Bus World Review

Most simulators on the market nowadays swing between two extremes: so monotonous it’s comical to be labelled as such, or too in-depth in its realism it alienates players who are looking for a laidback approach. There are only a few videogames in the genre able to walk the balance of comedy and reality (look at Saber Interactive’s Snowrunner and Roadcraft) that challenge the player in their depiction of driving dangerous terrain. Some simulators simply open the tutorial with the player driving in a bus convoy during the evacuation of Pripyat while experiencing radiation poisoning.

Bus World is a bus driver simulator (made by KishMish Games) with more buses to unlock than locations — made up of Iceland, Central Europe, and South China. Each region has a small narrative connected to a disaster and the subsequent aftermath and repair of infrastructure. Though the first missions (called scenarios) have you escaping natural disasters while also picking up passengers, the game allows players to drive regionally specific buses as they participate in disaster recovery by transporting workers to remote areas and more. The player is also scored on both their ability to drive and the punctuality of their spots across the map, on a strict schedule.

The graphics and textures, character models, and sound designs are reminiscent of mobile games from the last decade, yet the developer filled the game with enough variety and apparent foresight to not have repeating building models to stand out from other indie-made simulator titles. The greenery of Iceland’s landscape and dirt roads connecting the main highways differ from the thick jungle and winding mountain paths of the South China map, with the brutalist and surprisingly quiet Pripyat and destroyed nuclear plant juxtaposing the former. Bear in mind, most of the buildings do not have collisions as I learnt when taking a turn too fast and phasing through a petrol station into a mound.

Bus World’s simulated bus handling, the game’s performance, and progression of different obstacles to overcome are rewarding, especially since passenger dissatisfaction and being a lead foot can result in a mission failure quicker than you think. It is as easy to get a gold medal for each mission as it is to fail and restart from the beginning. The bus’s driving controls are simplified to a handful of inputs to operate the vehicle, with the steering feeling just about what would be expected when moving heavy machinery.

However, your vision can be impaired in first-person view at bus stops as passengers getting on and off are not properly indicated, so you have to flip through several camera perspectives to see the outside of the bus, panned out, in the middle, then back to the driver’s seat. It wouldn’t be an issue if there were a few stops, but some maps have close to 10.

Several obstacles and other effects from each location’s disaster bleed into each mission, like radiation pockets while driving around the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone, as well as police roadblocks preventing people from driving into lava on Iceland’s final mission. The use of natural and man-made disasters as a backdrop of the game’s motivations is a little silly at first thought; why did KishMish Games choose to make a tsunami the introduction of the South China map? Answer: it is a videogame, why not have you drive through a forest fire or help rebuild a bridge?

It can be surmised driving a bus in different locations can only be fun if the game is based in landmarks. If you don’t have a budget and want to make something different to attract an audience, why not deliver on high-stakes gameplay to blend into your usual bus route? Regarding bus routes, when the player unlocks a region, they can make their own bus routes in a free mode to explore the map on their own for the bus experts and tourists.

Because of this, the game opens up the viewpoint where public transport is essential in both everyday life and in crisis situations, where the player takes up a role of the unlikely hero and helper in society. Whether or not the developer meant it to be presented as such, the power fantasy of being a critical member of society who can be depended on joins together the absurdity and reality to make a well-balanced simulator.

It's a shame, however, I found the game to be boring after a short time to begin the process of reflection and review of what Bus World can give to gamers. If given a chance, and on discount, there’s a weekend’s worth of gaming in Bus World for the casual gamer with money to burn and for people who think the best role in Speed is the 1966 GM TDH 5303.