[0:00] Everyone has their own expectations for
[0:01] Grand Theft Auto 6. While many hope it
[0:04] will live up to the dizzying standards
[0:05] set by GTA 5 [music] and Red Dead
[0:07] Redemption 2, I'd actually like the next
[0:09] installment in the franchise to be less
[0:11] like recent hits and more like GTA 4,
[0:14] San Andreas, and the original Red Dead.
[0:17] Games that had more restraint and as a
[0:19] result more focus. [music]
[0:21] Above all though, I wish the upcoming
[0:23] game would take a page from the textbook
[0:24] of one of Rockstar's most overlooked
[0:26] titles Bully.
[0:28] >> Welcome to Bullworth Academy.
[0:32] >> [sighs]
[0:33] >> I'm sure you'll be very happy here. Very
[0:35] happy indeed.
[0:38] >> Developed by Rockstar [music] Vancouver
[0:39] and released in 2006, Bully is often
[0:42] described as GTA with kids. Instead of a
[0:45] career criminal, you play as unruly
[0:47] teenager Jimmy Hopkins. [music] The
[0:49] setting isn't some big modern metropolis
[0:51] ruled by rival gangs, but a [music]
[0:53] stuck-in-time New England-style boarding
[0:55] school aptly named Bullworth Academy,
[0:58] where students are divided into
[0:59] different [music] cliques like jocks and
[1:01] greasers.
[1:02] >> GUESS WHAT TIME IT IS? YEP, TIME FOR A
[1:05] BEATDOWN.
[1:06] >> YOU STEAL bikes instead of cars and when
[1:08] [music] you break the rules, it's not
[1:09] the cops that come for you, but
[1:10] headmasters and hall monitors. Despite
[1:13] the critical and commercial success it
[1:14] enjoyed upon release, Bully is sometimes
[1:16] remembered as the stepchild or black
[1:18] sheep [music] of Rockstar's catalog. Not
[1:21] only do I disagree, but I'd go as far as
[1:23] saying that Bully is actually Rockstar
[1:25] [music] at its best. Charming,
[1:27] atmospheric, and far removed from the
[1:29] direction the developers have taken
[1:31] [music] since.
[1:31] >> So, my friend, are you as they say in
[1:35] >> Sure.
[1:36] >> Are you English?
[1:37] >> Well, no. I just speak this way because
[1:39] I'm very insecure.
[1:41] >> Though similar to a game like Grand
[1:42] Theft Auto 5 on the surface, it was
[1:44] created with a completely different
[1:46] design philosophy and that's exactly why
[1:48] it's the perfect blueprint for GTA
[1:50] [music] 6. A game that shouldn't simply
[1:53] be GTA 5, but more. Bigger isn't always
[1:56] better. GTA 5's map was larger than any
[1:59] other game in the franchise up to that
[2:00] [music] point, but most of the area
[2:02] outside Los Santos turned out to be
[2:04] empty space.
[2:05] >> [music]
[2:05] >> Unlike in say Red Dead Redemption 2,
[2:07] where the rolling meadows and barren
[2:09] mountainsides served a thematic purpose.
[2:11] The back country of GTA [music] 5 is not
[2:13] a living breathing world so much as a
[2:15] playground for police chases and sandbox
[2:17] [music] shenanigans. Bully has one of
[2:19] the smallest maps of any Rockstar game,
[2:21] comprising only Bullworth Academy itself
[2:23] [music] and the surrounding town. But
[2:25] because space is so limited, hardly any
[2:27] of [music] it went to waste. The campus
[2:29] includes a library, gymnasium, and
[2:31] dormitories, while the town features
[2:33] [music] a carnival, BMX park, and an
[2:35] insane asylum, to name just a few
[2:37] distinct and memorable locations. Put
[2:39] simply, Bully shows that it isn't the
[2:41] quality of a virtual space, but the
[2:43] quality of the content within that makes
[2:45] the game world believable [music] and
[2:47] immersive.
[2:48] >> Why'd you fight? Just to prove you're
[2:49] tougher than me? That's right, and don't
[2:51] you or your boys forget it.
[2:53] >> Fortunately, there are already some
[2:55] indications that GTA 6's design
[2:56] philosophy will hearken back to
[2:58] Rockstar's Bully days. Though the game's
[3:00] map is rumored to be more [music] than
[3:01] two and a half times as large as GTA
[3:04] 5's, its Florida-inspired setting
[3:06] promises to create a much more striking
[3:09] and cohesive visual footprint that
[3:10] should compensate for any empty space.
