Bully: Anniversary Edition

Bully: Anniversary Edition places Rockstar's open-world formula into the setting of Bullworth Academy boarding school, where the player, as Jimmy Hopkins, works through classes, pranks on classmates, and disputes between school cliques instead of the usual big-city crime. A satire of the American school system and adolescence, combined with free exploration of the campus, the surrounding town, and its residents, gave the game its own identity distinct from the rest of Rockstar's portfolio and still earns it a loyal fanbase today.

The mobile Anniversary Edition is a paid game with no ads, meaning a one-time purchase that unlocks the complete expanded content of the original game, including additional missions, characters, and locations that were missing from the initial PlayStation 2 release. This places it alongside Rockstar's other mobile ports in following the same model - no microtransactions, no timers, just a single investment for the whole experience with no restrictions.

On touch controls, the school and its minigames - chemistry class, gym, or playing guitar - work reasonably well, since these are simpler interactions rather than precise action, but free movement around campus and the combat sections with virtual buttons again show the typical limits of touchless control for action games. An external gamepad noticeably improves the experience, especially during fistfights with rival gangs and while riding a bike around the area.

Why play it: Recommended for players looking for an unconventional Rockstar game outside the usual big-city crime setting, with its own humor and atmosphere, ideally again with a connected controller.