GTA 6 Could Learn a Few Lessons From Bully, Rockstar’s Schoolyard Gem

[00:00] Everyone has their own expectations for

[00:01] Grand Theft Auto 6. While many hope it

[00:04] will live up to the dizzying standards

[00:05] set by GTA 5 [music] and Red Dead

[00:07] Redemption 2, I'd actually like the next

[00:09] installment in the franchise to be less

[00:11] like recent hits and more like GTA 4,

[00:14] San Andreas, and the original Red Dead.

[00:17] Games that had more restraint and as a

[00:19] result more focus. [music]

[00:21] Above all though, I wish the upcoming

[00:23] game would take a page from the textbook

[00:24] of one of Rockstar's most overlooked

[00:26] titles Bully.

[00:28] >> Welcome to Bullworth Academy.

[00:32] >> [sighs]

[00:33] >> I'm sure you'll be very happy here. Very

[00:35] happy indeed.

[00:38] >> Developed by Rockstar [music] Vancouver

[00:39] and released in 2006, Bully is often

[00:42] described as GTA with kids. Instead of a

[00:45] career criminal, you play as unruly

[00:47] teenager Jimmy Hopkins. [music] The

[00:49] setting isn't some big modern metropolis

[00:51] ruled by rival gangs, but a [music]

[00:53] stuck-in-time New England-style boarding

[00:55] school aptly named Bullworth Academy,

[00:58] where students are divided into

[00:59] different [music] cliques like jocks and

[01:01] greasers.

[01:02] >> GUESS WHAT TIME IT IS? YEP, TIME FOR A

[01:05] BEATDOWN.

[01:06] >> YOU STEAL bikes instead of cars and when

[01:08] [music] you break the rules, it's not

[01:09] the cops that come for you, but

[01:10] headmasters and hall monitors. Despite

[01:13] the critical and commercial success it

[01:14] enjoyed upon release, Bully is sometimes

[01:16] remembered as the stepchild or black

[01:18] sheep [music] of Rockstar's catalog. Not

[01:21] only do I disagree, but I'd go as far as

[01:23] saying that Bully is actually Rockstar

[01:25] [music] at its best. Charming,

[01:27] atmospheric, and far removed from the

[01:29] direction the developers have taken

[01:31] [music] since.

[01:31] >> So, my friend, are you as they say in

[01:35] >> Sure.

[01:36] >> Are you English?

[01:37] >> Well, no. I just speak this way because

[01:39] I'm very insecure.

[01:41] >> Though similar to a game like Grand

[01:42] Theft Auto 5 on the surface, it was

[01:44] created with a completely different

[01:46] design philosophy and that's exactly why

[01:48] it's the perfect blueprint for GTA

[01:50] [music] 6. A game that shouldn't simply

[01:53] be GTA 5, but more. Bigger isn't always

[01:56] better. GTA 5's map was larger than any

[01:59] other game in the franchise up to that

[02:00] [music] point, but most of the area

[02:02] outside Los Santos turned out to be

[02:04] empty space.

[02:05] >> [music]

[02:05] >> Unlike in say Red Dead Redemption 2,

[02:07] where the rolling meadows and barren

[02:09] mountainsides served a thematic purpose.

[02:11] The back country of GTA [music] 5 is not

[02:13] a living breathing world so much as a

[02:15] playground for police chases and sandbox

[02:17] [music] shenanigans. Bully has one of

[02:19] the smallest maps of any Rockstar game,

[02:21] comprising only Bullworth Academy itself

[02:23] [music] and the surrounding town. But

[02:25] because space is so limited, hardly any

[02:27] of [music] it went to waste. The campus

[02:29] includes a library, gymnasium, and

[02:31] dormitories, while the town features

[02:33] [music] a carnival, BMX park, and an

[02:35] insane asylum, to name just a few

[02:37] distinct and memorable locations. Put

[02:39] simply, Bully shows that it isn't the

[02:41] quality of a virtual space, but the

[02:43] quality of the content within that makes

[02:45] the game world believable [music] and

[02:47] immersive.

[02:48] >> Why'd you fight? Just to prove you're

[02:49] tougher than me? That's right, and don't

[02:51] you or your boys forget it.

[02:53] >> Fortunately, there are already some

[02:55] indications that GTA 6's design

[02:56] philosophy will hearken back to

[02:58] Rockstar's Bully days. Though the game's

[03:00] map is rumored to be more [music] than

[03:01] two and a half times as large as GTA

[03:04] 5's, its Florida-inspired setting

[03:06] promises to create a much more striking

[03:09] and cohesive visual footprint that

[03:10] should compensate for any empty space.