[3:13] Instead of a cookie-cutter California no
[3:15] man's land, we'll get Sunshine State
[3:17] idiosyncrasies, luxurious seaside
[3:19] boulevards, alligator-infested [music]
[3:21] swamplands, state-of-the-art theme
[3:23] parks, and white beaches littered with
[3:26] the worst kinds of tourists. GTA 5
[3:28] [music] gave us a bastardized version of
[3:29] Los Angeles and little else. GTA 6 will
[3:33] draw inspiration from a variety of
[3:34] specific real-world cities [music] and
[3:37] biomes, including Miami, Tampa, Orlando,
[3:40] the Keys, the Everglades, and more. I
[3:42] don't think we should be free to dive
[3:43] into those very locations from the
[3:45] get-go, though. Bully demonstrated the
[3:47] value of limiting player freedom,
[3:49] another quality of open-world design
[3:50] that's long fallen out of fashion. In
[3:53] GTA 5, you only need to complete
[3:55] Franklin's prologue before you're free
[3:57] to explore the map in its entirety.
[3:58] [music]
[3:59] But, this lack of restriction comes at a
[4:01] cost, as reaching a location that's
[4:03] always been accessible to you isn't
[4:04] nearly as satisfying as visiting a place
[4:07] that you were previously unable to get
[4:08] to. Older Rockstar [music] games did
[4:10] this constantly and to great effect. San
[4:13] Andreas takes you to three different
[4:14] cities, each of them unlocked at
[4:16] different parts of the story. Similarly,
[4:18] the original Red Dead Redemption doesn't
[4:20] let you go to Mexico until several hours
[4:22] into the game, though there are
[4:24] admittedly one or two ways to glitch
[4:26] yourself across the border. Its sequel
[4:28] also restricts player freedom to some
[4:29] degree, keeping the prologue confined to
[4:31] the snowy Grizzlies West region. [music]
[4:34] In Bully, you cannot leave Bullworth
[4:36] Academy until the second chapter. Far
[4:38] from annoying, this setup gives you an
[4:40] opportunity [music] to thoroughly
[4:41] explore the school, which will remain
[4:43] your base of operations throughout the
[4:44] game. Better still, the map opens up at
[4:47] a moment when you're just beginning to
[4:49] get bored with the place, because we
[4:51] were made [music] to yearn for a change
[4:53] of scenery. Our new found freedom tastes
[4:56] all the sweeter. GTA 6 will hopefully
[4:58] return to the days of the gated regions.
[5:01] While Vice City is clearly the game's
[5:02] key metropolis, I'd like to see it as an
[5:05] aspirational [music] destination, a land
[5:07] of neon lights, loose values, and
[5:09] criminal profit that takes a little work
[5:11] [music] to get to. Places like Port
[5:12] Gelhorn and the Leonida Keys could be
[5:15] stepping stones [music] to the big city,
[5:16] just as San Andreas had us master Los
[5:18] Santos, San Fierro, and Las Venturas in
[5:21] sequence. This leads to another even
[5:24] more valuable lesson that GTA 6 can
[5:26] learn from Bully. In GTA 5, there's a
[5:28] huge disconnect between [music] you and
[5:30] the characters you control, except for
[5:32] when we play as Trevor, whose volatile
[5:34] personality not only reflects, but
[5:36] actively encourages the most haphazardly
[5:38] destructive [music] ways to play the
[5:40] game. We rarely get to experience the
[5:42] characters' emotions along with them.
[5:43] >> How have you been?
[5:44] >> Oh, simply wonderful. And you?
[5:46] >> Somewhere stuck between joyful and
[5:49] peachy.
[5:49] >> And [music] boy, story and gameplay
[5:51] mechanics work side by side to make you
[5:53] identify with Jimmy and share his
[5:55] motivations. After being confined to
[5:57] campus grounds for the first chapter,
[5:59] he's eager to go into town. You're
[6:00] excited too.
[6:01] >> I promise you, after this, things are
[6:04] never going to be the same again.
[6:06] >> So excited, in fact, that you'll
[6:07] probably spend a solid hour just vibing,
[6:10] [music] riding around on a stolen bike
[6:11] before starting the next mission.
