Astragon Entertainment along with Stillalive Studios has finally brought in the Official Map Expansion to their bus driving simulator game; Bus Simulator for the consoles. Although the official expansion pack was already available for PC last year, I finally got to try out the content of the expansion on the console version of the game. This review is about Bus Simulator and its Official Map Expansion that I played on the PlayStation 4.
The map expansion basically brings in new areas in the form of districts that are now a part of Seaside Valley. The new districts in question are Kerststadt and Sonnstein, where you will find everything from new routes, new roads, bus stops, and of course, plenty of scenic views. While the original game already had several routes to explore in the main city, I always felt that there could be more distant locations that could be added or even longer highways that covered scenic views. This takes away the monotonous pattern of just focusing on passengers and bus stops and gives a brief time to enjoy the routes themselves.
With the new map expansion, Astragon and Stillalive have done just that but adding the two new districts in the game. Starting with Kerststadt, which is a new district that is accessible from the main highway, where you will enter a busy, bustling city. The first thing you will notice in Kerststadt is how it tries to portray a busy city with tons of traffic and people that are out on the streets. From tight roads to buildings of all sizes, the district is filled with office workers and the university students that occupy the busy streets of Kerststadt.
Kerststadt also features a very beautiful road that runs on the coastline on a cliff. This beautiful road moves out from the busy streets, and into a very calming road where on one side is the cliff looking out to the never-ending sea, and beautifully lined houses on the other direction. Riding along in this part of the district is a treat when you pass through it during sunset, or anytime during the day. You might even want to pause for a bit and take a quick photo while you are at it. I’m sure the passengers on your bus wouldn’t mind that at all.
Moving on to the second district, which is also the best in my opinion, and it is Sonnstein. This mountainous country land district is the total opposite of the busy streets you will see in Kerststadt. It features a network of roads that connect all sorts of elevated sections that start from tight bends to looping corners. However, all this beauty comes with its own challenges, especially when you are trying to go around tight corners, or descending down from hills of Sonnstein towards the main center of Seaside Valley.
The challenges in the new districts will differ from the types of buses you might be driving. The tight corners will be a breeze if you are in a smaller bus, but gets much difficult to navigate if you are driving a longer bus around such bends. Once you do get over the challenges, there are plenty of beautiful landscapes and small towns that you pass through. This is what I felt was missing from the original game, where the player as the bus driver can enjoy longer routes with different sort of challenges, apart from just focusing on dropping or picking up passengers on time, and juggling through one bus stop to the other.
Another addition that features in the expansion is the new airport that is pretty close to Kerststadt, but is also connected to Sonnstein The new airport adds in more bus stops and challenging routes to drop off passengers on time, but the scenic route towards the airport more than makes up for the challenges. While it may seem like just an addition of a new area for passengers, it does add a pretty practical location that passengers would want to be going. Having said that, the airport is more of a welcome addition in the map and is a compliment to what Sonnstein and Kerststadt feature in their own respective areas.
If you want to experience the districts, you might want to try out the Sandbox mode as it gives a lot freedom to fully explore the districts, their scenic routes, and new challenging roads. This will also get you up to speed with the type of challenges you will face when driving around in longer buses and navigating through tight busy streets. This will give you a pretty good picture of the new expansion and the areas, along with a good understanding of the new routes and how to reach them as quickly as possible. From there on, you can begin the new missions that will take you to both the new districts, and all of their new areas.
Final Verdict
Bus Simulator’s Official Map Expansion is a really food addition of new areas into the game. the new districts have a contrasting look that set each other apart, but also give us a taste of what driving through busy cities or long mountainous roads is all about. It is a step forward from the original map of the game and adds in a bit of a challenge which was just the thing missing from the game. I hope Astragon and Stillalive can come up with more districts, more cities with different landscapes, and even newer missions in the future. Bus Simulator’s Official Map Expansion is available right now on consoles, where you can purchase it for Xbox One or PlayStation 4.
Final Score: 9/10
