This is weird, originally I asked for a review copy of Bus Simulator 18 because I thought it would be good a laugh, even more so when I brought a friend along for the ride.
But the fact of the matter is I actually, truly, and honestly really enjoyed Bus Simulator 18 and honestly, I’m kind of a fan now despite all the bugs and issues we encountered such as. Turning into Jesus and walking on the water, walking through walls, and watching old women fingering themselves on the bus because of how their 3D models are rigged.
Now, for several years I was living in Norway tragically I am now back in Florida in the United States, but while I lived there I relied heavily on public transportation that being the Skyss bus service and Bus Simulator 18 nails, flawlessly. Not just selling customers tickets but how routes and bus drivers are managed for these routes, maintaining the bus’ you drive, and handling riders on the bus when they try to stiff you and ride for free, I would know I got caught once because I’m stupidly poor!
Bus Simulator 18 captures without much difficulty how easy it is to ride on public transit to get to your destinations and navigate the troubles you’ll encounter as a bus driver. However, it should be noted there are several areas I did find grievances towards, most notably the non-player character (NPC’s) interactions. 
Pretty much all issues I disliked about the simulation were things that felt rushed, and as a whole it made it feel a bit like a cash grab, most of these things you won’t even notice unless you’re playing multiplayer because then you end up directly interacting with it.
The first issue of which was the voice lines the characters had, in a lot of games voice acting can make or break a game taking Titanfall as an example here most notably the games vocals are the key points of the game taking up the majority of its file size and in-game content being just basic assets. In Bus Simulator 18 it feels as if they got about seven people to say the same lines because at this point I’ve heard about everyone’s cat named Purely I’d like to estimate about thirty to forty times.
We also can’t forget my earlier note about the character models from earlier, since every character acts exactly the same it creates some questionable moments where older women in skirts will pull out their phones, but definitely not from their pockets. This can add a mild mix of hilarity if you’re playing with goofballs such as my friends and I but is not without concern. But I think the thing that indicates the game was hastily made is the fact that a handful of buildings, cars, and other inanimate objects have no hit detection and you can walk and stand directly in walls of buildings, walk on water, and all around break the simulation because you think instinctively the players will just obey the basic rules of the game that is, you drive the bus and only the bus.
It was fun however breaking a lot of the game, and trying to figure out what to poke fun at next, but after a while, I found myself actually enjoying the simulation and I am wondering how long it will be until I can afford another bus and expand my map into newer areas for larger routes. The game even with its bugs, and issues became something I enjoyed and helped me feel like I am still attached to Norway in some way because I feel like I am back riding public transit as I did for all those years living there.
If you’re interested in Simulation styled games, or if you just love Busses I honestly can recommend Bus Simulator 18 it’s good fun and if you’re as equally screwed up in the head as I am, then you will find more things to poke fun at and crack jokes about then I probably did because there is a lot to make fun of in the game, and like I did sometimes it’s just better to bring a friend along.
An autistic gamer with opinions on games who also enjoys making dumb videos on the internet!