[03:13] Instead of a cookie-cutter California no

[03:15] man's land, we'll get Sunshine State

[03:17] idiosyncrasies, luxurious seaside

[03:19] boulevards, alligator-infested [music]

[03:21] swamplands, state-of-the-art theme

[03:23] parks, and white beaches littered with

[03:26] the worst kinds of tourists. GTA 5

[03:28] [music] gave us a bastardized version of

[03:29] Los Angeles and little else. GTA 6 will

[03:33] draw inspiration from a variety of

[03:34] specific real-world cities [music] and

[03:37] biomes, including Miami, Tampa, Orlando,

[03:40] the Keys, the Everglades, and more. I

[03:42] don't think we should be free to dive

[03:43] into those very locations from the

[03:45] get-go, though. Bully demonstrated the

[03:47] value of limiting player freedom,

[03:49] another quality of open-world design

[03:50] that's long fallen out of fashion. In

[03:53] GTA 5, you only need to complete

[03:55] Franklin's prologue before you're free

[03:57] to explore the map in its entirety.

[03:58] [music]

[03:59] But, this lack of restriction comes at a

[04:01] cost, as reaching a location that's

[04:03] always been accessible to you isn't

[04:04] nearly as satisfying as visiting a place

[04:07] that you were previously unable to get

[04:08] to. Older Rockstar [music] games did

[04:10] this constantly and to great effect. San

[04:13] Andreas takes you to three different

[04:14] cities, each of them unlocked at

[04:16] different parts of the story. Similarly,

[04:18] the original Red Dead Redemption doesn't

[04:20] let you go to Mexico until several hours

[04:22] into the game, though there are

[04:24] admittedly one or two ways to glitch

[04:26] yourself across the border. Its sequel

[04:28] also restricts player freedom to some

[04:29] degree, keeping the prologue confined to

[04:31] the snowy Grizzlies West region. [music]

[04:34] In Bully, you cannot leave Bullworth

[04:36] Academy until the second chapter. Far

[04:38] from annoying, this setup gives you an

[04:40] opportunity [music] to thoroughly

[04:41] explore the school, which will remain

[04:43] your base of operations throughout the

[04:44] game. Better still, the map opens up at

[04:47] a moment when you're just beginning to

[04:49] get bored with the place, because we

[04:51] were made [music] to yearn for a change

[04:53] of scenery. Our new found freedom tastes

[04:56] all the sweeter. GTA 6 will hopefully

[04:58] return to the days of the gated regions.

[05:01] While Vice City is clearly the game's

[05:02] key metropolis, I'd like to see it as an

[05:05] aspirational [music] destination, a land

[05:07] of neon lights, loose values, and

[05:09] criminal profit that takes a little work

[05:11] [music] to get to. Places like Port

[05:12] Gelhorn and the Leonida Keys could be

[05:15] stepping stones [music] to the big city,

[05:16] just as San Andreas had us master Los

[05:18] Santos, San Fierro, and Las Venturas in

[05:21] sequence. This leads to another even

[05:24] more valuable lesson that GTA 6 can

[05:26] learn from Bully. In GTA 5, there's a

[05:28] huge disconnect between [music] you and

[05:30] the characters you control, except for

[05:32] when we play as Trevor, whose volatile

[05:34] personality not only reflects, but

[05:36] actively encourages the most haphazardly

[05:38] destructive [music] ways to play the

[05:40] game. We rarely get to experience the

[05:42] characters' emotions along with them.

[05:43] >> How have you been?

[05:44] >> Oh, simply wonderful. And you?

[05:46] >> Somewhere stuck between joyful and

[05:49] peachy.

[05:49] >> And [music] boy, story and gameplay

[05:51] mechanics work side by side to make you

[05:53] identify with Jimmy and share his

[05:55] motivations. After being confined to

[05:57] campus grounds for the first chapter,

[05:59] he's eager to go into town. You're

[06:00] excited too.

[06:01] >> I promise you, after this, things are

[06:04] never going to be the same again.

[06:06] >> So excited, in fact, that you'll

[06:07] probably spend a solid hour just vibing,

[06:10] [music] riding around on a stolen bike

[06:11] before starting the next mission.

