Bully

Unlike in real life, schools in videogames can be tons of fun. School daze, rival schools and many obscure Japanese dating sims use a school setting to create a good gaming experience. Adding to that list is bully (aka canis canem edit), a game that could also be also called grand theft auto: the high school years.

The game takes GTAs sandbox gameplay and applies it to school setting, so instead of police there's prefects, instead of gangs there's social cliques , instead of....women of "ill repute" there's kissable girls and instead of guns you have juvenile weapons such as stink bombs and sling shots. This doesn't mean that the sense of challenge has been toned down,though. The chases are fast and the fighting is pretty raw while the missions that include breaking into lockers and beating up people , will keep you on your toes.

The lessons are a nice little bonus also- subjects such as maths, English and chemistry are fun little games that reward you with goodies if you do well in them. Another bonus is the very good voice acting that rockstar games always excel in and the cheeky dialouge you hear during gameplay (" i don't know why they say poor people make the best boxers !").

The occasional poor camera angle aside, canis canem edit (thats "bully" if your American ) is a good sandbox game that has lots of fun features including the underused yet hugely enjoyable ability to throw marbles on the floor and wait for the consequences......