Bus Simulator 21 review

Back when I reviewed Bus Simulator, simulators were just appearing on Xbox. It was an interesting statement by Xbox to welcome simulators, which pretty much led the way for a whole host of genres which were pretty much confined to the PC based community of gamers to make there way to consoles. Xbox and Window’ share a similar infrastructure making the transition somewhat easier than its other console counterparts. If you’ve never played simulators and have always overlooked the genre as a not for you, I urge you to give one a try and Bus simulator 21 by stillalive studios is a good starting point.

Think of the pathway like this, if you have ever imagined what it would be like to participate in something, be that driving or a particular job with skills, embark on a change of career path, or just getting your hands dirty in the garden, the personal computer was your choice of platform, with literally hundreds of simulators of all kinds out there. However, the ever-changing need for upgrading hardware, such as graphic cards or greater memory, often turned a lot of noses up, and kept the more casual gamer away.

Simulators are not just here on Xbox, they have amassed in great numbers, with a huge choice in lots of little sub genres, there is pretty much a simulator for everything these days and they are all available to play from the comfort of the sofa in your living room on the big screen TV.  As a gamer whose been gaming since the golden age of gaming the eighties, I had been waiting for simulators to pop up on the Xbox Store. For as many years as I care to remember, the simulator genre has always been home to the PC and has never strayed too far from its humble home. Now we have a new simulator released every week on Xbox, from the weird Lawn Mowing Simulator to the granddaddy of them all, Microsoft Flight Simulator, we are literally spoilt for choice, and that can only be a good thing.

Let me sum up the genre of simulators in a nutshell. If you have ever imagined what it would be like to participate in something, be that driving or a particular job with skills, embark on a change of career path, or just getting your hands dirty in the garden, a simulator would be a good starting point. These games have evolved into more than that these days, offering real depth, an accurate example featuring an immersive nature that keeps you coming back for more.

With Bus simulator 22, now is your chance to awaken the inner child in you. Hand’s up who imagined being a bus driver when you were very small and should think quite a few of you. Well now’s your chance to see what being a bus driver entails, or even running a whole network of buses throughout a city in Bus Simulator!

In Bus Simulator you get to experience up-close and personal, the day-to-day life of a bus driver and the upkeep of supplying public transport, from purchasing new buses managing your newly formed company, to the creation of new bus routes. It’s up to you to serve the public, upgrade their journeys, provide the most excellent customer service, whilst being on time!

Experience the daily life of a bus driver in two open world cities either in the USA or Europe. Drive up to 30 licensed buses by international manufacturers, including a double decker and e-buses. Take your passengers to their destinations safely and on time – either in single- or multiplayer mode.

As a simulator game you get the chance to get your hands on the most comprehensive and advanced fleet in the history of the series. For Bus Simulator 21, features a huge fleet of 30 officially licensed buses by well-known, international manufacturers such as Volvo, Alexander Dennis, Scania, BYD, Grande West, and Blue Bird, who join the models in the roster by popular brands already included in the preceding installment (Mercedes-Benz, Setra, IVECO BUS, and MAN). For the first time, you will have the chance to master the challenges of daily traffic in the cockpit of double-decker and electric buses.

Bus Simulator 22 has a brand-new, impressive US map Angel Shores and a revamped version of the European Seaside Valley map from the previous game installment – including its map extension. The game has an even greater open-world approach of its previous past versions, meaning you will get to experience the exciting daily life of a bus driver in two massive, freely explorable cities. There are different difficulty levels and play modes also available for a wide range of player types.

In Bus Simulator 21, you will not only become a capable driver with countless miles on the road – you also have the option to use extended management elements. Creating detailed timetables, buying and selling buses, and planning efficient routes that take into account the daily number of passengers at peak hours – these and more varied tasks are available for you to enjoy.

One question you have to ask yourself – Do you prefer getting up from behind the desk and taking steering your buses into your own hands? No problem! The auto-features of Bus Simulator 21 can take over your management duties and let pure bus drivers simply enjoy their time on the road.

