Review: Bus Driver game

In these pages recently, we've seen flight and rail simulators (look out for our review of the new Rail Simulator next issue), both of which are well-known genres.

We also looked at the surprisingly entertaining Ship Simulator, and now comes Bus Driver.

Unlike, say, Grand Theft Auto, there's no free play here, and no combat. It's not possible to run people over, either.

The game is a bus-driving simulator, pure and simple. Follow the rules of the road, pick up and drop off passengers. A bus driver's life is probably fairly dull but - here in London, at least - punctuated by the excitement of fights and angry passengers. It's much the same in Bus Driver, except without the excitement.

Actually, that's a bit harsh. While there are no rowdy passengers, the game avoids monotony by varying the situations in which you drive - it switches from the city, at various times, to the snowy mountains, and out to the airport in the rain. It's easy to use, with simple controls, and points are accrued by following the rules - picking up and dropping off on time, leaving no-one behind and following traffic lights.

The graphics are fine, but not spectacular, and nor is the sound. It's reasonably realistic, although while we were able to get away with some pretty ropey driving for no penalty, we weren't able to get the hang of braking without scaring the passengers.

Our biggest complaint is that there's no free-form driving: everything has to be done inside the 20 tasks, which get harder as you progress. There's a variety of vehicles, including double-deckers, but while the place names have been localised (Tooting, Fulwell, Acton), the driving's on the right (that is, wrong) side of the road, as are the doors. So it's not that realistic after all. A free limited demo is available.

Vista compatible: Yes