Bus Bound is the newest bus driving simulator sent my way by Saber Interactive, a company that if you love driving simulator you undoubtably have played one of their games. This time around they are tackling driving city busses. What you may not know about good ole Savior is I spent some time a a school bus driver at one point. So if this game is bad, or these buses don’t feel like busses, I will know quickly.
The first thing you do is get a tutorial, and they quickly explain you won’t be dealing with ticket fairs. Great move Saber, I hated this in other bus simulators. There is just no way to do this without greatly slowing down the flow of the game, and having rode many busses most people pay with exact change anyway and the few buttons I have seen drivers hit require next to no time. Saber chose to explain it as the company gets paid through grants or taxes or something.
Graphically the game is beautiful. A couple times I almost hit a few things because as you reach milestones the city will upgrade and I was taking in the sights and forgot to hit the breaks. This brings me to how you are rated, in real time, by passengers. If you drive well, slow down for speed bumps ( keep it under 10 MPH ladies and gents) and stop at stop signs and don’t speed they will make positive comments, give you a thumbs up, give you multipliers and stops will upgrade faster and even help you get new busses. Slamming on the breaks, speeding, hitting speed bumps hard and other assorted violations will do the opposite.
This was always going to be the big selling or killing point for me however. Does it feel like driving a bus, and how is traffic? Well I am going to let you in on a secret, when you are driving a bus other drivers always seem like idiots, because they don’t realize how big a bus actually is an how hard it is to see them sometimes. They also don’t realize those things don’t stop or really turn a fast as their smaller cars, so when they whip in front of you or cut you off, it gets stressful because if there is an accident, the other person will die, and you in the bus will be fine. And we will have to live with that knowledge. The traffic in this game basically acts like real traffic does, and I like that. As for how the bus controls, it isn’t perfect but damn is it close. Busses need wide turns, but they are modern so they don’t feel heavy and clunky, just like modern busses. They don’t stop fast, but they jolt a bit, just like modern busses. My only complaint every bus feels similar, and that isn’t realistic. Even two of the same model school bus feels a bit different. The game is still a 8/10 title. Best wishes, and may the gaming gods bring you glory.
- Bus Bound PlayStation 5 Review
- R-Type Dimensions III – 7 day countdown
- Sudden Strike 5 PlayStation Review
- Aliens: Fireteam Elite 2 trailer
- Evil Dead Burn trailer
Savior Gaming 