Mini-review: Army Bus Driver Duty

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OK, ok, so it's Friday and I have a few more games to help you while away your weekend. Army Bus Driver Duty is a Windows Phone 8.1 game that uses the Unity engine and lots of army-themed scenery to create another in a long line of 'bus driving' games. It's free to download and merely has interstitial ads every now and then, so there's not much to lose apart from your time. It's not bad... but it's ultimately underwhelming.

From the Store description (sic):

It's time of army fighting and war games. We are looking for the most skilled army vehicle driver in the world. May be the best driver is we looking that will be you??? Do you think you got the guts to handle the dangerous situations and get rid of all these problems. Can you drive the most amazing army vehicles on the heavy war crowded city. Do you have the guts to drop the army men to the battlefield ?? 

This game is not like the other parking simulation games. its a total new driving experience of driving the army vehicles in the battle ground. 

  • Different military vehicles
  • 10 Exciting and difficult missions 
  • Real life war parking situations
  • Realistic Controls 
  • Amazing Gameplay

So I was expecting a few buses, some other army transports, armoured people carriers, the works. And all you actually get is three or four buses, each in different army/military livery. The scenery does change, but it's all geometrical, urban and uninspired in terms of driving challenges. About the only thing of real interest ends up being the clock, with tight timescales to achieve each driving 'mission'. If carting three soldiers across a cityscape can be called that!

Here's Army Bus Driver Duty in action:

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Artwork, models and scenery are all top notch but the overlapped text on the title screen shows a lack of TLC immediately....

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The menu system, stats and interface all impress, no problems here. 

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You work your way across various theatres of war, though curiously they all look rather like the exact same army base once you're on camp and driving!

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This is the starter bus, but others are available once you've built up some in-game currency....

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Off and driving, here I've toggled on night mode just for fun... Note the time ticking away top centre, and note steering with a wheel on the left and the usual brake and throttle on the right...

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And so the soldiers are delivered - they magically emerge through the side of the bus though - no developer effort here in terms of animated sliding doors. Oh well, at least they got there safely!

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Back in daylight. Note the map top left, which is very helpful in working out which turns to take...

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Ho hum, another corner, another set of fences and barbed wire, more army buildings....

Considering the power of the Unity engine - and the fluidity of the bus and the scenery is impressive - the game is disappointing. Not enough variety, little different from any other bus driving sim, and lack of attention to detail here and there.

This could have been SO much better. Playing the game is like being given the bus driver job as a punishment by your corporal. Still, I guess it beats peeling potatoes!

You can grab Army Bus Driver Duty in the Store here.

Source / Credit: Store