I messed around with both the X360 and Wii versions of the game last night. Since I played through the PS2 version of the game as well--I figured I would post some initial thoughts here for whomever is interested.
The difference between the older PS2 and the Scholarship Editions is (from memory, so excuse my errors if there are any):
- 8 new missions
- 4 new classes to attend including biology, music, math and geography (which all contain some kind of unique minigame).
- Multiplayer (offline only)
- Some new unlockables and clothing
- Achievements (I'm unclear if this has been integrated, somehow, into the Wii version).
First up, I popped in the X360 version to see what Rockstar has done graphically with the game. Some of the information I received from Rockstar claims that the textures were x4 more detailed than the PS2 version and that over 3000 textures had been remade (or something to that effect).
As the charming, catchy Bully theme music starts up with the games introduction in classic Rockstar cinematic fashion. It's obvious that immediately that the game looks better--but there is a slight problem. Five minutes in, the frame rate is all over the place and there is some tearing. I'm usually pretty sensitive to frame rate fluxuations in my games, but tearing isn?t as bothersome to me--but it's obvious that both issues are present. Once the introduction is finished and my (bitchy!) mother has dropped me off at school, I'm given control of Timmy.
The frame rate and tearing issues are now gone. I'm instructed to go to the principals office by one of the faculty that has greeted me and an unmistakable golden star appears on the (again, traditional Rockstar) mini-map that's located in the upper-right hand corner.
Along the way I pick a fight with some punks and smash some heads. A teacher off in the distance begins yelling at us, "Hey! You! Stop that! Come'er!" and charges at us both. I quickly knee the guy in the face, push him tot he ground, and kick him until he's had enough. I then bolt towards the main building and begin to realize that I'm probably not going to make it. Not only is the teacher after me, but the guy who?s face I just smashed, friends are after me as well. I turn a corner and jump into a trashcan. The game immediately goes to an interactive 1st person view and I watch everyone run past me. Just like the cartoons--cool.
while all this is going on, I realize that I wasn?t paying much attention to (or noticing) the frame rate or tearing issues at all. I also realize that if I didn?t notice it, it must not be that bad after all (to me).
A few more cutscenes, character introductions and a fighting tutorial later, I'm in my dorm room looking to change my clothing to "proper school attire". The room's windows are covered with venitian blinds allowing the light to streak through the room and onto the characters--it's very cool looking.
The lighting model strikes me as particularly impressive and reminds me that this version of Bully is probably using some form of the RAGE tech that Rockstar used initially for Table Tennis and futher developed for GTAIV (no confirmation on this yet). I bring this up because SO many games (DMC4 comes to mind immediately) have issues with their lighting and shadowing, and at times can create really ugly aliased (blocky) shadowy mess. Here, it was so smooth and elegant looking that I actually stopped playing for a bit and made Tommy walk around the room so I could manipulated the camera to check it out in more of the detail. Yes I've seen great lighting models before, but this just stuck out to me.
I saved my game (I'm deffinitely going back and play this game) then popped in the Wii version to take a quick peek at the game and check out the controls. The difference in appeance between the X360 and Wii version is immediately apparent. Though still slightly better than the PS2 version in visual fidelity, it still didnt look that great over all. Gone were the cool lighting and visual effects, but also were the frame rate issues and tearing--go figure.
throwing some punches with the Wii version is done simply by thrusting the Nunchuck and Wiimote forward. I picked some fights and turned it off.