I never in a million years would have thought that bus simulators would have been my kind of thing, but here we are. The Bus is the latest bus simulator game to grab my attention. As of writing, this game is still in early access. It does have a very detailed road map of what they intend to do on STEAM, but as of right now they are just at the first stage.
How to Download The Bus
To download the game from Steam, click on the Download button at the end of the review. Check out also our reviews of Fernbus Simulator and Tourist Bus Simulator.
The Game Review
Many comparisons will be drawn from The Bus to OMSI 2 which is to be expected, but I do feel it is a bit unfair as The Bus is so early on its journey. The setting for this game is Berlin and they have gone for a1 to 1 setting of Berlin. I have never been to Berlin, but from what I have read, people who have and who do live there are very impressed with how authentic the recreation here is.
As of me writing this review, you do only have a couple of routes that you can go on. The idea is what you would expect, you are a bus driver trying to make your rounds. They give you a couple of different busses to drive and it is pretty addictive. The way customers get on and off the bus is pretty cool. You also have a basic route editor to play around with which was easy to use and fun.
Again, I have never been to Berlin, but I was very impressed with how packed the map was already. The game does suffer a bit from pop in as the draw distance is not the greatest, but I am sure this will be fixed. As this is a “bus simulator” style of game, it is worth noting that there is a bit of a learning curve with driving these beasts!
The AI of the drivers on the road is pretty good. You always have to pay attention to the road as there will be times when someone will be driving like a lunatic! It did take me a while to get to grips with the changing of the gears and the handling in general, but once I did the whole thing felt great.
The presentation (apart from the draw-distance thing) is pretty solid in this early state. I was impressed with how Berlin looked, and the variety of the shops, buildings, and so on was great. I would assume that this is a pretty demanding game and if your PC is a tad on the old side, it may struggle to play this on higher-settings. The sound is not bad, but the bus breaks did get on my nerves!
So far, The Bus is looking very impressive. While this is in a very early stage, I do feel it gives you more than enough to get an idea of what this is going to be. If you enjoy bus driving simulation games then this is one that is well worth your time. I am pretty excited to see what the next step on their road map is going to bring.
