Review: Bus Simulator Map Extension DLC – PS4

I’ve put more hours into weird simulator games than I care to say. Bus Simulator has been my latest endeavour, and it’s been quite a nice experience in lieu of the real thing. You know, ’cause of The Rona.
Bus Simulator has you creating your very own bus company and then, well, driving buses around, picking people up and dropping them off. It’s Bus Simulator, and this review is for the DLC, so you should know what to expect.
The new DLC, the Map Extension, adds new areas to the already sizeable game map. You get two new towns, Kerstadt and Sonnstein, both unashamedly German in their naming, and an airport between the two. You’ll ferry passengers along new routes while making fat stacks for your fictional bus company. The gameplay loop is simple, and the DLC doesn’t deviate from the main game’s ambitions. Instead, it adds a few new challenges and gives the hardcore players more space to manage.

The new areas do provide a challenge, too, with some previously unseen hairpin turns that had me smashing into fences and incurring massive fines. The same rules apply here as in the main game. If you hit a pedestrian, you’re gonna get a fine. If you go bounding over speed bumps, clipping curbs, missing stops, and generally being a bad bus driver, you’re gonna lose your company money. Lose enough and you’ll go bankrupt. Like I did. Several times…
Bus Simulator is a German game, and despite the paying public (there are some fare dodgers to keep an eye out for, or as we call them in German “schwarzfahrer”) speaking flawless American English, the game world is unmistakably German. Not everyone outside of Deutschland will recognise it or even appreciate it, but as someone who has spent a lot of time in Germany, I appreciate the little touches that let you know where the game was made: the simulator capital of the world.

There’s plenty to do with the Map Extension DLC, but it really is a case of more of the same. Whether that’s a good thing or not depends entirely on how much Bus Simulator you can handle. If you’ve perfected your base game routes and have optimised your workforce but still think there’s a chance to bring in some extra cash, you can go ahead and drop the pennies on the DLC knowing that your fictional company will be better off for it.
For me, Bus Simulator’s Map Extension DLC gives me a bit more road to rip along. I’ve had my fill of managing a bus company (miserably, I may add) and now I’m just happy to ride the scenic routes and listen to my passengers say the same silly sound bites over and over again. Which reminds me, there’s a party at the Old Sawmill tonight, so I better put Seasons of Winter on to record. Don’t want to miss what Hans gets up to next…

Bus Simulator Map Extension DLC PS4 Review

• 7/10
  Overall - Very Good - 7/10

7/10

Summary

Bus Simulator’s Map Extension DLC is more of the same, and depending on what you want out of your time with the game, that may be the best thing ever, or not. You get a sizeable chunk of new roads to map out new routes, and some new challenges to keep you busy. While the jankyness from the base game remains, so does the overall charm of this competent simulator.