If you like simulator games, you will love Bus Simulator 21, by astragon Entertainment and stillalive studios. Absolutely anything one could want to do with a bus, or a bus company is present, along with more options one did not even know they wanted. Has Bus Simulator 21 cracked the formula to making a near perfect bus simulation?
There are 2 main ways to play this game: with the sandbox enabled or disabled. The sandbox mode allows you to jump straight into it and drive any bus available in the game and with no quests. The other way gives you certain missions and objectives helping you get better and better buses for your bus company. Other than that, the modes are the exact same and will let you enjoy the full simulator experience.
The level of detail in Bus Simulator 21 is amazing. If you are new to Bus Simulator, the initial learning curve might discourage one from playing. However, once you get past it, the level of immersion you can feel is phenomenal. Everything from kneeling the bus to controlling every door to lowering the ramp for disabled people is present in this simulator. When you start Bus Simulator 21, you can also make your own character. The options are quite minimal but adequate. In addition to this, there are a lot of buses to choose from including famous names, like Mercedes-Benz. The lack of American companies is a bit of a letdown, but does not take away from a great simulator experience. You can also customize each bus with paint options, a. large variety of decals and even the interiors.
The textures and overall graphics quality are very solid. Unfortunately, the older generation PS4 this game was tested on is not able to process it resulting in a few dropped frames and a less than smooth simulator experience. This came as a real disappointment as one could see how good the game could look and feel, but was left wanting more. However, the game developers have been doing a very good job with their regular updates. A day before the writing of this review, patch 2.06 on the PS4 removed a lot of the graphics issues faced during gameplay. The game still does drop some frames, but the developers fixed other issues, which plagued the simulator such as its previously bad draw distances. Other than this issue and a few minor bugs, Bus Simulator 21 is still a very good simulator experience and promises to be a near perfect one.
In conclusion, it is easy to say that if you want to experience driving a bus route or running a bus company this is the simulator for you. Despite its few flaws, the game is an almost true simulator experience when played on the highest difficulty setting and will absolutely wow you with the number of things it can offer for you to do. For what it is, Bus Simulator 21 is the best bus simulation game out there in my opinion.
Game Score: 7.5/10
Check out the Bus Simulator 21 Trailer – https://youtu.be/NMm0RcBYAPo
Bus Simulator 21 is now available on the PlayStation Store, the Microsoft Store, on Steam, and astragon.com.
PlayStation Review
My first ever video game console was a Game Boy Advanced SP and I remember playing sidescrolling platformers for hours. I have not stopped ever since and my love for video game consoles has only grown to include a (now broken) PS2, a PSP, an Xbox 360, a Nintendo Wii, a Nintendo DS and a PS4.
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