Review – Bus Bound – Gamerview

Is it possible to feel comfortable outside your comfort zone? I’m a player mainly of RPG and FPS titles, with an open mind to half a dozen other genres. Simulators are not included. However, I accepted the challenge of analyzing and found myself feeling a peace that I had never felt before. Five years later, I’m enjoying a bus driver simulator again: .

Obviously, there are many similarities between the two titles. There’s not much to add to a formula, especially when it has its feet (or, in this case, wheels) firmly in reality. Still, the developer dares to add an equally pleasurable component to the gameplay: context. The result is a cool simulator with an optimistic message about the advantages of public transport in the urban environment.

Casual goes too far

That said, it would be futile to feign familiarity with the genre or erudition. Still, Bus Bound offers a much friendlier experience than The Bus. In that one, the standard was to use a wide range of buttons to perform tasks, from turning on the vehicle’s interior light, to lowering the suspension for passengers to board and disembark, with an option to simplify everything to a minimal set of buttons. Here, the default is to present a minimum set of buttons, permanently exposed on the screen, with the option of increasing the complexity in search of more realism.

This design choice by the developer allows the game to work both for the casual gamer who just wants to make a few trips around a digital city after a long day of real work, and for the simulator enthusiast who has built a cockpit with a steering wheel at home. From the inside view of the cabin, it is possible to control every aspect of the trip and the bus by pressing buttons on the panel, which increases the immersion of virtual pilots.

In terms of vehicle physics, Bus Bound doesn’t overcomplicate things. Driving a bus through an urban center is very far from being an activity even similar to putting your foot on the accelerator without fear of being happy in a Need For Speed, but it is also far from being an exercise in precision, control and frustration like parking in a Euro Truck Simulator. Still alive studios has a considerable CV, with titles such as Bus Simulator 21 and Bus Simulator 18, but here it chose the middle path, in which realism cannot be an obstacle to fun, but its ally. Despite everything, it is essential to pay attention to curves, braking capacity and other details that change from bus to bus, to avoid accidents.

On the other hand, in the technical aspect, Bus Bound leaves something to be desired in some points. The AI ​​in the other cars is either too realistic or too stupid. The fact is that it is very difficult to lead a life as a bus driver when other drivers seem to ignore that your vehicle is at an intersection. Several times, the light was open for me, I was crossing a giant bus in front of the road and, still, some car hit me on the side. In every case, I was penalized as if the mistake was my own. There was no button to stick your head out of the bus and shout: “can’t you see me, can you?”

The “Sundays” AI is strange to the point where I was standing at the bus stop, picking up a passenger, and some car hit the side of the bus, trying to get into my lane. It takes almost impossible precision to leave the spot without scratching the unsuspecting person’s paintwork, which earns me punishment. There was no button to get off the bus with the tire iron in hand and the willingness to fight.

Bus Bound needs a bodywork

AI problems become quaint after a while, and practicing defensive driving adds a new layer of challenge. The real problem with Bus Bound is its lack of optimization. The title takes an unbelievable amount of time to compile shaders in its initial run, to the point where I almost gave up analyzing after attempts that took 30 minutes. The game only became playable the day I left the compilation running and went to wash a sink full of dishes from the previous day. And even then, with each new session, a new build was a barrier of several minutes before being able to enter the game.

So much compilation to deliver a game that would have been beautiful if it had been released a couple of generations ago. Grand Theft Auto V features a significantly larger and more beautiful city and is a title that is over twelve years old. Still alive studios has a fraction of Rockstar Games’ budget, obviously, but technology has evolved, costs have been reduced, there’s nothing that justifies such an outdated look. The Bus, from five years ago, was equally heavy, but visually superior (except in terms of pedestrian modeling).

In longer sessions, Bus Bound begins to manifest inconsistencies that may indicate a memory leak. Passengers waiting at bus stops may appear buried half a meter below the ground or floating half a meter above. Crashes that would generate complaints from passengers are not recorded. The heat emanating from the PC’s bowels is volcanic. However, it is important to inform you that I played a preview version intended for the press, almost a month in advance. There is hope that the title has been released with more optimization and bug fixes.

Change starts with you

If the technical part is the weak point of this engine, the narrative part is the strong point. Not that Bus Bound tries to push a little story onto the player, with characters, dialogues, mini-dramas or anything like that. There’s no need. There is a rehearsal of this at the beginning, but it does not evolve beyond what is unnecessary. The developer’s investment is in the general context of career mode. We are here to change this city.

With each line unlocked, with each job well done, we gain the trust of the residents of this city. The first neighborhood in which this company obtained the transport contract is Caidaço. Little by little, we are changing people’s perception of the neighborhood and they are giving up their cars. This allows the city to redevelop the neighborhood, renovating buildings, creating exclusive bus lanes, improving mobility, adding sidewalks and transforming the region into a destination for more people. Bus Bound also offers an inaugural post-renovation trip, in which we transport passengers who are amazed by how much more beautiful everything has become. It’s strange to write, but it warms your heart, especially for those who live in a metropolis with so many neighborhoods abandoned to their own devices.

In this way, the city of Bus Bound is alive. Not only is it possible to travel in different day and night cycles (with different passenger flows), but it is also possible to travel in fog or rain, which turns trips that could be repetitive into much more pleasurable experiences. And then, when the municipal reform comes, the neighborhood changes, the routes change and the game becomes even richer. Throughout this career, we bring renovation to other areas, bridges are being released, new vehicles are becoming available and the game grows in a very organic way.

Another new feature (at least for me) is that the game also goes beyond traditional vehicle appearance customization. In Bus Bound, it is possible to customize all bus lines, including those mandatory lines that the game presents. Do you want to take a walk around place X? Just edit. Do you want to add that bus stop that was missing an achievement? Just edit. Do you want to create a line from scratch, that takes as many turns as your imagination allows and that would drive a city hall inspector crazy? You can create too.

All of this converges into a charming and personal journey behind the wheel of several buses. You are an agent of urban change, even if sometimes you feel like cursing the traffic.