Bus simulator 2009 Review

Bus simulator 2009 Is finaly released
This is a review of the game that I been playing some days now
There is a Video of the game bellow.

As soon i got the game i was all eager to play
the installation went smooth and soon i found myself in a german menu
but this was not a problem , having played the previous Bus simulator 2008
I knew my way around in the menus.

The game give you 5000 Euro to startup
There is a cheat to get more
since 5000 euro is not enough to more than 2 Buses and 2 buslines.
go Go to C:/users/username/Documents/Bus simulator 2009
Then edit Profiles.xml in notepad

Starting the game i find myself in a Big Bustation I found my powerful PC could not handle
the graphics which i had to change lowering the quality and resolution
Now in the busdriver seat i started to play with all the function the game has to offer
There is frontlights, inside lights, Open/close doors, Wipers etc...
A Cool feature is that you can manualy sell tickets
when passengers enter the bus they want to buy ticket
until now no others busgame let you manually sell tickets

There is many camview and 360 rotation , inside cabview, passanger view
but as always with bus simulator from astragon the outside view is best
You can see the passangers enter the bus sit down and be seated the whole trip



I was eager to test my Momo steering wheel with the game
it went smooth so soon i found myself playing the game with steering wheel

The game is a Big City with some smaler village outside and a highway
While driving you can bring up the big map or the minimap to check your location
the map easy guide you in the correct direction
you also have a timetable you can bring up anytime

The game has some limited Weather conditions mostly Sunlight and Rain
you can set the game to follow your PC time so if is night when you playing it be night
in the game too.

One anoying thing is the game have to load new area of the city
this can be turned off (into automatic loading) but for this
you have to have very powerful pc
For me if i turned off the anoying loading city i found myself playing a very laggy game.
This is probaly the worst thing with Bus simulator 2009
Not even SCS busdriver which had better graphics had this

the game has Mission mode and Free game mode
In Mission mode you first have to buy some buses and lines (there is 10 buslines)



Freegame mode:

In free game mode you start in a busdepot/parking
where you can walk around and pick the bus you want to drive
once you enter the bus you can choose the bus line you want to drive
So far i found no way to exit the bus you just have to quit the game.

Buspark:

This are the buses in the game you can change the color:

Man Lioncity L (Men Tigers Town L)
Man Lioncity Articulated (Men Tigers town Xl)
Man Lion Interliner (Men Tigers Intercity)
Mercedes 405 (Ariba M504)
Mercedes Sprinter ( Ariba town runner)
Mercedes Travego 580 (Ariba M805 Trovago)
Mercedes Citaro Articulated (Ariba Town Maxi X2)
Mercedes Citaro (Ariba Town)
Volvo 7700 (Vulcan 9700)
Volvo 8700 (Vulcan 7800)
Neoplan Centroliner (New idea Zentraliner)

Is anoying that some long distance buses
you cannot drive in City bus Mission mode they can only be drive
in Freemode or doing some tour missions

The best Long distance bus Volvo 8700:



ROUTE EDITOR:

Unlike SCS busdriver which still has the best graphics
Bus simulator 2009 comes with a Route editor
In route editor you can make your own Bus line in the city
Is easy since each bustops has a dot with name of bustop
click on bustops and drive line between them then save

I found myself driving my own route in no time You can even change the Bustop name.

BUGS:

Unfortunaly not everything is good
there is Many bugs here is a list of what i found:

1. A few times the doors get blocked and you cannot close doors
this bug happen when no passengers is entering the bus
you are left in having to Reset the game

2. Traffic is still almost as buggy as in Bus simulator 2008

3. When using the Route editor after saving and starting to play you cannot Exit game
The solution is to restart the whole game after using the Route editor and then it play fine

4. For some reason now when i create new routes when loading the routes to play them
it has to load 2 times so it takes like forever to load your route
i decided it was better just make 1-2 route and instead leave the defalt ones
Certainly the Route editor is Buggy

5. The traffic lights change the light too fast


CONCLUSION

Bus simulator 2009 give you a real experience of driving buses
Many buslines, Passengers , bustops , Bustation, Following timetable etc..
Is very addicting if you like Buses
The graphics are better than Bus simulator 2008 but not as good as SCS busdriver


Many that have played Bus simulator 2008 are worried Bus simulator 2009 will be as bad
But just Relax Bus simulator 2009 is much better
you won't regret getting this game
Steering the Bus is much better than Bus simulator 2008
which was impossible to play because the steering was so bad
and you dont see a open-roof of the bus during Bustops
this make Bus simulator 2009 much more enjoyable
Bus simulator 2008 was more like a Joke
Astragon has learned a lot from their misstakes now with bus simulator 2009

Unfortunaly there is some anoying things such as the Loading of new City area
When Driving you just don't want to suddenly get a loading screen
then wait 3 minuts until it city area load this is probaly the worst thing in the game
surely the loading new area screen can be removed
but this make the game so laggy is not playable
(unless you have a very powerful PC and i dont mean laptop)

The traffic is buggy and there is only one Bustype (man lioncity red) driving around
SCS busdriver game has much better graphics and you have all Buses in traffic.

You can Enjoy playing Bus simulator 2009 if you can tolerate the bugs,the loading area screens and live with a buggy route editor.

I enjoy playing Bus simulator 2009 and is a GOOD game
for being a Astragon-contendo game
I am glad Astragon didn't give up on Busgames and continue to improve

There is things in Bus simulator 2009 that could be much better
but for now this is the Best comercial Bus simulator avaible
If you want lesser bugs and better graphics SCS busdriver is for you
but you miss the 360 rotation camangle and a more realistic simulation

Just remember don't ever get the Bus simulator 2008 or you regret it
Get Bus simulator 2009 .

With a low price of under 20 Euro The game is actually quite good
Surely Astragon can make a much better busgame in the future



WATCH VIDEO I MADE:



English PATCH:

I spent lot of time translating the german game into English
so until the English version come out i have my own English Patch: