shitty things in general or to each other (Cook's Date, Paparazzi/Discretion Assured, Panty Raid). There are some things that a bit much I think, even with the previous reasons in mind (some things that were a bit much including some or all of those examples of missions) but I don't really know enough to properly talk about but it usually just felt either uncomfortable or kind of gross. There's also a lot (and I mean a lot) of homophobia in the game which makes sense and feels realistic for the setting but it did get kind of annoying after a while as its sort of insulting and repetitive. Something that I did really like though was the ability for Jimmy to make out with other guys in the game as not only is it a welcome surprise from a game like this, I also think that being able to do this kinda helped me be able to accept my own sexuality more when I was growing up (in some way at least) as the game just treats it as normal (somewhat).
On to something more positive, the soundtrack to this game is one of my favourites in gaming, it may be from it just being really good and hearing a lot of it over the years but there are so many great tracks and throughout this replay none of it ever got annoying. The game is also quite funny and there are many lines or moments that I always remember and look forward to hearing or seeing whenever I play this game.
Overall, its not a perfect game at all and I have my fair share of problems with it but I just can't help but love this game. It feels so unique and its just incredibly fun to play whether its doing missions, side activities or just fucking about in the world. I had a fantastic time coming back to this game and I really feel comfortable calling it one of my favourite games of all time.
Fourth time playing through this game (third time playing the original version and second time playing it on PS4).
I love this game, I was pretty sure of that going in and this playthrough truly solidified it. Starting was a little awkward as I noticed that the camera was pretty bad and Jimmy felt a little awkward to control, I almost considered leaving it and waiting to get Scholarship Edition again as I felt that might not be as bad but within a couple of hours I had already come back to it as I figured that I would get used to it and I mostly did. Bike races were sort of painful to do as the tracks were quite narrow and I straight up could not see where I was supposed to be going at times because of the camera but everything else felt fine.
This is one of my favourite worlds in a game as it feels sort of alive, there's a ton of stuff to do and interact with (with the majority of it being fun) and the characters that populate the school are memorable due to their distinct appearances, quotes and even the fact that they have names. While I don't know literally everyone, I do know a fair chunk of them and it felt so cool just being able to see characters out and about and be able to go "oh look at Algie trying to pick a fight with Trent" and that's another thing, this feels like one of the few games I've played where NPCs feel like they can basically do half of what you can do (using items like firecrackers, making out with each other and getting into fights). I can just be wandering around the school and usually come across some interesting event to watch.
And one of the funniest things to me is that I barely even register about half of the world, once New Coventry opens up I don't really care as much about the new areas, even the towns aren't the biggest deal to me but I do admit it is fun to go doing whatever in a town while Jimmy's supposed to be in class. The school is not really that big compared to a lot of areas in other games but it doesn't need to be, the characters make it and then the ways you can interact with it only adds to it, starting food fights in the cafeteria, shoving students and prefects in lockers and creating panics when pulling the fire alarm. It feels difficult to me to say the world feels truly alive as it is common to hear repeated lines, see glitches and all that but even those aspects I kind of enjoy as they can usually be quite fun, but other than those the world does feel alive for a game world I think.
Classes are another aspect to the game which could've probably sucked but just don't and not only are mostly enjoyable but also really impacted how I played the game as I would lightly plan doing missions around classes and even play truant some times just to get that experience. I think something I've noticed is that while this game is an action-adventure or whatever, I think it manages to hit the simulation genre as well as the whole going to school and doing school things aspect was really good. As for the classes themselves though, I think that basically all of them are at the very least decent whether that comes from the minigame attached or the reward for doing them. English, Chemistry and Shop were probably my favourites as the first two were really fun and it felt great to get better and better bikes from doing the shop classes. Art is kind of weird and I'm not entirely sure that I like the minigame but the rewards are useful, Photography is kind of dull to me and most of the rewards don't matter to me but I do quite like the yearbook thing and Gym is kind of fun if a little easy when doing the dodgeball matches (I think I was a lot more into it when I was younger) and I like the wrestling classes as along with the 'A Little Help' missions its quite useful to learn new combat moves in this game. I will say that its something that SE improved but I do think there only being six classes in this game was maybe a little too low and I did wish that there were more.
