Thank You Bus Driver Review: Distracted Driver | The Gamerheads Podcast

Platform reviewed: PC (Steam)

Price: $4.99

One thing I learned while playing Thank You Bus Driver is that driving a bus is hard! I have to take patrons to their desired locations in a certain amount of time, pay attention to pesky riders who bother others around them, and read a map. It’s a difficult job, but someone’s got to do it.

Thank You Bus Driver reminds me a bit of Crazy Taxi, except in first person. I’m tasked with picking up passengers at different bus stops and dropping them off at their desired locations. After dropping off the riders, they reward me with “thank you” tokens. The more tokens I earn, the more items I unlock.

The challenge is that I’m timed. The map is rather large, and making a wrong turn can end my run. One thing I found myself doing was pulling up the map and following it (which blocks my view out the windshield). The game doesn’t take itself seriously, so hitting things doesn’t take points away from me, but it does slow me down. I can also find shortcuts by driving off-road. However, the shortcuts aren’t on the map.

What causes me to lose tokens is annoying passengers. After picking up riders, new rules pop up, things like “no eating on the bus,” “no sleeping,” and “no clipping toenails.” If I allow these things to go on, patrons get annoyed and don’t give me thank you tokens. I have a rearview mirror where I can watch what is happening, but to discipline riders, I need to turn around. Obviously, turning around distracts me from driving. If they are really bad, I can toss them off the bus. Truthfully, I tossed more annoying passengers off the bus rather than just disciplining them.

At certain pickup points, a man in a trench coat joins the ride. He offers me perks that I can apply during my run, things like a string of lights, which increases the riders’ happiness, a super horn, which wakes up sleeping riders, and a Big Chug Turbo, which increases my bus’s acceleration. Earning more thank you tokens unlocks additional perks.

Final Grade: A-

The game isn’t particularly deep. It feels more like an arcade game. And it works. There isn’t a story, but for Double Fine’s first game since becoming independent from Microsoft, this is a perfect way to get back into the game. If you are a fan of Crazy Taxi, you’ll enjoy Thank You Bus Driver.

We received a free review copy of this product from https://www.keymailer.co