Games Thursday : Bus Driver Demo Review

A review of the Bus Driver demo by SCS Software in which you play a bus driver – unsurprising considering the game IS called Bus Driver :) Discovered this game from a review of the full game by James Allen’s Out of Eight PC Reviews which gave Bus Driver a 6/8.

A semi-realistic simulation of sorts, you drive a bus around town on pre-determined routes. There are 30 routes in the full game with 6 initially unlocked. I haven’t checked if the demo version allows all routes to be played because my one hour trial has expired :(

The driving style is a refreshing change from the type of (usually) reckless driving I attempt in most racing games : improper change of lanes without signalling, collisions with other vehicles and road barriers or ignoring traffic lights are penalized so I gradually adopted a slower-paced and more cautious driving techniques as I drove on the different routes in various road and weather conditions.

Some of the mistakes I made in my first few attempts to drive the bus like in a racing game.


Knocking down streetlights


Mounting kerbs


Overstopping and overbraking


Ramming bus stops


Driving into the opposite lane

The graphics are serviceable but the nicely detailed city in which you’re driving in seems to be an empty ghost town where the only people in the city are all at the bus stops. Below are some of the picturesque but empty locations I found myself driving in :)

The game is also not exactly replayable because it’s limited to only 30 routes without a route editor.

Nonetheless, it’s strangely addictive when you actually deliver your passengers to their destinations with a clean sheet. Not that easy considering that the traffic lights change pretty quickly and it takes several seconds to stop a bus without overbraking (which is heavily penalized). Driving with steering wheels and pedals or analog gamepads is therefore highly recommended over keyboards because of the difficulty of accurately adjusting the braking intensity while tapping the cursor keys.

Unfortunately, I haven’t seen this game on retail in SG and the only way to buy it is via Internet for 22.99 Euros or 29.99 USD. Hopefully some budget publisher will pick it up for retail in SG :)

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9 comments:

  1. The Elderly SINGAPORE, Saturday, September 1st, 2007, 5:03 pm

    overbraking and stopping way beyond the bus stop are defining features on my bus route… high speed take off is also a real treat.. unless your standing of course…

     
  2. Roys! SINGAPORE, Sunday, September 2nd, 2007, 7:26 pm

    Over here, we have it much better, I would love to drive a double-decker in this game but my trial time has expired. Damn!

     
  3. The Elderly SINGAPORE, Monday, September 3rd, 2007, 6:52 pm

    I remember the bus on GTA.. now that was a real treat…..

     
  4. Roys! SINGAPORE, Monday, September 3rd, 2007, 7:46 pm

    Hmm I only played with the bus in GTA2. I vaguely remembered attempting to fly a bus accross ramps at that time (unsuccessfully)

     
  5. wilson BRAZIL, Friday, October 10th, 2008, 8:20 am

    como baixa

     
  6. ammar SERBIA AND MONTENEGRO, Sunday, February 1st, 2009, 6:18 pm

    ja bi da imam igricu a imao sam je

     
  7. ammar SERBIA AND MONTENEGRO, Sunday, February 1st, 2009, 6:20 pm

    a imam gta……………))))))))))))))

     
  8. ammar SERBIA AND MONTENEGRO, Sunday, February 1st, 2009, 6:27 pm

    ali voleobi da imam bus driver

     
  9. ammar SERBIA AND MONTENEGRO, Sunday, February 1st, 2009, 6:29 pm

    gta je najbolji………….)))))))))

     

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