With Bus Simulator 21 you can play in either single-player or synced multiplayer mode, transport your passengers safely and promptly to their destinations and be rewarded for your timely and safe driving at the end of pay day.

Freely usable convenience features, such as quickly jumping to desired stops on the map (fast travel), fast forwarding time, and directly taking over the routes of your NPC buses, all complete the virtual bus driver package and guarantee even more fun behind the wheel!

Your Bus Your Rules!

Bus Simulator 21 features a the most comprehensive driving experience in the history of the series, with over 30 buses, with addition to the classic rigid, articulated buses, the new instalment of the series allows you to get behind the wheel of a big red double decker, as well as experiencing the future of bus transport, E-buses, yes buses have gone electric!

The environments that you have to get to grips with offer a decent sized open world. Not to big, but not to small. Packed with details and levels of realism, with much improved visuals, dynamic weather, a day night cycle, and a new AI system that works well, it has its moments, but then so does the real world.

You get to master challenging traffic situations featuring narrow roads, oncoming traffic, serpentines, a busy bus terminal, driving at night, road works, diversions, overland drives, potholes, traffic jams, traffic obstacles, speed bumps and of course speed camera’s – yes you can get a ticket. The developers have thought of everything when it comes to the role of driving a bus and have recreated it beautifully. They have even included some authentic bus sounds too, for the ultimate atmosphere effect.

In Bus Simulator you also must deal with the lifelike experience of different events that can occur on your journey to the other side of town, such as a soiled interior, special requests from passengers, fare dodgers, loud music, and blocked bus stops too.

Another great addition to Bus Simulator 22 is the co-operative multiplayer mode. I love that you can both drive separate buses in either the USA or European maps, leveling up, earning coin, and satisfying the public s needs, but the fact that both of you can be on the same bus, one driving, one checking tickets, and keeping on top of disgruntled customers, pure gaming gold.

Bus Simulator offers a very relaxed approach, with a detailed voiced tutorial from the basics to the later parts of your experience. Should you wish to let go of the hand, you can go into complete free roam mode, running the bus routes as you see fit, with optional refined management features, such as setting up timetables, visiting bus dealers located on the map, or planning efficient routes, that consider the number of passengers at specific times. The experience is truly yours, free roam it, or immerse yourself into the deeper gameplay of managing your fleet, it’s up to you.

One thing I haven’t mentioned is menus, because like every simulator, the experience is only as good as its informative menus, customisations and UI systems. I am happy to say the in-game menus work extremely well, everything is detailed and offers a more time on the road angle. The menu wheels in the game when you are in the thick of the action are the best way of operating your vehicle, and are not intrusive in any way, my only snag with them is that they are perhaps not labelled well enough, as are the buttons in the cockpit should you want the forget the cockpit menu wheel that is available to you.

Once you learn your cockpit area, and have some hands on with the control wheel, you will learn the ins and out’s pretty quickly, and the routines in you need to go through on every trip in your shiny bus.

My only real down-points, are a couple of controls that feel a little clunky, all are in the works to be patched, but I’ll mention them anyway. These are the park brake, and the ramp feature, both often require a few presses to get them to action, and the zoom camera that is required to allow you to visually see passengers getting on and off the buses is a little on the small side.

Bus Simulator 21 has a new character creator featuring a decent amount of customisable options ranging from, body shape and facial features, to clothing appearance, and the customisation doesn’t stop there, with various options to personalise your buses, including different paint jobs, patterns and of course those important ads that we all see whist traveling on the bus.

The game itself has a whole host of aids, and the ability to adjust the density of potholes in the roads for a smoother ride, and the option to enable or disable certain aspects of the game, such as the ticketing machine, and handing out change. Bus Simulator also supports popular steering wheels, so as hopefully you are getting the picture that, the developers have really thought about the games approach.

Overall, I have really enjoyed my experience with Bus simulator 21. It’s easy to get to grips with, truly immersive and relaxing at the same time, with an excellent management system in place should you want to use it. A true to life experience of what it’s like to drive a bus, and it’s yours from the comfort of your living room.Packed with detail, I’ll be playing this game this time next year!