Bus Flipper: Renovator Simulator from Polden Publishing is an odd game for me. I love that they sent it for me to check out, and I normally love games like this. The premise alone seems like it would be great: buy old buses and campers, fix them up, furnish them nicely, and sell them for a profit. How can this possibly miss?

Truth be told, the game doesn’t really miss. The game is exactly as advertised. It also doesn’t even do a single thing badly. It looks pretty decent, and it controls pretty well. The sound is nice, and even the story that goes along with it is ok.

That, however, is kind of the issue; everything about it is just painfully average. Now the game costs less than $15, so expecting anything on par with House Flipper would be unfair, but there is very little room for you to be original. The game gives you some idea of how to furnish each bus after you clean it up. The ideas they give you are honestly what you should do, not because it gets you the best price, but because it doesn’t seem to matter. I tried the first mission twice and got the same offer on my bus when I tossed a bunch of coffee cups and a plant into the yard, as I did when they were on the bus.
This brings me to my next point, the mini game for negotiations. It is essentially a bar that zips back and forth, and it is basically a game of luck. The game isn’t by any means bad; for less than $15, there is some fun to be had. There are just much better games out there. Unless your heart is truly into fixing up buses, this one is better off staying on the auction block. 5/10, best wishes, and may the gaming gods bring you glory.