Game Review: Bus Simulator 27 (Xbox Series X)

Few games that involve driving a vehicle will have me obeying the rules of the road quite like Bus Simulator 27 does. No matter how often a red light halts my progress, no matter how often a traffic jam makes me late, no matter how often I’m tempted to break the speed limit, I don’t, and it’s not just because I’ll get fined and given bad reviews by passengers. It’s because I want to be the best darn bus driver I can be.

Not only that, I want to run the best darn bus company I can and Bus Simulator 27 allows me to live out that dream.

The latest entry in the Bus Simulator series of games, this time the game takes place in the fictional Felicia Bay where it’s your job to bring the public transport system back to its former glory.

Part driving simulator and part company management, Bus Simulator 27 is certainly the most expansive entry that I’ve played and after twenty-plus hours of playtime, I think I’ve experienced both the best and worst aspects of it.

It all begins with creating a character, a straightforward and basic system. From that, players can dive straight into the game if they choose or play through a story mode. Choose the latter and you’ll get to meet a whole host of characters (with voiceover) who join you in various roles on your journey to becoming a thriving and successful bus company. If you’re new to the series, this is the mode you’re going to want to play first. Not just because it has a story to tell, but because it cleverly and effectively introduces most of the game’s mechanics.

From buying your first bus, to creating your first route, to driving it yourself, hiring staff, and expanding through advertising, brand deals, and so much more. It’s surprisingly simple to get to grips with, and thanks to the mission layout and how tasks are broken up with periods of actual driving, quite fun to do. You never feel like you’re getting bogged down by pedantic tasks, even if some of the menus could be better laid out.

It really won’t take long for most players to feel comfortable with the gameplay mechanics, and I was surprised by how quickly I was able to expand. Within a few hours, I had several routes crossing different areas, buses of different styles running on those routes, a team of drivers bringing the money in, and so on. Yet, as much as I found myself enjoying the management side of things, it is driving the routes myself that keeps me coming back for more.

The story mode is not challenging and you’ll find you have money in abundance quite early on. It’s a great way to get to grips with gameplay and many of the game’s nuances in an organic, non-tutorial way, but when it comes down to it, it’s all about getting behind the wheel.

Once there, you’ll find a wealth of options available to you. So much so, that it does feel overwhelming at first. However, by putting all these options behind one single quick menu and some directional pad options, Simteract have made it quite simple to open doors, turn lights on and off, set the A/C, sell tickets, use the parking brake, extend and retract a ramp for wheelchair users, and so on. All of this really does make you feel like you’re in control.

There’s a satisfying weight to buses, and a notable difference between styes too. I found double decker buses to be unwieldy, of course, and smaller, electric buses to be smooth and calm. I can’t say though that I really noticed any difference between designs, aside from how the interior looks. Although coaches do get a bit nippy when travelling across the countryside.

One of my favourite things about being behind the wheel of a bus though actually involves me stepping away from it, temporarily. Bus Simulator 27 has random optional events such as passengers listening to loud music, falling asleep, attempting to fare evade, and more. Dealing with these issues is very simple but very satisfying too. Especially as you don’t have to take the calm approach if you don’t want to. Fancy throwing everyone off your bus? You can, even if your ratings will certainly suffer.

Stuff like this, and selling the occasional ticket, makes the game feel less like a driving simulator and are very welcome. As is the option to play the game in first or third person, the option to change the time of day at any point, and the option to approach driving from different perspectives. Drive safe and drive well and the game will reward you for it.

Alas, that brings me to the issues that plague Bus Simulator 27. One of which is the driving reward/penalty system that can be a bit picky, mainly around indicators. I’ve been penalised quite often for using one on a straight road when I had put it on to turn a corner. Likewise, having my indicator switch off as I pulled into a bus stop and then be penalised for not using one happened a few too many times.

These are small issues that begin to mount up when combined with other glaring technical problems. One of which that I experienced saw a passenger get up to get off the bus, slip through the floor, get frozen, which meant when I pulled away, the game counted it as me hitting a pedestrian. He was in the middle of my bus, there was simply no way around it and the penalisation was harsh, unsurprisingly.

Something like that is rare though, and the bugs around passengers ends up being more amusing than problematic. What is less funny is the AI traffic. There are bad drivers, which can be quite fun to navigate, and then are braindead drivers. I’ve been driven into, been forced to go around cars stopped in the middle of the road for no reason, stuck for ages at a green light as a cautious driver edges forward to make a turn, and watched some cars outright vanish.

These are the issues that have an effect, but not to the extent that they ruin or break the game. To be honest, they’re forgivable because they can be patched out eventually.

Overall, I found that the game ran well on my Xbox Series X. I have had no freezes, no crashes, and no game-breaking bugs. The visuals are the best I’ve seen from this series to date with Felicia Bay proving to be a lovely backdrop to becoming an expert bus operator and a place well worth exploring (provided it’s on a route).

Gameplay is addictive to the point that even when story mode is complete, there’s still plenty to do and plenty of reasons to want to. I find it quite a relaxing experience to play, even if I occasionally resort to honking my horn at other drivers who just won’t get out of the way!