Speaking about combat though, its kind of boring to begin with but as Jimmy learns new moves it gets better even if its mostly just a case of hitting square a couple of times, holding it and then just kicking whoever when they're down. It feels kind of slow almost and I actually quite like it. Its not as though melee is the only way to fight enemies in the game as there's various items to use that are mostly fun to use, throwing a firecracker at something will never get old to me, putting down marbles while being chased is useful and fun and its a special moment anytime I get one of those firework volcano things.
Now the story was something I think I was paying more attention to then usual this time around and its fine but not particularly paced well I think, things just happen and a bit too quickly most of the time. It gets pretty bad in the last two chapters as Chapter 4, while mostly decent and kind of neat to see two cliques focused on for once just felt like it sped by and didn't focus on the jocks enough. Chapter 5 on the other hand was trying to do too much in one chapter and I think it would've been better if it had been split into two chapters with Jimmy being top of the school and his eventual downfall leading to his expulsion being Chapter 5 and then him getting to know Zoe and the townies, then him taking the school from Gary being Chapter 6.
Most of the chapters are good though as they usually give a bit of insight as to how each clique works but something I think could have really worked was if there were more missions that allowed you to get to know various members of the cliques as optional content. As it stands, optional missions seem to cover the Galloway & Hattrick storyline, two missions for each girl from a clique and certain characters getting a mission or two (Algie, Edna, Ms Phillips). I think too much of the focus on each chapter is spent on the leader of the group and then like one or two other members which makes sense but I think more time with other characters could have gotten the player even more attached to the characters in the game.
The main characters are another weak point for me as Jimmy is kind of interesting and I like his 'fighting for the little guy' thing and the fact that he's not a completely moral character but I think the game doesn't really know what to do with him as his level of intelligence doesn't really feel consistent throughout the game. It seems like one aspect of his personality is that he's easily manipulated and in that respect kind of dumb (him thinking that Gary was actually his friend until the end of Chapter 1 is... interesting), but he also feels like he's supposed to be a little smart with some of the plans he comes up with and how he views the people and world around him. Gary isn't a great character and the game stating that the reason he is the way he is is just that he has A.D.D and is off his meds is kinda shit. But I think he's such an entertaining arsehole and I kinda love that his reasoning for why he does what he does is just 'because I can and its funny'. Petey feels kind of true to his character as he fades into the background, unfortunately though that's not great for a character to me and I just didn't really care about him or even really remember him when he wasn't on screen. The rest of the characters are a mixed bag with some of my favourites being, Algie, Christy, Beatrice, Johnny, Lola and Trent.
This being a game from 2006 and a Rockstar game at that means that this game isn't really afraid to do and say what it wants. A lot of things can be chalked up to things being more acceptable at the time or making sense as this is a game filled with people who really aren't nice or good people, so of course they're going to do shitty things in general or to each other (Cook's Date, Paparazzi/Discretion Assured, Panty Raid). There are some things that a bit much I think, even with the previous reasons in mind (some things that were a bit much including some or all of those examples of missions) but I don't really know enough to properly talk about but it usually just felt either uncomfortable or kind of gross. There's also a lot (and I mean a lot) of homophobia in the game which makes sense and feels realistic for the setting but it did get kind of annoying after a while as its sort of insulting and repetitive. Something that I did really like though was the ability for Jimmy to make out with other guys in the game as not only is it a welcome surprise from a game like this, I also think that being able to do this kinda helped me be able to accept my own sexuality more when I was growing up (in some way at least) as the game just treats it as normal (somewhat).
On to something more positive, the soundtrack to this game is one of my favourites in gaming, it may be from it just being really good and hearing a lot of it over the years but there are so many great tracks and throughout this replay none of it ever got annoying. The game is also quite funny and there are many lines or moments that I always remember and look forward to hearing or seeing whenever I play this game.
Overall, its not a perfect game at all and I have my fair share of problems with it but I just can't help but love this game. It feels so unique and its just incredibly fun to play whether its doing missions, side activities or just fucking about in the world. I had a fantastic time coming back to this game and I really feel comfortable calling it one of my favourite games of all time.