[06:16] Another mechanic that helps ease you

[06:18] into Jimmy's shoes is the game's curfew

[06:20] system. [music] After 11:00 p.m., the

[06:22] school becomes overrun with prefects who

[06:24] will send you to bed if they catch you,

[06:26] filling up your trouble meter. The

[06:28] higher the meter, the more suspicious

[06:29] and hostile certain NPCs will behave

[06:31] towards you. Avoiding punishment puts

[06:33] you on edge while making it back to the

[06:34] safety of your dormitory draws out a

[06:37] sigh of relief. Emotional responses like

[06:39] these are hard to come by in GTA V,

[06:41] where the frequent, over-the-top police

[06:43] chase action quickly turns numbing the

[06:46] mundane. The same cannot be said for GTA

[06:49] IV or San [music] Andreas, where

[06:50] character writing and plot development

[06:52] actually made you care for their

[06:54] protagonists. In Bully, the lower stakes

[06:57] and slightly subtler tone allowed events

[06:59] to escalate at a more gradual,

[07:01] satisfying [music] pace, ensuring the

[07:03] story remained engaging right until the

[07:06] final face-off with its main antagonist,

[07:08] a sociopathic, unmedicated fellow

[07:10] student named Gary.

[07:11] >> Why'd you do it, GARY?

[07:12] >> BECAUSE I CAN.

[07:14] >> Unlike its predecessor, GTA VI

[07:16] does seem poised to treat [music] its

[07:17] playable characters as actual people

[07:20] rather than vehicles for chaos and

[07:21] carnage. Dual protagonists Lucia and

[07:23] Jason, we're told over and over, will be

[07:26] Bonnie and Clyde-style partners in

[07:28] crime. And as in Bully, story and

[07:30] gameplay could conspire to put the

[07:33] player in the middle of that, no doubt,

[07:35] complicated relationship.

[07:37] >> Trust.

[07:38] Trust.

[07:39] >> Perhaps the most The thing that Bully

[07:40] can teach GTA VI

[07:42] is the importance of restraint when

[07:44] designing a game. Rockstar wanted GTA 5

[07:46] to [music] be big, as big as it could

[07:49] possibly be both in terms of content and

[07:51] appeal. But by prioritizing size and

[07:54] variety, the developers gave the game a

[07:56] much weaker sense of identity than GTA 4

[07:59] or San Andreas, both of which were made

[08:01] with different goals in mind. Thanks to

[08:03] the specificity of its setting, Bully

[08:05] has perhaps the strongest identity and

[08:07] atmosphere of any Rockstar game out

[08:09] there.

[08:09] >> Fantastic.

[08:11] >> Though full of over-the-top caricatures,

[08:13] Bullworth Academy can be a genuinely

[08:15] oppressive place, the kind of harsh

[08:17] environment that forces an otherwise

[08:19] well-intentioned kid like Jimmy to

[08:21] toughen up and treat others as shiftily

[08:24] as they treat him. The feelings a game

[08:25] evokes stay with you long after you

[08:27] finish playing, [music] strengthening

[08:29] your memory of the overall experience.

[08:31] Though I haven't done a full playthrough

[08:32] of Bully in years, I can still picture

[08:34] Bullworth Academy's layout in my head.

[08:37] But drop me anywhere in GTA 5's gigantic

[08:39] back country,

[08:40] >> [music]

[08:40] >> a place I have spent probably way more

[08:43] hours, and I'd struggle finding my way

[08:45] back to civilization without looking at

[08:46] the mini-map. Despite persistent

[08:48] pleading from the game's cult following,

[08:50] Bully is unlikely to receive a sequel

[08:52] anytime soon. Gone are the days where

[08:54] individual subsidiaries like Rockstar

[08:56] Vancouver, long since part of Rockstar

[08:58] Toronto, could work on their own

[09:00] original IPs. Whatever Rockstar's next

[09:02] game will be, it almost certainly won't

[09:05] be Bully 2. Still, if Rockstar has found

[09:08] a way to inject additional purpose and

[09:10] show extra restraint [music] in its new

[09:11] massive open world, there's a small

[09:13] chance that the franchise's feisty

[09:15] spirit will live on through Grand Theft

[09:17] Auto 6. If you liked this video and want

[09:19] to see what GTA 6 could learn from GTA

[09:21] 4, be sure to check that out, too. And

[09:23] for everything else Grand Theft Auto, be

[09:25] sure to stick [music] with IGN.