By bus on the highway
"Fernbus Simulator" was released in Poland as "Bus Simulator 2017" by Techland. The creator of the game - TML-Studios - already has a lot of experience in this topic, but this time he focused on intercity bus transportation. There aren't many games like this on the market.
In the game, we get behind the wheel of a MAN Lion's Coach, which is available in two versions - smaller and larger (C). We transport people between cities, we rush along the German autobahns. The whole map of Germany with important cities is available. The creators, in addition to the MAN license, also have the license of Flixbus, a popular German bus carrier.
There are two game modes - career and freestyle. In the latter, we can explore the country without any tasks. However, the main option is a career. First, we select the starting city, and then we create our own routes, which can pass through several agglomerations where there will be stops. The selected city must be unlocked by us, i.е. you must get to it first. After each route we pass, we get points. We are evaluated, among other things, for driving technique (for example, maintaining the correct speed), caring for passengers (for example, comfortable air conditioning) or punctuality. As the number of points earned increases, new opportunities open up, such as instant passenger check-in.
We begin our journey at the headquarters - we open the car door, enter, close it and get behind the wheel. We turn on the electrics, display the destination city, start the engine, turn on the appropriate gear, release the manual gear and you can move on. Such preparation of the coach for the road is very interesting and realistic. Interaction with the car, the sound of a door opening or the roar of the engine with increasing speed are reproduced well.
Using GPS navigation or using a map, we go to the first stop to pick up passengers. We open the door on the spot, go out and provide the luggage compartment. Then we start registration - we approach each person standing and compare his name and surname on the ticket (paper or mobile version) with the list of passengers on your phone. Who does not have a ticket, we sell it. Sometimes it happens that the traveler has a ticket, for example, for another time, about which we must inform him. The phone is available by default, by pressing the Esc key - it shows, among other things, the most important information about the route and provides a game menu.
When everyone is seated, we close the luggage hatch and get into the car. Now it's worth recreating the welcome message for passengers and turning on the information panel, because for this we get extra points. When we hit the road, travelers are almost immediately asked to turn on Wi-Fi or change the temperature of the air conditioner. Sometimes while driving we also get comments, for example about driving too fast (like: “this is not formula 1!”). Well, taking care of travelers is a hallmark of this game. It also happens, for example, that we have to go to the parking lot so that the police can inspect the vehicle.
On the route, we encounter traffic jams, accidents, roadworks and detours that we may not get through in time. Night and day, changing weather conditions, different seasons - these are the factors that add realism to the game, although they do not always make it easier to control. We must also remember that when driving a bus, you must make wider turns than in a car. The driving pattern as well as sounds are real, the car rolls well when cornering faster and bounces when hitting the brake pedal. A simplified driving model is also available.
Most of the switches and knobs in the cockpit (made with attention to detail) are interactive. We can use the number keys to zoom in on the selected part of the dashboard and click the switches with the mouse. At the beginning of the game, it is worth checking the control settings in order to assign keys to various functions of the car - and then, driving a hundred along the highway, do not look for the appropriate button when someone asks you to open the toilet.
To control the game, we can use both the keyboard and the steering wheel, or, interestingly, use the mouse control option. This gives us the opportunity to move smoothly without connecting the steering wheel. The graphic design of the game is at a good level. By default, only two bus colors are available - from Flixbus. However, the game is synced with the Steam Workshop, so it is open to other graphic themes.
"Bus Simulator" is a well-made game, the main advantages of which are: interactive and detailed MAN bus models, random traffic obstacles, dynamic weather, passenger care system and realistic driving model.
I would not recommend.
