Bus Simulator 27 from astragon Entertainment and Simteract is the latest entry in the long-running series, which had been MIA for a handful of years. Check out our Bus Simulator 27 review!

 

Bus Simulator 27 from astragon Entertainment and Simteract is the latest entry in the long-running series, which had been MIA for a handful of years. Your tasks are simple: you’ll need to create and serve routes, as you hire bus drivers and manage timetables, assigning lines to better serve the community as well as tourists. It offers a large bus fleet for you to take for a spin, with 45+ officially licensed buses from 13 manufacturers, including Solaris, Mercedes-Benz, MAN, IVECO BUS, Scania, and Volvo. It will all take place in Felicia Bay, a fictitious region located in Southern Europe that has been inspired by Spain and Portugal. As you explore the twin cities of Alcaztelar and Mequina, you’ll drive around their 20 districts while experiencing the day and night cycle with dynamic weather conditions, all thanks ot the Unreal Engine 5.

You can take on this one by picking from one of three different game modes: Story Mode, Career Mode, and Sandbox Mode. Story Mode will have you following the game’s story as you build up your transportation company. The Career Mode removes story missions, and you’ll be able to unlock districts in any order you prefer. As for the Sandbox Mode, you can create any bus lines and drive around as you please. You’ll even have unlimited money, and everything will be unlocked. You can play this one on your own or while making the most of the multiplayer for up to four players.

But before you can do any of this, you’ll first need to create your character, as well as create a company. For your character, you can go with either a preset character model or customize its look. You can pick from different body heights and skin colors, select its face, hairstyle, eyebrows, and hair color, as well as pick between different outfits and colors, and grab yourself an accessory. Pick its name and surname, and that’s that for your character! As for the company, you can pick its name, as well as choose a logo style and its colors.

You can pick from one of four different driving settings for your journey: Casual, Standard, Realistic, or Custom. The Casual driving setting will offer a more relaxed experience, with assisted mode changes for the transmission, very high control automation, and bus components that are always available. The Standard driving setting has been balanced to challenge you a bit more, but without making you feel overwhelmed. You’ll still have assisted mode changes for the transmission and high control automation, but bus components will be bus-dependent.

 

The Realistic driving setting will have no control automation, so you’ll have to change modes manually for the transmission, and bus components will be bus-dependent. As for the Custom driving setting, it will allow you to tailor the driving experience to your exact preferences and skill level, allowing you to mix and match settings for things such as transmission assistance, engine power, unlocking and opening doors, ramps, lights, wipers, temperature control, bus creeping, and speed limiter. Which one will you choose?

There are also difficulty settings to choose from for the world and company settings, with your options being Relaxed, Medium, Intense, and Custom. The Relaxed setting will present a non-demanding game world for a more chill experience, with few traffic discipline penalties, no traffic events, and low passenger events. The Medium setting will give you a pass on most traffic rules, with low traffic events and medium passenger events. The Intense setting will have you having to keep in mind all possible traffic discipline penalties, medium traffic events, and medium passenger events. As was the case for driving settings, the Custom option for world and company will let you pick from several options so that you can find the right combination for you.

When you’re on foot, you’ll use the left analog stick to walk around as you jump by pressing the Triangle button, and run by pressing and holding down the R2 button. Interactions will be mapped to the X and Square buttons. Once you do get behind the wheel, you’ll be steering the bus with the left analog stick, and the right analog stick can be used to move the camera around you. Press the R2 button to accelerate, and press the L2 button to hit the brakes. Pressing down on the D-Pad will be for the parking brake. Pressing in on the right analog stick will change your view from the first-person view to the third-person view.

Press the Square button to open up the shortcuts menu. From there, you’ll be able to control the lights, doors, driving controls, ramp, kneeling, and other essential bus functions that will make your life a whole lot easier. This is the fastest way for you to say, turn on the ignition… you know, once you’ve closed the bus’s door! Switch between the different sections of the shortcuts menu by pressing the L1 and R1 buttons.

To work on a bus line, you will first need to log in to the bus computer by pressing the Triangle button. Once you’ve logged in, the bus computer will show you the line’s number, as well as mark the timetable for the different stops that you need to reach, as per the schedule. You’ll also use the computer to sell tickets to passengers at each stop.

Trophy-wise, this release features a full trophy list with a Platinum trophy to add to your collection. The list is a long one, and it’s split into 31 Bronze trophies, 9 Silver trophies, and 3 Gold trophies for you to work on. What will you need to do for that shiny Platinum trophy? Some of the objectives to complete include having the company earn a total of €1,000,000, reaching a speed of 90 km/h, driving buses of 10 different brands for 1km, owning 10 different bus models, achieving company level 10, driving 1,000 kilometers, catching a fare dodger, unlocking a map zone, employing 80 employees, collecting a Felicia Bay photo, and connecting all bus stops, to name some examples.

Bus Simulator 27 is the latest entry in the long-running series, which had been MIA for a handful of years. Your tasks are simple: you’ll need to create and serve routes, as you hire bus drivers and manage timetables, assigning lines to better serve the community as well as tourists. It offers a large bus fleet for you to take for a spin, with 45+ officially licensed buses from 13 manufacturers, including Solaris, Mercedes-Benz, MAN, IVECO BUS, Scania, and Volvo. It will all take place in Felicia Bay, a fictitious region located in Southern Europe that has been inspired by Spain and Portugal. As you explore the twin cities of Alcaztelar and Mequina, you’ll drive around their 20 districts while experiencing the day and night cycle with dynamic weather conditions, all thanks ot the Unreal Engine 5.

You can customize your experience by choosing between the Quality Mode and the Performance Mode for the game’s graphics. As expected, Quality Mode will favor the game’s max resolution while lowering the overall framerate, while Performance Mode will lower the resolution in order to favor the framerate. There’s even the option of picking between two world art styles to change how the game looks: Classic and Realistic. The Classic option will offer a cinematic color grading for a more stylized look. The Realistic option will use natural, ungraded colors for a more authentic world. Bus Simulator 27 is out on PlayStation 5 with a $34.99 price tag. There’s also the Bus Simulator 27 – Year 1 for $54.99, which, along with the base game, also includes the following:

1x Mercedes Benz Intouro Bus DLC
1x FlixBus Coach Expansion
2x Bus Packs
2x Cosmetic Packs

[penci_review]

Disclaimer
This Bus Simulator 27 review is based on a PlayStation 5 copy provided by astragon Entertainment.