[6:16] Another mechanic that helps ease you
[6:18] into Jimmy's shoes is the game's curfew
[6:20] system. [music] After 11:00 p.m., the
[6:22] school becomes overrun with prefects who
[6:24] will send you to bed if they catch you,
[6:26] filling up your trouble meter. The
[6:28] higher the meter, the more suspicious
[6:29] and hostile certain NPCs will behave
[6:31] towards you. Avoiding punishment puts
[6:33] you on edge while making it back to the
[6:34] safety of your dormitory draws out a
[6:37] sigh of relief. Emotional responses like
[6:39] these are hard to come by in GTA V,
[6:41] where the frequent, over-the-top police
[6:43] chase action quickly turns numbing the
[6:46] mundane. The same cannot be said for GTA
[6:49] IV or San [music] Andreas, where
[6:50] character writing and plot development
[6:52] actually made you care for their
[6:54] protagonists. In Bully, the lower stakes
[6:57] and slightly subtler tone allowed events
[6:59] to escalate at a more gradual,
[7:01] satisfying [music] pace, ensuring the
[7:03] story remained engaging right until the
[7:06] final face-off with its main antagonist,
[7:08] a sociopathic, unmedicated fellow
[7:10] student named Gary.
[7:11] >> Why'd you do it, GARY?
[7:12] >> BECAUSE I CAN.
[7:14] >> Unlike its predecessor, GTA VI
[7:16] does seem poised to treat [music] its
[7:17] playable characters as actual people
[7:20] rather than vehicles for chaos and
[7:21] carnage. Dual protagonists Lucia and
[7:23] Jason, we're told over and over, will be
[7:26] Bonnie and Clyde-style partners in
[7:28] crime. And as in Bully, story and
[7:30] gameplay could conspire to put the
[7:33] player in the middle of that, no doubt,
[7:35] complicated relationship.
[7:37] >> Trust.
[7:38] Trust.
[7:39] >> Perhaps the most The thing that Bully
[7:40] can teach GTA VI
[7:42] is the importance of restraint when
[7:44] designing a game. Rockstar wanted GTA 5
[7:46] to [music] be big, as big as it could
[7:49] possibly be both in terms of content and
[7:51] appeal. But by prioritizing size and
[7:54] variety, the developers gave the game a
[7:56] much weaker sense of identity than GTA 4
[7:59] or San Andreas, both of which were made
[8:01] with different goals in mind. Thanks to
[8:03] the specificity of its setting, Bully
[8:05] has perhaps the strongest identity and
[8:07] atmosphere of any Rockstar game out
[8:09] there.
[8:09] >> Fantastic.
[8:11] >> Though full of over-the-top caricatures,
[8:13] Bullworth Academy can be a genuinely
[8:15] oppressive place, the kind of harsh
[8:17] environment that forces an otherwise
[8:19] well-intentioned kid like Jimmy to
[8:21] toughen up and treat others as shiftily
[8:24] as they treat him. The feelings a game
[8:25] evokes stay with you long after you
[8:27] finish playing, [music] strengthening
[8:29] your memory of the overall experience.
[8:31] Though I haven't done a full playthrough
[8:32] of Bully in years, I can still picture
[8:34] Bullworth Academy's layout in my head.
[8:37] But drop me anywhere in GTA 5's gigantic
[8:39] back country,
[8:40] >> [music]
[8:40] >> a place I have spent probably way more
[8:43] hours, and I'd struggle finding my way
[8:45] back to civilization without looking at
[8:46] the mini-map. Despite persistent
[8:48] pleading from the game's cult following,
[8:50] Bully is unlikely to receive a sequel
[8:52] anytime soon. Gone are the days where
[8:54] individual subsidiaries like Rockstar
[8:56] Vancouver, long since part of Rockstar
[8:58] Toronto, could work on their own
[9:00] original IPs. Whatever Rockstar's next
[9:02] game will be, it almost certainly won't
[9:05] be Bully 2. Still, if Rockstar has found
[9:08] a way to inject additional purpose and
[9:10] show extra restraint [music] in its new
[9:11] massive open world, there's a small
[9:13] chance that the franchise's feisty
[9:15] spirit will live on through Grand Theft
[9:17] Auto 6. If you liked this video and want
[9:19] to see what GTA 6 could learn from GTA
[9:21] 4, be sure to check that out, too. And
[9:23] for everything else Grand Theft Auto, be
[9:25] sure to stick [music] with IGN.