There’s no School No Rules from the Russian developers is a good example of how to not create games. It’s ugly, uncomfortable, and offensive, it’s no rival to Bully that attempts to be a resemblance the game, and even less GTA. In this Review what’s not right with this game.
- Producer: Namion Games
- Publisher: Namion Games
- Please note: November 9, 2020
From the writers’ perspective, the location is typical Russian school: shabby classrooms, drunken students in the corridors, profane graffiti on the walls, and an incessantly drunken labour officer. Students are sent to different schools. Some are bound to prison, and others end up in maternity hospitals. In general, it is an attack on the educational system. It’s very infuriated and completely absurd.
In this school, our protagonist has anger towards all of them – the rude teachers, the rebellious nerds, and the drug-addicted criminals. In the attempt to be a part of a position in the school hierarchy, the protagonist will take on anyone who stands out of his reach.
The teacher must get back at us. We first get her class’s register stolen and flush it down the toilet. Then we take her phone and paste infuriating images across the school, and then when she gets angry, we engage in a fair and honest fight in the Russian language class.
The whole thing could have been intriguing and thrilling since Bully was willing to tackle the same issue, making the game an instant hit. However, unlike how Rockstar used subdued humor, the makers of No School No Rules hit it squarely — with insults and rude remarks. The player must enjoy jokes about a classmate giving twins, a worker who sends students to sweep up the snow with yellow, and a cafeteria that serves beef anuses. This isn’t very entertaining, in all honesty.
The final gloomy moment of my experience was the photo-sticker task: the player was required to stick five images to different bulletin boards without any maps or markings from the school that indicated the direction of the target during the contest. The team spent about 30 minutes wandering the offices and floors, looking for the right places to complete the job.
Within No School No Rules, Everything is awful. Animations are tense, unprofessional characters, NPC clones, dumb AI, and an annoying soundtrack. Schoolchildren freeze in bizarre postures and randomly wave their arms while mimicking conversations, tumble through the walls, and then scurry following the same paths. However, if you look at it compared to Bully that was released in 2005, Bully was better designed and looked more comfortable.
It is common not to evaluate games in early access, as things can change drastically in releasing. However, in the case of this game, it’s clear that it’s not going to get better. Therefore, No School No Rules gets a deservedly high rating.