Social and psychological analysis points towards bullies often being fat kids, because the low self-esteem caused by their weight issues results in them lashing out at their peers to make them feel just as bad. We propose another theory: bullies invariably demand lunch money, and thus end up with a heck of a lot of it, therefore they get fat. It's hardly rocket science (or indeed third period chemistry).

Rockstar's game is all about playground bullies, and it's come under fire in certain sections of the press for glamorising bullying. In actual fact, it's really more about sticking it to the bully types and standing up for the little guy. Although you're free to be the aggressor and pick on people yourself, if spotted by a prefect you'll be busted into the headmaster's office and penalised by losing items quicker than you can say "detention."

Elements of Bully are even educational, as you have to attend lessons every day, and passing these mini-games earns your schoolboy character (Jimmy Hopkins) extra abilities and perks. English involves a vocabulary mini-game and in geography you have to identify countries on a map using their flags.

But lest we get carried away with ourselves, this obviously isn't a piece of edutainment. Bully is very much about skateboarding down corridors and throwing stink bombs in a large Grand Theft Auto style world, where Jimmy is free to go anywhere and do anything. There's the school and its grounds to explore, as well as the adjoining town and outlying areas.

The storyline campaign directs you to an extent, but there's almost always a selection of missions offered, and it's entirely your choice which to take and what school factions to aid. Bully has a faction system and if you keep protecting the nerds you'll win their favour, but lose the respect of the jocks (which can make trips to gym class and the locker room unnecessarily painful).

Alongside the main missions there are lessons to attend, mini-quests to tackle (usually simple delivery tasks given out by other students), and part-time jobs too. Head up to the city park and there's a career available as a mower driver, where the challenge is to speed around cutting the lawn against a timer.

Just exploring the town is highly enjoyable, as you'll come across places like the fairground. The blazing neon lights and fun-fair music drifting along on the wind capture the atmosphere perfectly, and moreover all the attractions are interactive. It's possible to hop on the roller coaster, have a go on the test-your-strength machine, or race go-karts around a track in an actual 3D driving game. Bully is absolutely stuffed with mini-games and secret areas to find, and that's part of what makes it such a compelling experience.

There's a combat system in here too, with a number of combos and moves which are learned as rewards for completing missions or doing well in gym class. However, if there's an area where Bully falls down, it's here. Combat is rather simplistic, and hurling non-stop punches at an opponent is pretty much the way to succeed.

But there's a bigger issue than this at stake, and that's the old chestnut of camera angles. They switch quickly and make running around awkward sometimes, particularly when trying to escape from a prefect in a pressured situation. And in combat they're even worse. The camera seems to flick about almost randomly at times, and this can make landing punches on your opponent very difficult indeed.

There are also some stability issues with Bully, as we experienced the odd clipping problem, a bugged mission, and a full lock-up crash on one occasion. But it's really only the camera troubles that are a seriously splodge on the school blotting paper.

Despite these quibbles, Bully remains an excellent game that scores very close to top marks. It's professionally presented and massive in scope, and the X360 Scholarship Edition adds extra longevity with the inclusion of a multiplayer tournament mode, where you can face off against a friend in various mini-games.

Bully is a vast, high quality, open-ended action adventure romp. There are a few red marks against it in the form of camera and stability problems, but it still attains an 'A' grade quite comfortably.