Have you ever wanted to drive a bus? With visions of a yellow school bus loaded with eighty screaming and yelling elementary school kids, my first thought was “NO!”, but as I asked my own kids they were very enthusiastic about giving it a try.

Bus Driver looks like it is going to be one of those crazy driving games, but it isn’t: it is very serious and realistic simulator. The game puts you behind the wheel of a variety of buses and gives you a seemingly simple task: pick up passengers who want to go someplace and get them there safely. So what could go wrong?

You start off driving a bus through the training routes in a large and very detailed city. Immediately you will discover several things that drive home the fact that this is a simulator and not an arcade game: steering the bus is very tough, driving laws and traffic regulations are enforced, and you get scored largely based on how well you drive and how promptly you deliver your passengers.

The fact sheet for the game is impressive – there are 12 buses to drive, 30 routes around the city, ever-changing weather patterns and a realistic day/night cycle. Couple that with the traffic rules to follow and the various types of passengers you will transport, and there is considerable meat for a budget game.

When I first started playing, I found myself getting very frustrated by the fact that I was constantly losing points because my passengers got mad that I was stopping too abruptly. I tried coasting to a near stop than applying the brakes, but that didn’t help. As it turns out, using the keyboard for brakes turns it into an ‘all of nothing’ deal – no brakes or foot to the floor! Fortunately I have an XBOX360 controller and could use that to work the brakes with a great deal more subtlety – and then I really started enjoying the game.

Bus Driver is challenging because of the restrictions it places on you: your goal is to get the best possible score, but you will be astounded by the ways you can lose points! I just veered too far out of my lane and lost 10 points! Of course, if I was driving and watched a school bus veering in and out of lanes I would be quite concerned, and if I were taking a metro shuttle that jumped the curb a few times I would be more than a bit perturbed!

I mentioned before that my kids were very enthusiastic about the possibility of getting behind the wheel of a bus, so I handed the controller off to my kids. They played two games:

• Highest possible score.
• Lowest possible score.

Of course, the last one isn’t an ‘official’ game, but there is nothing stopping you from selectively ignoring objectives and driving with reckless abandon and getting an awful score. Kids being kids, this ‘version’ of the game resulted in loads of giggles and excitement, but didn’t last quite as long. That is because as a ‘Burnout clone’ the game isn’t all that much fun: no matter what you do, a huge bus with a massive turn radius, ponderous acceleration and no ability to ‘drift’ is only going to generate so much excitement as a ‘cruise-mobile’.

So they went back to playing the game as intended – and the room got much quieter. Each would ‘spot’ for the other, making sure they knew where the objectives were and about any upcoming traffic signals or other road hazards. It was almost like watching a completely different game, and one that remained fun and challenging for them despite not having any of the bombast typically favored with kids.

The reasons they liked it were the same reasons I liked it – the game is realistic enough to keep you engaged without overloading you in the simulation; provides enough clues to constantly keep you on target without feeling spoon fed; and challenging enough to keep you focused without becoming frustrating. They also really liked the ‘audience reactions’ when you completed a mission, though I found it took away from the immersion by making it feel more like an arcade game. But many kids games have that sort of thing – some sort of ‘applause track’ for when you succeed.

Technically the game is very well done – as I said, the graphics are excellent and the bus and city are all nicely modeled and make you feel that ‘you are there’. The realistic sounds as you proceed certainly help that feeling, as does the application of traffic laws. The game does a great job of bringing a bus driving simulator to the PC – and it runs well on a wide range of systems as well!

My issues with the game are fairly few: as I mentioned I would rather have been able to control the game with the keyboard than the XBOX360 controller (though my kids preferred the controller). I also wish that there was a ‘free drive mode’ that gave you a lot more leeway to just cruise the bus around the city for fun. That might sound strange, but the game would be fun and relaxing just taking in the city without having specific places to go all the time. Perhaps there will be some downloadable content that will expand the possibilities for exploration.

Everything about this game hinges on a single question: would you like to try your hand driving a bus? If the answer is no, this game isn’t for you. If you would enjoy navigating the roads in one of these massive vehicles, Bus Driver has plenty to offer: lots of routes and buses and weather options add up to many hours of fun simulation, and the game looks and sounds great while running on most recently released PC’s. It is a rare game that is fun for just about anyone and doesn’t have any content that would make you concerned about sharing with your kids – or parents!

Pros: Realistic simulation, nice city, fun and challenging.
Cons: Really need to use game controller, limited freedom.

Score: 4 / 5 Stars

Tags: Game Reviews