1) Though the narrative scenes are longer than GTA, they actually serve to invest one in Jimmy Hopkins' success more than GTA ever did with C.J. In GTA, C.J. always seemed put upon, and there was never a sense of the stories going in one direction. With Bully, you have a more central group of characters and more desire to see it resolve.

2) The missions are WAY easier in Bully than GTA... and that's a good thing. Missions in GTA that are too hard (ala "Supply Lines", which I just CANNOT DO) frustrate me to the point of just screwin' it all and walking downtown to light people on fire. Gets old in a hurry. But going from simple task to simple task and getting them done in Bully moves the plot along much quicker and means less time-wasting (except for the nightly beatings administered in the boy's dorm just before going to bed. Hey, a bully's gotta relax!)

3) The "wanted" system in GTA was the 1-5 star indicator that specified how much you were wanted, but provided little to no help in figuring out where to go to lose the cops. The stars sprinkled throughout town that you had to find to lower the wanted level were too few and far between and you never knew where the cops were coming from next. In Bully, the "wanted" meter is a sliding scale, assisted with an indicator on the map of where the prefects and cops are, as well as a sort of "radar" scope that emanates from them so you know where they are and in which direction they are looking. BIG improvement.

4) Related to the above point somewhat, the total setting area is vastly scaled down in Bully because he doesn't drive everywhere as C.J. does in GTA. It means you are less amazed at the scope and detail of the locales, but it's also less frustrating because you can begin to get familiar with where you are going and how to get there. I may be familiar with GTA now, but that's because I cheat and get the jetpack and fly over everything. Makes more sense when you can see it from above.

Speaking of which, the value of the game being easier (2) is that, though I searched once when we first bought the game, I never looked back for cheats to help complete missions. Unnecessary. With GTA:SA, I can think of a few tasks that would have been extremely difficult, if not virtually impossible, without the aid of cheats for a) unique weaponry b) additional health c) lowering the wanted level.

I heartily recommend that Rockstar continue along this line. Make the tasks challenging, but not so hard that the player just throws up his hands and starts the random killing (or more commonly for me, going to the airport repeatedly to steal a plane and fly it into a building... yeah, I'm sick like that.) I saw where a recent review said there wouldn't or shouldn't be a Bully 2, and that makes sense since the story resolved nicely. But the elements of this game that were improved from earlier Rockstar releases certainly ought to be retained. $.02.